I am a PhD Candidate at the Vancouver School of Economics, UBC.

    My research primarily focuses on income inequality and labour market dynamics in the context of structural change. In my job market paper, I examine how evolving consumer demand affects income inequality. I show that evolving consumption patterns play a crucial role in moderating income disparities. Changes in demand greatly offset the negative effects of technological change on income inequality.

    My other work explores the dynamics of gender gaps and labour markets with a focus on the nature of work and technical change.

    I am available for interviews in the 2024-2025 job market.

CV
Interests
  • Macro Labour
  • Income Inequality
  • Structural Change
Education

  • PhD in Economics, 2025 (expected)

    University of British Columbia, Canada

  • MA in Economics, 2018

    University of Saskatchewan, Canada

  • BA in Economics, 2014

    National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine

Working Papers

Shifting Tastes, Advancing Technologies: A New Perspective on Income Inequality
(Job Market Paper)

Mila Markevych

Rising income inequality has been a defining feature of developed economies since the 1980s, with technological change widely cited as a key driver. Yet this narrative overlooks another fundamental transformation: the dramatic evolution in how consumers spend their money. This paper shows that changing consumer demand has played a crucial role in moderating income inequality in the US over the period 1989-2021. Using a novel framework that separates demand changes from price and income effects, I demonstrate that shifts in consumption patterns have benefited workers in service-oriented sectors that have traditionally been viewed as less productive, particularly those working in routine cognitive and non-routine manual jobs. Without these demand changes, the rise in income inequality would have been 73% larger. These shifts in consumer spending resulted in a reallocation of economic activity toward sectors with lower productivity growth - a pattern consistent with Baumol's cost disease. These changes, however, are associated with more equitable income distribution, suggesting that the demand-driven slowdown in productivity growth may be associated with a trade-off between growth and equity.

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Closing the Gender Pay Gap in the US Federal Service: The Role of New Managers

Nicole Fortin, Mila Markevych and Marit Rehavi

This paper estimates the causal effect of managerial homophily (getting a same-sex manager) on employee pay in the US Federal Civil Service. Using over 30 years of detailed payroll data, we exploit the appointment of new managers in an event study design. Same-sex managers are particularly important for female employees, whose pay increases by an additional 1.5 log points relative to male counterparts. Managerial homophily operates through increases in pay grades and occupational changes. A novel finding is that these effects are heterogeneous: same-sex managers have the largest effect on employees in less routine jobs even within education levels. Far from being an artifact of a bygone age, these effects are present across the four political eras we study. We conclude that even highly regimented pay systems are not immune to discretionary managerial actions.

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Work in Progress

The Taste of Change: Theory and Evidence on Demand Driven Structural Transformation

This paper examines the role of evolving consumer preferences in driving structural change through the lens of time-varying demand shifters - Demand Growth Factors (DGFs) - in a general equilibrium model with technological change. I derive analytical solutions that demonstrate how DGFs interact with factor-augmenting technical growth rates in shaping sectoral composition. Using aggregate US expenditure data over the period 1960-2023, I provide empirical evidence of significant DGF effects driving structural change. The results show divergence in sectoral DGFs, with services outpacing manufacturing with a 5% difference in the annual demand growth rates. DGF-driven changes in consumer demand, not captured in traditional models, play a crucial role in structural transformation.

From Policy to Paycheck: How Interest Rates Shape Wages In a Model With Evolving Demand and Technologies

In this paper, I examine the effects of monetary policy on income inequality through the lens of a multi-sector general equilibrium model with technological progress and changing demand in the US over the period of 1989-2021. Production is based on a constant relative elasticity of substitution (CRESH) function, which allows for different elasticities of substitution between capital and routine and non-routine labour. Results from the counterfactual analysis show a symmetric relationship between capital prices and wages: a 10% increase(decrease) in capital prices leads to an approximately 10% increase(decrease) in wages across sectors. Lower capital prices are associated with lower income inequality, captured by the coefficient of variation (CV). In 2021, in the counterfactual where capital prices are lower by 10%, the CV is almost 50% lower.

Upskilling for the Future: The Role of Training on Labour Market Outcomes in the Era of Technological Change

This paper examines skill dynamics and importance of training on skill development and employment in Canada from 2012-2020. Using data from the Longitudinal and International Study of Adults (LISA), I examine the dynamics of six skills: leadership, writing, reading, numerical, ICT, and manual skills. I then explore the role of training on skill development and labour market outcomes in a search and matching framework with human capital heterogeneity and endogenous training decisions. In the model, workers are motivated to train to increase their stock of skills, and, therefore, wages. Firms incentivize training to improve firm-worker specific match, which determines firm's surplus. The results reveal labour market adjustment patterns consistent with routine-biased technical change. Workers either acquire new skills through training, adapting to the labour market's increasing demand for skills, or move into low-skill non-routine service jobs.

Chasing the Boom: The Role of Geographic Mobility in Gender Wage Gaps

In this paper, I examine how differences in geographic mobility between men and women shaped gender wage disparities before, during, and after the resource boom in Canada in 2003-2013. The findings reveal that the resource boom triggered significant male-dominated migration to boom regions, whereas women's geographic mobility remained comparatively limited. Although the boom raised wages across all sectors within the resource-intensive region, including supporting services with large female employment, men disproportionately captured these gains due to their higher propensity to relocate. As a result, the gender wage gap has increased, particularly in the boom regions. This paper provides evidence that gender differences in geographic mobility play a crucial role in perpetuating and exacerbating wage inequalities in the presence of geographically concentrated economic growth.

Teaching Experience

University of British Columbia

Teaching Assistant
  • ECON 336 Economic History of Canada, 2020
  • ECON 317 Poverty and Inequality, 2019-2020
  • ECON 328 Methods of Empirical Research, 2019
  • ECON 310 Principles of Microeconomics, 2018

University of Saskatchewan

Teaching Assistant
  • ECON 409 Econometrics, 2018
  • ECON 404 Econometrics, 2017
  • ECON 227 Wage Determination, 2017
  • ECON 223 Labour Economics, 2016
  • ECON 211 Intermediate Microeconomic Theory, 2016
Awards and Grants
  • Stone Centre for Wealth and Income Inequality PhD Fellowship, University of British Columbia, 2024–2025
  • SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, 2021–2023
  • 4YF Fellowship, University of British Columbia, 2021–2023
  • Research Initiative on Education + Skills (RIES), University of Toronto 2021–2022
  • British Columbia Graduate Scholarship, 2021–2022
  • President’s Academic Excellence PhD Award, University of British Columbia, 2020–2024
  • CIDER Grant in Innovative Data, co-applicant ($37,500), 2020
  • Timlin Award for best Master’s Thesis, University of Saskatchewan, 2020
  • CIDER Doctoral Fellowship, University of British Columbia, 2018–2019
  • Graduate Scholarship, University of Saskatchewan, 2016–2018
  • President’s Scholarship, National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”, 2010-2014