Joseph Melkonian
Harvard Public Policy PhD (ABD), Job-market candidate
Committee: Gordon Hanson, Rema Hanna, Gabriel Kreindler
About
I am a sixth year Public Policy PhD, ABD (Economics Track) student at Harvard Kennedy School, on the 2026-27 academic job market. I study the economics of migration, development, and labor as an applied microeconomist. I am passionate about migration research and academic teaching.
My research investigates the impacts of migration on economic and social development in the places migrants leave. I have research projects on modern Ecuadorian migration to Spain, historical minority emigration from North Africa, and the relationship between migration and norms in contemporary North Africa and the Middle East.
Before coming to Harvard, I double majored in Economics and International Relations at UC Davis (class of 2019), and served for two years at the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank as a Research Assistant in the Economic Research department.