About

Alexey Makarin is an Assistant Professor of Applied Economics and a Mitsubishi Career Development Assistant Professor in International Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He also serves as a Research Fellow at CEPR Political Economy, is a member of CEPR RPN Geoeconomics, and is currently on leave from the Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF). For the academic year 2025-26, he will be on sabbatical at Harvard University, Department of Economics. His research focuses on political economy, economics of digitization, and trade. His work has been published in leading journals including the American Economic Review, Econometrica, Review of Economic Studies, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, the Economic Journal, the Journal of Development Economics, and the Journal of Public Economics. Beyond academia, his research has attracted attention from major media outlets such as the New York Times, Financial Times, The Guardian, NPR, Scientific American, The Atlantic, and Freakonomics. His research has also been cited in significant policy documents including the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health and the Economic Report of the President for 2024 and 2025. Alexey Makarin earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University in June 2019 and completed his B.A. in Economics at the Higher School of Economics. He holds dual citizenship of Moldova and Russia.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Demographic economics
• Economics
• Sociology
• Development economics
• Gender studies
• Social psychology
• International trade
• Law
• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Demography
• Medicine
• Microeconomics

Selected publications

• Social Image, Networks, and Protest Participation

  The Journal of Politics · 2026-03-02

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Threat of Sanctions

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Countering Authoritarian Censorship via Grassroots Communication Campaigns: Evidence from an Experimental Mega-Study in Wartime Russia

  Research Square · 2026-05-12

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Impact of Dating Apps on Young Adults: Evidence from Tinder

  American Economic Journal Applied Economics · 2026-03-27

  article

  Online dating apps have transformed the dating market, yet their broader effects remain unclear. We study Tinder's impact on college students using its initial marketing focus on Greek organizations for identification. We show that the full-scale launch of Tinder led to a sharp, persistent increase in sexual activity, but with little corresponding impact on the formation of long-term relationships or relationship quality. Dating outcome inequality, especially among men, rose, alongside rates of sexual assault and STDs. However, despite these changes, Tinder's introduction did not worsen students' mental health on average and may have even led to improvements for female students. (JEL I12, I23, J13, J16, L86)

  PublisherDOI

• Data and Code for: The Impact of Dating Apps on Young Adults: Evidence From Tinder

  Open MIND · 2026-03-05

  datasetOpen access

  Online dating apps have become a central part of the dating market over the past decade, yet their broader effects remain unclear. We analyze the impact of Tinder, the pioneer and market leader in the dating app space, on a segment of the population that was among the earliest adopters of this technology: college students. For identification, we rely on the fact that Tinder's initial marketing strategy centered on Greek organizations (fraternities and sororities) within college campuses. Using a comprehensive survey containing more than 1.1 million responses, we estimate a difference-in-differences model comparing student outcomes before and after Tinder's full-scale launch and across students' membership in Greek organizations. We show that Tinder's introduction led to a sharp, persistent increase in the frequency of sexual activity, but with little corresponding impact on the formation of long-term relationships or relationship quality among Greek-affiliated students. Inequality in dating outcomes increased, especially among male students. Further, we observe a rise in the incidences of sexual assaults and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). However, despite these changes, Tinder's introduction did not worsen students' mental health, on average, and may have even led to improvements for female students. We obtain similar estimates once we account for spillovers on non-Greek students. Overall, these results suggest that the transformation of dating due to dating apps has far-reaching and nuanced effects on young adults.

