My research examines how shocks and long-run structural change alter household choices, and how these changes manifest as inequality and demographic transformation. I connect micro-level behavioral responses to macro-level outcomes, and in recent years I have incorporated machine learning and related data-analytic tools to better capture heterogeneity and mechanisms. Building on long-term research experience in Myanmar, I also pursue comparative work with a broader Southeast Asia perspective.

Pillar 1 (Myanmar, rural livelihoods, household decision making) draws on micro-level data and field-based insights to examine why poorer households often cannot translate new opportunities, such as contract farming and labor-market change, into sustained welfare gains. I also study the mechanisms through which shocks, including violence and conflict, can widen inequality.

Pillar 2 (family values, family transfers, family formation) focuses on how social norms and intra-household resource allocation shape family formation in ultra-low fertility contexts. This pillar links evidence on fertility intentions and familism with research on migration, remittances, and distributional dynamics within transnational families.

Pillar 3 (shocks and risks, climate, demographic change, macro implications) investigates how climate extremes and other systemic risks propagate from households to markets and the state. I analyze changes in fertility, mobility, and time use as key behavioral margins, and examine how these micro-level responses aggregate into macro-level outcomes such as food security, labor supply, spatial inequality, and policy capacity across Southeast Asia.