Contact Information

Department of Economics
Northwestern University
2211 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208

Phone: 872-985-1955

Email: ryumatsuura@u.northwestern.edu

Personal website: https://ryumatsuura.github.io/

Education

Ph.D., Economics, Northwestern University, 2025 (expected)
MA, Economics, Northwestern University, 2020
BA, Economics and Mathematical Science, Colby College, 2017

Primary Field of Specialization

Development Economics

Secondary Field of Specialization

Political Economy

Curriculum Vitae

Download Vita (PDF)

Job Market Paper

Political Implications of Trade Liberalization: Evidence from India (with Sebastian Jävervall and Roza Khoban)

Abstract: In recent decades, many developing countries have integrated into the global economy through trade reforms. However, the gains from trade liberalization have been unevenly distributed among various economic and social groups. This paper examines how adverse economic shocks, induced by trade liberalization, influenced voting behavior and political representation among marginalized groups in India. By utilizing exogenous variation in regional exposure to tariff reductions from India’s 1990s trade liberalization and constructing a novel dataset that links politicians to social communities, we establish causal estimates of the economic and political effects of trade reforms. Our findings reveal that trade liberalization led to a relative decline in consumption and earnings growth for marginalized workers. In response, these groups increased their political engagement, resulting in higher vote shares and representation for marginalized politicians, while non-marginalized politicians experienced a corresponding decline. We show that these political effects were most pronounced in districts with a significant marginalized population share, suggesting a political backlash from marginalized groups. Furthermore, we provide evidence that a redistributive policy mitigated these political changes, thereby supporting the economic grievances hypothesis.

Working Papers

Harnessing Satellite Data to Improve Social Assistance Targeting in the Eastern Caribbean (with Sophia Chen, Flavien Moreau, and Joana Pereira), submitted

Political (Mis)selection: The Role of Historical Institutions (with Shubhro Bhattacharya and Utsav Manjeer)

Publications

Development Research at High Geographic Resolution: An Analysis of Night Lights, Firms, and Poverty in India using the SHRUG Open Data Platform (with Sam Asher, Toby Lunt, and Paul Novosad), World Bank Economic Review (2021)