Nicolaj Thor

Economics PhD Student

Brown University

I’m a PhD student in Economics at Brown University. Previously, I was a predoctoral research fellow at Opportunity Insights based at Harvard. I am interested in economic mobility, development economics, and the role of social capital and networks. I completed my BA in Economics with a minor in Applied Maths at NYU Abu Dhabi in 2019 and received my MA in Economics from Brown in 2023. You can reach me at thor@brown.edu.

Interests

Economic Mobility
Development Economics
Social Capital and Networks

Education

PhD in Economics, in progress
Brown University
MA in Economics, 2023
Brown University
BA in Economics, 2019
NYU Abu Dhabi

Working Papers & Publications

Raj Chetty, Matthew O. Jackson, Theresa Kuchler, Johannes Stroebel, Nathaniel Hendren, Robert Fluegge, Sara Gong, Federico Gonzalez, Armelle Grondin, Matthew Jacob, Drew Johnston, Martin Koenen, Eduardo Laguna-Muggenburg, Florian Mudekereza, Tom Rutter, Nicolaj Thor, Wilbur Townsend, Ruby Zhang, Mike Bailey, Pablo Barberá, Monica Bhole, Nils Wernerfelt (2022). Social capital II: determinants of economic connectedness. Nature (2022).

Cite Social Capital Atlas Full Paper (Nature) Full Paper (NBER WP) Code and Data Slides New York Times Coverage (1) New York Times Coverage (2) The Economist Coverage NPR Coverage Brookings Discussion

Raj Chetty, Matthew O. Jackson, Theresa Kuchler, Johannes Stroebel, Nathaniel Hendren, Robert Fluegge, Sara Gong, Federico Gonzalez, Armelle Grondin, Matthew Jacob, Drew Johnston, Martin Koenen, Eduardo Laguna-Muggenburg, Florian Mudekereza, Tom Rutter, Nicolaj Thor, Wilbur Townsend, Ruby Zhang, Mike Bailey, Pablo Barberá, Monica Bhole, Nils Wernerfelt (2022). Social capital I: measurement and associations with economic mobility. Nature (2022).

Cameron Ballard-Rosa, Ronald Rogowski, Kenneth Scheve, Nicolaj Thor (2021). Inequality, Information, and Income Tax Policy Preferences in Austria and Germany. (Senior Thesis). Revise & Resubmit at Journal of Public Economics.

Raj Chetty, John N. Friedman, Nathaniel Hendren, Michael Stepner, the Opportunity Insights Team (2020). The Economic Impacts of COVID-19: Evidence from a New Public Database Built Using Private Sector Data. NBER Working Paper No. 27431.

Cite Economic Tracker Full Paper Slides New York Times Coverage Vox Coverage NPR Coverage