About Me
PhD Student, Sociology & Social Policy
Research Interests: Political economy, markets and inequality, financialization, quantatitive methods
I am an doctoral student in Sociology & Social Policy at Harvard University and an affiliate of the Center for American Political Studies and the Institute for Quantitative Social Science. Broadly, my research investigates how various market structures and interventions affect economic inequalities at both the local and global scale.
Currently, my research focuses on U.S. housing markets, examining the intersection of local politics, financialization, liquidity, and inequality. Another strand of my work focuses on underdevelopment, utilizing nation-level heterogeneity in trade flows and macro-economic indicators to better understand post-colonial commodity dependence and natural resource exploitation in the global south.
I hold a BA in Economics and Quantitative Social Science (interdisciplinary) from Vanderbilt University. I am a lifelong Tennessean, but I have also lived briefly lived in Uppsala, Chicago, Milan, and Boston. In my spare time, I am a pick-up basketball enthusiest.
Research
Publications
N. Forster-Benson and K. Nchare. (2025). “Upzoning and Residential Transaction Price in Nashville.” Journal of Housing Economics, 70: 102104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhe.2025.102104.
Works in Progress
N. Forster-Benson and K. Nchare. “Post-Colonial Trade Distortions and Dependency: The Colonial Legacy of Portugal in Africa.” Revise & Resubmit, Journal of International Development. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4874987.
Teaching
- Economic Statistics (ECON 1500), Teaching Assistant, Fall 2024
Vanderbilt University, Department of Economics — Syllabus
Introduction to probability and inference. - Contemporary American Society (SOC 3233), Teaching Assistant, Fall 2022, Fall 2023
Vanderbilt University, Department of Sociology — Syllabus
Changes in political economy, geography, and social class stratification in the United States (1940s-present). - Cultural Production and Institutions (SOC 3202), Teaching Assistant, Fall 2023
Vanderbilt University, Department of Sociology — Syllabus
Examining the production of art and authenticity within various art fields, from the production of drill music to 15th-century Italian painting.
