I am an economist with research interests in international trade and macro development. I received my Ph.D. in Economics from UCLA.
I am an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Yale School of Management.
I am also an Associate Editor at the Journal of International Economics and a Faculty Research Fellow at the NBER.
Media coverage: La Nación, New York Times, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Fortune, National Public Radio, Cointelegraph, Christian Science Monitor, Forbes, BBC, CNBC, Marginal Revolution, Frankfurter Allgemeine, UCLA's Research Spotlight, Cato Institute, VoxDev, Yale Insights
Research Papers
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Multinationals, Monopsony, and Local Development: Evidence from the United Fruit Company with Esteban Méndez
Econometrica, 2022
Online Appendix. Supplementary Online Appendix. 7-minute video by Econimate. Podcast by Trade Talks.
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Are Cryptocurrencies Currencies? Bitcoin as Legal Tender in El Salvador with Fernando Alvarez and David Argente
Science, 2023
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Voting on a Trade Agreement: Firm Networks and Attitudes Towards Openness with Esteban Méndez
Review of Economic Studies, lead article, 2025
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Strategic Complementarities in a Dynamic Model of Technology Adoption: P2P Digital Payments
with Fernando Alvarez, David Argente, Francesco Lippi, and Esteban Méndez
American Economic Review, revise and resubmit (2nd round)
NBER Working Paper No. 31280​
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Cross-Border Product Adoption: Individual Imports, Migrant Networks, and Domestic Retailers
with David Argente and Esteban Méndez
Quarterly Journal of Economics, revise and resubmit
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Payment-Chain Crises with Saki Bigio and Esteban Méndez
Econometrica, reject and resubmit
with Lee Ohanian, Paulina Restrepo-Echavarría, and Mark Wright
International Economic Review, revise and resubmit
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Other Work
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The Dismantling of Capital Controls After Bretton Woods and Latin American Productivity
AEA, Papers and Proceedings, 2022
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Global Firms and Local Development with Esteban Méndez
Book Chapter, in “Roots of Underdevelopment: A New Economic (and Political) History of Latin America and the Caribbean." Palgrave, Macmillan. 2022
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Drivers of Digital Payment Adoption: Lessons from Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico
with David Argente, Paula Gonzalez Alvarez, and Esteban Méndez ​
IMF Economic Review, in preparation for conference issue “From Micro to Macro: Leveraging Microdata to Address Macroeconomic Issues”
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Work in Progress
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De Minimis as a Constraint on Local Retail Market Power with David Argente and Esteban Méndez ​
Detour Ahead: Market Frictions and Path Dependence in Transport Networks with Marta Santamaría
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The Legacy of Corporate Culture: How Multinational Exposure Reshapes Local Identity with Esteban Méndez
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On the Resilience of Payment Methods with Fernando Alvarez and David Argente
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Personalized Recommendations and Product Innovation with David Argente, Maria Trejos and Kai Hao Yang
Contact
Email: diana.vanpatten@yale.edu
Mailing Address:
Diana Van Patten
Yale School of Management
Evans Hall
165 Whitney Avenue
New Haven, CT 06511​