Publications

Job Market Paper

Labor Market Deregulation and Deaths of Despair

Published in Job Market Paper (Dissertation Chapter 1) — draft dated September 2, 2026, 2026

Using OECD employment protection indicators and WHO mortality data for 26 advanced economies (1998–2019), I show that major employment-protection deregulation reforms are followed by a significant rise in drug-related and suicide mortality within five years, with no corresponding rise in alcohol-related mortality — effects moderated by health-system effectiveness, income support, and poverty.

Recommended citation: Chung, Nara. "Labor Market Deregulation and Deaths of Despair." Job Market Paper, Colorado State University.
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Working Papers and Work in Progress

Local Financialization, Financial Distress, and Deaths of Despair

Published in Work in Progress (Dissertation Chapter 3), 2026

Work in progress. Proposes a two-stage least squares design linking local financialization to household financial distress and, in turn, to deaths of despair at the state and county level.

Recommended citation: Chung, Nara. "Local Financialization, Financial Distress, and Deaths of Despair." Work in progress, Colorado State University.

The Addicted Predator–Prey Model: How Opioid Use Disorder Shapes Productivity and Growth-Cycle Dynamics

Published in Working Paper (Dissertation Chapter 2), with Marwil J. Dávila-Fernández, Colorado State University; posted on arXiv (econ.GN), October 2026, 2026

With Marwil J. Dávila-Fernández. Extends the Goodwin growth-cycle model by letting the probability of opioid use disorder fall with the wage share; using U.S. state-level data for 1998–2019, the resulting system admits a limit cycle, and policies that weaken the link between income and OUD stabilize the dynamics.

Recommended citation: Chung, Nara, and Marwil J. Dávila-Fernández. "The Addicted Predator–Prey Model: How Opioid Use Disorder Shapes Productivity and Growth-Cycle Dynamics." Working paper, arXiv:2610.10356 [econ.GN], 2026.
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Peer-Reviewed Publications

Adopting Conceptual Metaphors as a Persuasive Device in Learners’ Argument

Published in The Korean Journal of Applied Linguistics, 34(4): 25–51, 2018

Pre-Ph.D. publication in applied linguistics.

Recommended citation: Chung, Nara. (2018). "Adopting Conceptual Metaphors as a Persuasive Device in Learners' Argument." The Korean Journal of Applied Linguistics, 34(4): 25–51.

Nara Chung