Overview
Charles Becker is interested in exploring the economies of such countries as Kazakhstan, India, sub-Saharan Africa, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan. His research has focused on economic demography, social security system forecasting, CGE modeling, mortality and disability risk, determinants of health care utilization, computable general equilibrium simulation modeling, and urban economics. His on-going projects involve assessing infant mortality rates, poverty in developing countries, accidental deaths in middle-income countries, and the performance of minority students in Economics doctoral programs. He recently worked with Irina Merkuryeva on a project investigating, “Disability Risk and Miraculous Recoveries in Russia,” and with Rebecca Anthopolos on, “Gobal Infant Mortality: Initial results from a cross-country infant mortality comparison project.” He also collaborated with Grigory Marchenko, Sabit Khakimzhanov, Ai-Gul Seitenova, and Vladimir Ivliev on a project entitled, “Social Secutiry Reform in Transition Economies: Lessons from Kazakhstan,” and with Amitava Krishna Dutt and Jaime Ros on, “Urbanization and Rural-Urban Migration.”
Current Duke Appointments & Affiliations
Research Professor Emeritus of Economics
·
2026 - Present
Economics,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Recent Scholarly Works
Tracking tuberculosis control using detailed population health and satellite luminosity data: findings from Kazakhstan.
Journal article PloS one · January 2026 Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan, like many other formerly socialist countries, experienced a surge in tuberculosis (TB). Despite the successful efforts of Kazakhstan's Ministry of Health in reducing TB related mortality, analysis of ... Full text CiteRace and Subprime Lending Frequency: Understanding Subprime Lending's Role in the St. Louis Vacancy Crisis
Journal article Review of Black Political Economy · September 1, 2024 Using loan-level data, this analysis considers the intersection of race, subprime home loans, and the current vacancy crisis in St. Louis, Missouri. Borrowers in Black areas in the north of St. Louis City and St. Louis County received subprime home loans a ... Full text CiteMoving mountains: Geography, neighborhood sorting, and spatial income segregation
Journal article Journal of Regional Science · September 1, 2024 Using a novel geospatial panel combined with data from the 2015 American Community Survey (ACS), we investigate the effect of topography—altitude and terrain unevenness—on income segregation at the neighborhood level. Specifically, we perform large-scale c ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
American Economic Association Summer Program and Minority Scholarship Program
Public ServicePrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2005 - 2008American Economic Association Summer Training Program
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2003 - 2005View All Grants
Education
Princeton University ·
1981
Ph.D.
Grinnell College ·
1976
B.A.