My name is Sun Kyoung Lee, and I usually go by “Sun (\ˈsən\).” I received my Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University in 2019. I am a postdoctoral associate at the Economic Growth Center and the Department of Economics at Yale University. I will join the University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, Survey Research Center, as a Research Assistant Professor, starting in Fall 2022.
My current research focuses on Economic History and Spatial Economics with Big Data. I’ve extensively worked on implementing the machine-learning and GIS-based approach to connect large datasets. My research touches upon issues of inequality, racial segregation, urban development, transit infrastructure policies and land-use policies called “zoning”, and intergenerational mobility. For example, my Job Market Paper titled “When Cities Grow: Urban Planning and Segregation in the Prewar US” studies how the government’s urban planning policies may have segregated America during its era of unprecedented economic and population growth.