Simon Alder is Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests are growth and development, trade, macroeconomics, and political economy. One of Simon's current research focus is the role of transport infrastructure for regional economic development and inequality and how transport networks can be designed to maximize their impact. He also works on structural change, i.e. how countries evolve from agricultural to manufacturing and service economies during their development process. Simon Alder received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Zurich and he joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2014.