Ian HelfrichPhDContact
IAN HELFRICH / SITE INDEXFind anything.
71 records

Selected cases

Work

My work includes empirical research, research software, and teaching materials.

Selected public work

Research and teaching

Showing all four cases.

Selected cases

The rural mobilization gap in a U.S. place-based tax creditDoes the rural private-leverage gap persist when rural and urban projects are compared within the same Community Development Entity?Job market paper · August 2026

Selected work

The rural mobilization gap in a U.S. place-based tax credit

Question
Does the rural private-leverage gap persist when rural and urban projects are compared within the same Community Development Entity?
Why the comparison matters
A pooled rural and urban comparison mixes project geography with the set of intermediaries serving each group.
What I built
I linked 19,907 transactions into 8,024 projects, documented their provenance, estimated pooled and within-CDE comparisons, and published the paper, code, viewer, and claim audit.
Status
Job market paper · August 2026
Role
Ian Helfrich originated the project and is its sole author; Katia Antunes and Elizaveta Gonchar are acknowledged contributors.
Method
Community Development Entity fixed effects · order-invariant decomposition · bunching test
Finding
The pooled rural coefficient is −0.262. With CDE fixed effects, the mean estimate is −0.047 with a 95% confidence interval of [−0.245, +0.152]; the median estimate is −0.001.
Limit
The design is descriptive and noncausal, and it does not identify why intermediaries differ. The mechanism remains unresolved.

Scope: The design is descriptive and noncausal, and it does not identify why intermediaries differ. The mechanism remains unresolved.

Trade in the SpotlightDoes a gravity model fit better when bilateral distance reflects where population and measured economic activity are located within countries?Preprint · SSRN 5202676 · 2025

Selected work

Trade in the Spotlight

Question
Does a gravity model fit better when bilateral distance reflects where population and measured economic activity are located within countries?
Why distance matters
A border distance or geographic centroid can be far from the places where people and measured economic activity are concentrated.
What we built
With Elizaveta Gonchar, I constructed annual bilateral distances from gridded population and VIIRS night-light intensity and evaluated them in gravity models of trade.
Status
Preprint · SSRN 5202676 · 2025
Role
Coauthor with Elizaveta Gonchar
Method
gravity model · VIIRS nightlights · population-weighted geodesic distance
Finding
The preprint reports better gravity-model fit for the OVDL distance measure.
Limit
The planned 2000-2024 panel, transport-network extension, and structural-gravity validation are separate development work with no completed results.

Scope: The planned 2000-2024 panel, transport-network extension, and structural-gravity validation are separate development work with no completed results.

Applied StatisticsHow can a learner move from an estimand through computation, diagnostics, and a defensible interpretation in more than one statistical environment?Live public learning system · Version 0.1

Selected work

Applied Statistics

Question
How can a learner move from an estimand through computation, diagnostics, and a defensible interpretation in more than one statistical environment?
Why the format matters
A calculation shown in isolation does not reveal whether the question, estimand, assumptions, diagnostics, and interpretation agree.
What I built
I built a browser-based workflow that connects those steps and verifies the same two-group analysis across JavaScript, Python, R, and Julia.
Status
Live public learning system · Version 0.1
Role
Designer, author, and developer
Method
two-group inference · OLS with HC2 · cross-software verification
Current release
Version 0.1 connects the derivation, deterministic fixtures, a World Bank data example, and executable implementations in JavaScript, Python, R, and Julia.
Limit
The project does not claim Excel or Stata parity until those implementations are included and mechanically tested.

Scope: The project does not claim Excel or Stata parity until those implementations are included and mechanically tested.

NNCTA semiconductor demonstrationHow could a semiconductor demonstration contribute to a broader critical-technology assessment?Additional contributor · Public report · 2023

Selected work

NNCTA semiconductor demonstration

Question
How could a semiconductor demonstration contribute to a broader critical-technology assessment?
Documented scope
The 2023 NNCTA report applies a broader critical-technology framework to a semiconductor demonstration. Its public contributor list supports Ian's credit for that demonstration and no broader role.
Status
Additional contributor · Public report · 2023
Role
Additional contributor to the semiconductor demonstration in the 2023 NNCTA report Securing America's Future.
Method
critical-technology assessment · semiconductor demonstration
Verified contribution
The official report credits Ian as an additional contributor to the semiconductor demonstration.
Limit
This records a contribution to one demonstration; it does not claim report authorship or a broader project role.

Scope: This records a contribution to one demonstration; it does not claim report authorship or a broader project role.

Spatial & 3D GIS

Spatial investment and 3D GIS

Observed New Markets Tax Credit financing and a conditional Asheville scenario, classified LiDAR and terrain diagnostics, and an original Haiti terrain mesh. The mesh is gridded elevation, not LiDAR returns.

Software & scientific visualization

Software, sound, and spatial systems.

Audio software and oceanographic mapping.

Live browser application

Yellowjacket

Transcript editing, signal analysis, and music production in one audio workbench.

Audio DSP · browser software · interaction design

Applied work & ongoing development

Oceanographic systems

3D seafloor mapping, ocean-current analysis, and scientific visualization.

Geospatial Python · 3D environments · model integration
Agulhas current map from depth-resolved HYCOM analysis

Interactive ocean atlas

Hidden Rivers

Model trajectories, rotation and stretching, with full-dimensional Tessera coastal search and a data-driven film.

HYCOM · NOAA ETOPO1 · Tessera
All projects
Related work and methodsSpatial analysis, research software, advisory work, and teaching experience

Additional work in spatial analysis, industrial-sector diagnostics, and teaching:

Interactive geography
St. Louis city & property lab: explore City and County geometry, inspect official City property evidence, and test rental scenarios.
Spatial measurement
Trade in the Spotlight, the doctoral dissertation, and public GIS records.
Saudi industrial-sector diagnostics
Independent advisory and quantitative-coaching work on sector performance, economic complexity, import localization, firm productivity, and growth constraints. This was private work, not a Saudi government commission.
CMU / Toyota Research Institute
North America-wide electric-vehicle manufacturing site-suitability analysis integrating labor markets, infrastructure, supply chains, environmental and disaster risk, and spatial competition.
Quantitative instruction
Applied Statistics includes two-group comparisons, OLS, diagnostics, and implementations in four programming languages.
Independent teaching practice
More than 1,035 Wyzant hours and nearly 1,000 additional private-practice hours as of August 2026; the two sources remain separate. Teaching record →

Inquiries

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