Our Team

Nicholas Trachter

Nicholas Trachter is a senior economist and research advisor in the Research Department. Trachter joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond in 2013 after working as an assistant professor of economics at the Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance, a research institute funded by the Bank of Italy. He earned his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 2010.

Trachter's main research interests are monetary economics, financial economics, and the intersection of industrial organization and macroeconomics.

Academic Publications
Plants in Space

Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 132, March 2024: 867–909

Ezra Oberfield, Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, Pierre-Daniel G. Sarte and Nicholas Trachter

Previous Version: Working Paper, May 2020, No. 20-05

An Information-Based Theory of Financial Intermediation

Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 89, October 2022: 2381–2444

Zachary Bethune, Bruno Sultanum and Nicholas Trachter

Previous Version: Working Paper, July 2019, No. 19-12
Diverging Trends in National and Local Concentration

NBER Macroeconomics Annual, Vol. 35, May 2021: 115-150

Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, Pierre-Daniel G. Sarte and Nicholas Trachter

Previous Version: Working Paper, September 2018, No. 18-15R

Appendix
Relative Price Dispersion: Evidence and Theory

American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, Vol. 11, August 2019: 68-124

Greg Kaplan, Guido Menzio, Leena Rudanko and Nicholas Trachter

Previous Version: Working Paper, January 2016, No. 16-02

Asset Issuance in Over-the-Counter Markets

Review of Economic Dynamics, Vol. 33, July 2019: 4-29

Zachary Bethune, Bruno Sultanum and Nicholas Trachter

Previous Version: Working Paper, October 2017, No. 17-13R

Learning and Life Cycle Patterns of Occupational Mobility

International Economic Review, Vol. 60, May 2019: 905-937

Individuals experience frequent occupational switches during their lifetime, and initial worker characteristics are predictive of future patterns of occupational switching.

Aspen Gorry, Devon Gorry and Nicholas Trachter

Price Dynamics with Customer Markets

International Economic Review, Vol. 60, February 2019: 413-446

Luigi Paciello, Andrea Pozzi and Nicholas Trachter

Previous Version: Working Paper, October 2014, No. 14-17

Equilibrium Price Dispersion Across and Within Stores

Review of Economic Dynamics, Vol. 28, April 2018: 205-220

Guido Menzio and Nicholas Trachter

Previous Version: Working Paper, January 2015, No. 15-01

Equilibrium Price Dispersion with Sequential Search

Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 160, December 2015: 188-215

Guido Menzio and Nicholas Trachter

Optimal Monetary Policy with Heterogeneous Money Holdings

Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 159, September 2015: 339-368

Francesco Lippi, Stefania Ragni and Nicholas Trachter

Stepping Stone and Option Value in a Model of Postsecondary Education

Quantitative Economics, Vol. 6, March 2015: 223-256

A theory of education is built and contrasted empirically to find that (i) option value explains a large part of returns to enrollment, (ii) enrollment in academic two-year colleges is driven by the option to transfer up, and (iii) the value of the stepping stone is small.

Nicholas Trachter

Previous Version: Working Paper, February 2014, No. 14-03

Commodity Money with Frequent Search

Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 147, November 2012: 2332-2356

Ezra Oberfield and Nicholas Trachter
Working Papers

March 2024, No. 24-02

Sectoral Development Multipliers

We find that technology adoption greatly amplifies the multipliers' magnitudes, and it changes the ranking of priority sectors for industrial policy.

Francisco Buera and Nicholas Trachter

May 2023, No. 23-08

Unemployment Insurance when the Wealth Distribution Matters

This paper evaluates the welfare effects of unemployment insurance in general equilibrium using a life-cycle model.

Facundo Piguillem, Hernán Ruffo and Nicholas Trachter

March 2021, No. 21-07

Big Push in Distorted Economies

Many countries have industrialized and grown rapidly by adopting modern technologies. Why don't poor countries adopt more productive technologies? Is there a role for policies that coordinate technology adoption?

Francisco Buera, Hugo Hopenhayn, Yongseok Shin and Nicholas Trachter

May 2020, No. 20-05

Plants in Space

In this paper, we aim to provide insights into two main questions: First, which firms set up plants in which locations? Second, what determine the scale and location of production? Answering these questions requires us to think about plants and firms as distinct, albeit related, economic entities.

Ezra Oberfield, Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, Pierre-Daniel G. Sarte and Nicholas Trachter

July 2019, No. 19-12

An Information-Based Theory of Financial Intermediation

Zachary Bethune, Bruno Sultanum and Nicholas Trachter

September 2018, No. 18-15R

Diverging Trends in National and Local Concentration (Revised February 2019)

Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, Pierre-Daniel G. Sarte and Nicholas Trachter

October 2017, No. 17-13R

Asset Issuance in Over-the-Counter Markets (Revised November 2018)

Zachary Bethune, Bruno Sultanum and Nicholas Trachter

December 2016, No. 16-16

Private Information in Over-the-Counter Markets

Zachary Bethune, Bruno Sultanum and Nicholas Trachter

January 2016, No. 16-02

Relative Price Dispersion: Evidence and Theory

Greg Kaplan, Guido Menzio, Leena Rudanko and Nicholas Trachter

November 2015, No. 15-15

On the Distribution of College Dropouts: Wealth and Uninsurable Idiosyncratic Risk

Ali K. Ozdagli and Nicholas Trachter

January 2015, No. 15-01

Equilibrium Price Dispersion Across and Within Stores

Guido Menzio and Nicholas Trachter

October 2014, No. 14-17

Price Dynamics with Customer Markets

Luigi Paciello, Andrea Pozzi and Nicholas Trachter

August 2014, No. 14-15

Learning and Life Cycle Patterns of Occupational Transitions

Aspen Gorry, Devon Gorry and Nicholas Trachter

March 2014, No. 14-08

Large and Small Sellers: A Theory of Equilibrium Price Dispersion with Sequential Search

This paper studies equilibrium pricing in a product market for an indivisible good where buyers search for sellers.

