Hi there, and welcome to my corner of the internet!

I’m Ian, a spatial economist navigating the thrilling (and occasionally chaotic) waters of the job market. This blog, Plot & Policy, is my digital lab notebook—a space to document my research, share lessons learned, and spark conversations with peers, mentors, and curious minds alike.

What to Expect Here

• Research in Progress: From half-baked ideas to polished project updates, I’ll unpack the how and why behind my work in spatial economics—think urban labor markets, regional policy impacts, or the quirks of geospatial data.
• Tools of the Trade: Coding snippets (Python/R/Julia/ArcPy), workflow hacks, and GIS mapping experiments. Because let’s face it: even economists need to debug sometimes.
• Job Market Diaries: Candid reflections on applications, interviews, and the surreal art of "selling" your research.
• Literature in Focus: Sharp (but fair!) critiques of new papers, plus deep dives into classic economic theory through a spatial lens.

Why I’m Doing This
The job market is equal parts exhilarating and exhausting. By sharing my journey—successes, stumbles, and all—I hope to demystify the process for others while building a community of thinkers who care about where economics happens, not just how.
Plus, writing about my work forces me to think harder, code cleaner, and map smarter.

Join the Conversation
This isn’t a monologue. Got feedback on a post? Spot a typo in my code? Know a paper I need to read? Drop a comment, shoot me an email, or connect on LinkedIn. Collaboration fuels good economics, and I’m here for it.

Next up: A breakdown of my job market paper’s spatial econometric model (with interactive maps!). Until then—keep plotting thoughtfully, and may your policy implications be ever significant.

— Ian Helfrich, PhD
Spatial Economist & Aspiring Tenure-Track Cartographer of Ideas 🗺️📈