Konhee Chang

I study urban, spatial, and real estate economics. My current research focuses on rental housing markets and mobility in the United States.
Economist, Federal Reserve Board, 2025–
PhD, University of California, Berkeley, 2019–25
BA, University of Pennsylvania, 2014–17

Working Papers

  1. Diversifying the Suburbs: Rental Supply and Spatial Inequality (JMP)
    Updated 2025
    Paper · ·
    Corporate landlords substantially increased purchases of single-family homes in the U.S. South beginning in 2012. Poorer and less white households than incumbent homeowners move into homes converted to rentals. The non-White share of the average Census tract rises by 3% in the eight years following landlord entry, reducing segregation. A spatial equilibrium model shows that rental reallocation by landlords with density economies is progressive: financially constrained households gain from renting in higher-amenity suburbs, while the median household loses due to homeownership preferences and endogenous amenities. Rental housing supply shapes spatial inequality.
    Awards — 2023 AREUEA John Clapp Best Poster Award, 2025 European UEA Meeting Student Award (Honorable Mention)
    Conferences — 2023: Regional/Urban/Spatial/Housing Brownbag; 2024: ASSA/AREUEA Doctoral Poster Session, Berkeley Law Consumer Law Scholars Conference; 2025: UEA Europe, SFS Cavalcade, Pre-WFA Summer Real Estate Research Symposium, NBER Summer Institute, APPAM, SEA; 2026: AREUEA/ASSA
    Press — NPR, Forbes

Works in Progress

  1. Hacked: Misuse of Mortgages by Landlords (w/ Grace Choi)
  2. Spatially Targeted Leverage Regulation and Rental Housing (w/ Jaeyeon Lee)
  3. The Impacts of Refugee Influxes: Evidence from Administrative and Cellphone Data in Jordan (w/ Michael Gechter, Nick Tsivanidis, and Nathaniel Young)
  4. Landlords (Price) Discriminate