Noel D. Johnson, PhD

Research Focus

My research is at the intersection of several topics which are of vital concern to today’s society including how climate change and epidemic disease affect the treatment of traditionally marginalized groups such as Jews or women, especially in the context of weak states. My research also deals with the effect trade networks have on economic development and its resilience to exogenous shocks.

Current Projects

■ Pandemics, Places, and Populations: evidence from the Black Death

■ Global supply shocks and market disruption: the Tambora volcanic eruption of 1815

■ Assimilation and cohesiveness in a hostile environment: theory and evidence from Jewish communities in Medieval Europe

■ The institutional foundations of religious freedom

Select Publications

■ Jedwab, R., et al. (2017). Negative shocks and mass persecutions: evidence from the black death. GMU Working Paper in Economics No. 17-12.

■ Anderson, R. W., et al. (2016). Jewish persecutions and weather shocks: 1100–1800. The Economic Journal, 127(602), 924-958.

■ Johnson, N. D., & Koyama, M. (2014). Taxes, lawyers, and the decline of witch trials in France. The Journal of Law and Economics, 57(1), 77-112.

■ Johnson, N. D., & Koyama, M. (2017). Jewish communities and city growth in preindustrial Europe. Journal of Development Economics, 127, 339-354.