• Assistant Professor of Economics
  • Niagara University
  • Bisgrove Hall, 2nd floor, Room 254H
  • rcragun@niagara.edu
  • 716-286-8196

Working Papers

Age of Majority and Use of The Pill in Australia

Power of Contraception in Australia
With Ishita Chatterjee of The University of Western Australia

Directed Technical Change: a Macro Perspective on Life Cycle Earnings Profiles
Wage-experience profiles for each country in the sample
Appendices for Directed Technical Change and Life-Cycle Earnings Profiles
With Robert Tamura and Michal Jerzmanowski of Clemson University

Directed Technical Change and the Age Demographics of Development


Work in Progress

“All Men”? Measuring the Rate of Commission of Sexual Assault by Men
With James Cragun of Stony Brook University

“Economics and Ethics: The Impact of Government Integrity on Macroeconomic Performance and Inequality”
With Kristine Principe of Niagara University

“Demand and supply estimation in the market for cocaine with cross-price and weather instruments”


Research topics for the future

GDP convergence is now reality

Penn World Tables convergence plot
The points are GLS estimates of \(\alpha\) in \(g_{\text{country}} = \alpha\ln{\left(GDPPerPerson_{\text{country}}\right)} +\epsilon_{\text{country}}\) (weighted by population) with separate regressions for each year, where \(g\) is the annualized growth rate of GDP over the next five years. Data source: Penn World Tables (panels of 182 countries from 1950 to 2014).

Bureaucratic efficiency is increasing around the world

Days to start a business in sub-Saharan Africa over time
Data from the World Bank Doing Business indices