  OA PDFDOI

• Data and Code for: The Impact of Dating Apps on Young Adults: Evidence From Tinder

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-03-05

  datasetOpen access

  Online dating apps have become a central part of the dating market over the past decade, yet their broader effects remain unclear. We analyze the impact of Tinder, the pioneer and market leader in the dating app space, on a segment of the population that was among the earliest adopters of this technology: college students. For identification, we rely on the fact that Tinder's initial marketing strategy centered on Greek organizations (fraternities and sororities) within college campuses. Using a comprehensive survey containing more than 1.1 million responses, we estimate a difference-in-differences model comparing student outcomes before and after Tinder's full-scale launch and across students' membership in Greek organizations. We show that Tinder's introduction led to a sharp, persistent increase in the frequency of sexual activity, but with little corresponding impact on the formation of long-term relationships or relationship quality among Greek-affiliated students. Inequality in dating outcomes increased, especially among male students. Further, we observe a rise in the incidences of sexual assaults and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). However, despite these changes, Tinder's introduction did not worsen students' mental health, on average, and may have even led to improvements for female students. We obtain similar estimates once we account for spillovers on non-Greek students. Overall, these results suggest that the transformation of dating due to dating apps has far-reaching and nuanced effects on young adults.

  PublisherDOI

• A collective review on some potential negative impacts of smartphone and social media use on adolescent mental health: Results from a Delphi process

  2025-05-15 · 6 citations

  preprintOpen access

  The literature on how smartphone and social media use affects adolescent mental health is highly fragmented. To synthesize the evidence, we convened over 120 researchers with diverse perspectives to evaluate 26 commonly cited claims using a Delphi process. A large majority agree that: Adolescent mental health has declined in several Western countries; heavy smartphone and social media use can cause sleep problems; such use correlates with attention problems and behavioural addiction; among girls, social media use may be associated with body dissatisfaction, perfectionism, exposure to mental disorders, harassment and predation. Most other claims were judged to have insufficient evidence due to limited, inconsistent, or non-causal data. Researchers also raised broader concerns, including challenges in measuring mental health and establishing causality, geographic bias in existing evidence, and the need for policies that account for diverse risks and avoid unintended harms. This collective review offers a foundation for future research and policy.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Export Controls and Innovation in Sanctioned Countries

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Social media and mental health: The role of algorithms and regulation

  Econstor (Econstor) · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Causal research consistently shows - across platforms, methods, and time periods - that social media is harmful for mental health. Promising remedies include helping parents coordinate restrictions on children's use, for example, through school smartphone bans. Other proposals include disabling addictive features for broader segments of the population and enforcing greater data transparency. Regulators should nevertheless proceed with caution, since social media generates large consumer surplus, only partially explained by addictive behavior.

  PublisherOA PDF

• Trade Sanctions

  Econstor (Econstor) · 2025-01-01

  other

  How effective are trade sanctions? We study the unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia following February 2022, when Western countries banned exports accounting for 36% of Russia's prewar import value. Combining novel, hand-collected records of these sanctions with Russian customs data, firm balance sheets, domestic railway shipments, and government procurement contracts, we provide the most comprehensive analysis to date of the economic impact of trade sanctions on a target country. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find that imports of sanctioned country-product varieties into Russia saw a sharp 55% decline after the war's onset. Although we document substantial rerouting through third countries, it has not fully offset the direct import losses: total imports of sanctioned products fell by 27% through 2023. Russian firms that had relied on soon-to-be-sanctioned imports experienced a 14% decline in output during the same period, not offset by competing firms or entrants. Similar declines are present for manufacturing and technology firms, and firms along the military supply chain. Affected firms have also experienced reduced government procurement sales and incurred additional losses when their buyers or suppliers were exposed to sanctions. Overall, our findings suggest that, contrary to widespread claims of ineffectiveness, export sanctions on Russia have had far-reaching adverse effects.

  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• Рубен Ениколопов

  61 shared

• Maria Petrova

  58 shared

• Vasily Korovkin

  Pompeu Fabra University

  16 shared

• C. Kirabo Jackson

  Northwestern University

  13 shared

• Ricardo Piqué

  University of Pennsylvania

  11 shared

• Dong Zhang

  University of Hong Kong

  9 shared

• Luca Braghieri

  7 shared

• Jinfeng Wu

  Fudan University

  6 shared

Education

• Ph.D. in Economics, Economics

  Northwestern University

  2019

Awards & honors

• Research Fellow at CEPR