Guido Menzio and Nicholas Trachter

February 2014, No. 14-03

Stepping Stone and Option Value in a Model of Postsecondary Education

Nicholas Trachter

October 2013, No. 13-17

State Dependent Monetary Policy

Nicholas Trachter, Francesco Lippi and Stefania Ragni
Bank Publications

Economic Brief, February 2025, No. 25-06

How Do Banks Choose Where to Place Branches?

Prior to deregulation, banks were essentially confined to the borders of their home states.

Lindsay Li and Nicholas Trachter

Economic Brief, August 2024, No. 24-27

Sectoral Multipliers and Technology Adoption as Insight Into Growth

Policies aimed at helping specific sectors better adopt new technologies might see better returns when targeting sectors that affect a wide range of others.

Nicholas Trachter and Lindsay Li

Economic Brief, February 2024, No. 24-05

Diverging Trends in Market Concentration

Top firms entering markets don't appear to drive away local businesses.

Nicholas Trachter and Lindsay Li

Economic Brief, May 2023, No. 23-16

How Well Do Firms Retain Customers After Price Increases?

Firm productivity plays a role in how many customers a firm loses after a price increase.

Samira Gholami and Nicholas Trachter

Economic Brief, December 2022, No. 22-50

Community College as a Steppingstone

Many students use two-year colleges to determine whether they should go on to a four-year college.

Samira Gholami and Nicholas Trachter

Economic Brief, June 2022, No. 22-23

Information and Core-Periphery Structure in Over-the-Counter Markets

In the OTC market for credit default swaps, some investors are more central within the trading network than others.

Nicholas Trachter

Economic Brief, October 2021, No. 21-34

How Do Firms Choose Where to Place Establishments?

Firms with high productivity place more establishments in dense locations and fewer establishments in low density locations.

Samira Gholami and Nicholas Trachter

Economic Brief, April 2021, No. 21-11

Why Don't Low-Income Countries Adopt More Productive Technologies?

A new theory of economic development integrates two existing paradigms to show that reducing distortions in "big push" regions could unleash massive growth.

Reiko Laski and Nicholas Trachter

Special Reports, November 12, 2020

The Employment Recovery of Small and Large Employers

Policymakers, national pundits, and researchers often point to the importance of small firms in job creation. Did small firms play a special role in the recovery of aggregate employment during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Marios Karabarbounis, Matthew Murphy and Nicholas Trachter

Special Reports, September 4, 2020

The Effect of Lockdown Measures on Unemployment

Do the timing and length of lockdowns explain state-level differences in unemployment?

Marios Karabarbounis, Reiko Laski, James Lee and Nicholas Trachter

Special Reports, July 9, 2020

Does Social Distancing Explain Variation in COVID-19 Infection Rates? A Cross-Regional Analysis

Part 4: Financial Distress and the Second Wave of COVID-19 Infections

Marios Karabarbounis, Matthew Murphy and Nicholas Trachter

Special Reports, May 26, 2020

The Effects of Expiring Stay-at-Home Orders and the Shape of the Recovery

Marios Karabarbounis and Nicholas Trachter

Special Reports, May 15, 2020

Some Observations about Social Distancing across Space and Time

Marios Karabarbounis and Nicholas Trachter

Special Reports, April 17, 2020

How COVID-19 is Affecting Main Street

Marios Karabarbounis and Nicholas Trachter

Economic Brief, July 2019, No. 19-07

Switching Occupational Categories

Aspen Gorry, Devon Gorry, Tim Sablik and Nicholas Trachter

Economic Brief, June 2019, No. 19-06

Are Markets Becoming Less Competitive?

National markets in many U.S. industries seem to be increasingly dominated by large companies. Some policymakers have argued that this growing market concentration is a sign of weakening competition, but concentration by itself does not necessarily translate into market power.

Tim Sablik and Nicholas Trachter

Economic Quarterly, Third Quarter 2018

Inefficiency in a Simple Model of Production and Bilateral Trade

Zachary Bethune, Bruno Sultanum and Nicholas Trachter

Annual Report, 2018

Are Markets Becoming Less Competitive?

Tim Sablik and Nicholas Trachter

Economic Quarterly, Second Quarter 2016

Price Dispersion When Stores Sell Multiple Goods

Nicholas Trachter

Economic Brief, April 2016, No. 16-04

The Role of Option Value in College Decisions

Jessie Romero and Nicholas Trachter

Economic Brief, July 2015, No. 15-07

Buyers' Ability and Willingness to Shop Around: An Explanation for Price Dispersion

Karl Rhodes and Nicholas Trachter

Economic Quarterly, Fourth Quarter 2014

The Dropout Option in a Simple Model of College Education

Ali K. Ozdagli and Nicholas Trachter
Media Mentions

"Does National Market Concentration Equal Local Market Power?," Speaking of the Economy, March 13, 2024.
"Assessing Unemployment Insurance," Econ Focus, Fourth Quarter 2023.
"Tracking the Economy in Real Time," Speaking of the Economy, March 11, 2021.

Nicholas Trachter