On the job market — 2026–27
Economics PhD Candidate

Sean
Callahan

Department of Economics • Colorado State University

I study how fiscal shocks travel through production networks. My work asks why a contraction in one country–sector shows up as lost employment in another — and what the structure of those linkages implies for how fiscal policy should be designed and coordinated.

Sean Callahan
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Research

Fiscal Transmission in Production Networks

My primary research estimates how fiscal shocks propagate through the input–output structure of the European economy. Using FIGARO inter-country tables and a network granular instrumental variables design, I document a sharp asymmetry: consolidation travels powerfully backward along demand linkages into employment, but only weakly forward along supply linkages into prices. The result places quantitative discipline on which sectors carry aggregate fiscal risk.

Structural Transformation & Development

I examine how the industrial composition of economies evolves, and what role the state plays in steering that change. This work treats network position as a policy instrument — asking which industries are systemically significant, and how institutional capacity and public ownership shape whether shocks are transmitted or attenuated.

Green Transition Macroeconomics

Through demand-driven models and simulation, I explore how economies can navigate the energy transition while sustaining employment and growth, focusing on the dynamics of capacity investment and the distributional consequences of climate policy.

Methods

  • Network Granular IV
  • Panel & Dynamic Panel Data
  • Instrumental Variables
  • Difference-in-Differences
  • Input–Output Analysis

Frameworks

  • Post-Keynesian Theory
  • Structuralist Economics
  • Production Network Theory
  • Growth & Development Theory
  • Institutional Economics

Data

  • FIGARO Inter-Country IO
  • Eurostat & COFOG Fiscal Data
  • Trade Networks

Software

  • R
  • Quarto / R Markdown

Papers

Job Market Paper

Fiscal Transmission in Production Networks

Sean Callahan • 2026

Other Working Papers

A New Keynesian Model of Fiscal Transmission in Production Networks
Sean Callahan
Working Paper • 2026
Structural Change by Solidarity: A Model of the Rehn–Meidner Plan
Sean Callahan
Working Paper • 2026

Drafts available on request — please get in touch.

Teaching

304
Intermediate Macroeconomics
Instructor of Record • Fall 2025, Spring & Fall 2026

New Keynesian theory, economic fluctuations, inflation, and growth theory.

View course page →
240
Environmental Economics
Instructor of Record • 2024–2025

Market failures, policy instruments, and sustainability economics.

204
Principles of Macroeconomics
Teaching Assistant • 2023–2024

Introductory macroeconomics with recitation sections and tutoring.

202
Principles of Microeconomics
Teaching Assistant • 2022–2023

Foundational microeconomic theory and applications.

Get In Touch

Office

Social Sciences Hall C-3916B
Department of Economics
Colorado State University

Location

Fort Collins, Colorado
United States