David McCarthy

David McCarthy

PhD Candidate in Economics

European University Institute

I am a 4th-year Ph.D. candidate in Economics at the European University Institute, specializing in Quantitative Macroeconomics. My research is supervised by Russell Cooper and Thomas Crossley.

Research Focus

My work explores how micro-level heterogeneity and “lumpy” adjustment decisions aggregate to shape the macroeconomy. My research agenda focuses on:

  • Lumpy Adjustment: How infrequent, large-scale decisions—such as firm investment and household durable purchases—drive the business cycle.
  • Policy Transmission: How these micro-frictions determine the effectiveness and timing of Fiscal and Monetary policy.
Interests
  • Quantitative Macroeconomics
  • Firm Dynamics
  • Household Finance
  • Heterogeneous Agents

Research

Work in Progress

Nonlinear Productivity Dynamics

with José Alberto Ferreira and Marius Grünewald
Presented at: ECB Early Ideas Seminar (2024), CREI Macro WG (2025)

Lumpy Durable Goods, Intertemporal Spending, and Policy Transmission

Lumpy Investment and Monetary Policy

Strategic complementarities in a dynamic model of technology adoption: Electric Vehicles

Teaching

TA PhD Courses

Macro II: New Keynesian Economics

European University Institute, TA to Prof. Edouard Challe

Lecture Notes I wrote for the course on the basic New Keynesian Model and linearization techniques.

TA Undergraduate Courses

Industrial Organisation

Université Catholique de Louvain, TA to Prof. Paul Belleflamme, Spring 2021

Public Economics

Université Catholique de Louvain, TA to Prof. Jean Hindriks, Spring 2021

Political Economy

Université Catholique de Louvain, TA to Prof. Rigas Oikonomou and Prof. Gonzague Vannoorenberghe, Fall 2021