DPhil candidate in Economics

Biography

I am a DPhil student in Economics at the University of Oxford, under the supervision of Professor Petr Sedláček. I work on the economic impact of automation, with a specific interest in firms and the labour market.

I am also a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Kent with Professor Anthony Savagar. Our research investigates scale economies in the UK, to better understand productivity and market power.

I completed my undergraduate studies at St Hilda’s College in Oxford, before working at data analytics consultancy dunnhumby. I embarked on graduate study at UCL, taking courses in statistics and machine learning, before returning to Oxford to train as an economist. I have taught undergraduate economics throughout my studies, and I am particularly interested in various approaches to changing the economics syllabus.

Interests

Firms
Productivity
Automation
Labour economics
Applied microeconometrics

Education

DPhil Economics, 2018 - present
University of Oxford
MPhil Economics, 2018
University of Oxford
MRes Financial Computing & Analytics, 2016
UCL
BA Economics & Management, 2014
University of Oxford

Research

Joel Kariel, Anthony Savagar

December 2021 A Working Paper

Returns to Scale and Productivity

This paper endogenises returns to scale and highlights a more complicated relationship between scale economies and productivity. We empirically investigate this relationship at the firm-level, across industries, and the aggregate. Changing business dynamism can reconcile the paradoxical results.

Joel Kariel, Anthony Savagar

September 2021 A Working Paper

Returns to Scale and the Role of Computer Software

This paper investigates returns to scale in the UK, and the role of computer software in affecting scale economies.

Joel Kariel

March 2021 A Working Paper

Firms That Automate: Theory and Evidence

This paper investigates the adoption of automation technologies at a firm level using a novel dataset. I build a strucutral model of firm dynamics to better understand the implications of these findings for the macroeconomy. I reconcile the finding that automating firms grow, but on aggregate, such technologies seem to reduce employment.

Joel Kariel

January 2021 In LABOUR

Job Creators or Job Killers? Heterogeneous Effects of Industrial Robots on UK Employment

This paper investigates the impact of industrial robot adoption on the labour market in the UK.

Joel Kariel, Salil B. Patel

January 2021 In the BMJ

Universal basic income and Covid-19 pandemic

We make the case for a Universal Basic Income (UBI) to improve health inequalities, which have been highlighted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Experience

Research Fellow

Institute for the Future of Work

May 2021 – Present London

Postdoctoral Researcher in Economics

University of Kent

Apr 2021 – Present Canterbury

TA for Computational Macroeconomics Summer School

Wouter den Haan and Petr Sedláček

Aug 2020 – Aug 2020 Oxford

Assisting participants with Matlab code covering: DSGE models, estimation methods (Kalman filter, Bayesian estimation, MCMC), projection methods, parameterized expectations, heterogeneous agents models, continuous time models.

Non-stipendiary Lecturer in Economics

Christ Church College, University of Oxford

Apr 2020 – Oct 2020 Oxford

Teaching undergraduates in Core Macroeconomics, Time Series Econometrics.

Stipendiary Lecturer in Economics

St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford

Oct 2017 – Present Oxford

Responsibilities include:

Teaching undergraduates in Introductory Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Mathematical Methods, Probability & Statistics.
Conducting interviews for applicants for undergraduate economics.

Consultant

dunnhumby

Sep 2014 – Aug 2015 London