Mansueto Institute Colloquium: Postdoctoral Fellows Lightning Round

Please join us in welcoming the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation's new cohort of Postdoctoral Fellows for a Lightning Round Presentation. Sebastian Arechaga, Elizabeth Bersson, Lindsey Currier, and Ben Couillard will each present a 15-minute overview of their research (12:00pm-1:00pm) to our academic community followed by a Q&A session (1:00pm-1:15pm).

About the Mansueto Institute's 2026-2027 Postdoctoral Fellows:​Sebastian Arechaga is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation. He uses causal inference methods to address empirical questions in microeconomics.

His current research examines policies designed to improve educational outcomes in underserved communities, with a particular focus on the role of teachers. His other projects study redistribution policies for local governments, workers' responses to incentives, and the mechanisms governing the relationship between politicians and interest groups.

Before pursuing his Ph.D., Sebastian worked with research groups in Chile and Switzerland. He holds a Ph.D. in Business and Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley, a master's degree in Economics from the University of Amsterdam and a bachelor's degree in Business and Economics from the University of Chile.Elizabeth Bersson is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation and the University of Chicago Department of Sociology and a Postdoctoral Affiliate with Stanford Reglab.

Her research focuses on developing robust methodology to improve prediction and inference in multi-group data regimes. She received her Ph.D. in Statistical Science from Duke University in 2024.

She has previously worked on postdoctoral research at MIT and predoctoral research in macroeconomics at the Federal Reserve Board. Benjamin K.

Couillard is an economist whose research focuses on urban economics, industrial organization, and applied econometrics, with a particular interest in housing and demographics. His dissertation research finds that the scarcity of family-size housing is a first-order determinant of fertility, and that rising housing costs since 1990 account for a substantial fraction of the recent decline in the U.S. birth rate.

To study such questions he uses models of static and dynamic housing demand and neighborhood sorting, and develops econometric methods that make these models tractable at a national scale. At the Mansueto Institute, he is extending this work to study how tax incentives shape the generational allocation of single-family homes, and the relationship between transit expansion and gentrification.

Before joining the Institute, Benjamin worked as a senior research assistant at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and co-founded a housing technology startup that raised funds. He received his Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. in economics from the University of Toronto.Lindsey Currier is an economist whose research focuses on urban economics and industrial organization, with a particular interest in infrastructure and procurement.

Across her projects, a central theme is that effective urban policy depends on understanding the structure and behavior of the markets that provide transportation, housing, and infrastructure. She earned dual degrees in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Chicago, worked as a data scientist at Uber, and received her PhD in economics from Harvard University.

Lindsey will join the Johns Hopkins University School of Government and Policy as an Assistant Professor in the 2027–28 academic year. Attending in person: Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation at the University of Chicago 1155 E. 60th Street, Room 101 Chicago, IL 60637We encourage you to attend in person if possible.Lunch will be provided to all registered attendees.

Zoom link: If attending virtually, please register in advance for this meeting:https://uchicagogroup.zoom.us/meeting/register/96cAfT-IQV-SKwUPcSB-gA (https://uchicagogroup.zoom.us/meeting/register/96cAfT-IQV-SKwUPcSB-gA?ampDeviceId=9e2bb559-9f2d-4eeb-9962-15d096e19d87&SessionId=1791392695482&_ics=1791394865133&irclickid=~fdcge-4VU1RJKAumopgne78bgc-a~84~3VRJKABywofb-54XNMJA&_gl=1*w15qc4*_gcl_au*NjYxNTY4MDUuMTc4NTQyOTQ3Ny4xMTE0NzUxNzc2LjE3OTEzMzM0NDAuMTc5MTMzMzQzOS44NTMyNDY5NTcuMTc5MTMzMzQ0MC4xNzkxMzMzNDM5*_ga*MjUzOTg5MzY5LjE3ODMwODI3Njk.*_ga_L8TBF28DDX*czE3OTEzOTI3NDYkbzI1JGcxJHQxNzkxMzk0ODYxJGo1OSRsMCRoMA..) After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.