Independent research venture · in formation
Third Space Labs
Third Space Labs is an independent research venture in formation, co-founded by economists Ian Helfrich and Elizaveta Gonchar.
Current status
In formation
The venture provides a home for joint research, methods development, and future educational work. The form of any program, fellowship, or external partnership remains unsettled.
Current shared record
Joint research with public status
Preprint · SSRN 5202676 · 2025
Active development · no results yet
Effective distance
A planned time-varying bilateral trade-cost panel using satellite, population, and transport-network information.Active development · no results yet
Ukraine wartime economic measurement
A proposed spatial measurement program combining several public and administrative source families.
Working principles
Research practice
The research question determines the data, method, and public artifact.
Authors, coauthors, and contributors are credited using the role supported by each record.
A design with no result is labeled that way. Drafts and preprints are never presented as publications.
Co-founders
Ian Helfrich and Elizaveta Gonchar
Applied economist, quantitative research designer, and educator
Ian's public work spans place-based policy, trade, labor and AI, spatial measurement, theory, and quantitative education.
About IanEconomist, research collaborator, and coauthor
Elizaveta Gonchar's joint public record on this site covers trade, effective distance, and development-stage wartime economic measurement.
Public collaborator record