Hello, I'm

Artem Samiahulin

PhD Candidate in Economics

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Artem Samiahulin

I am a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. My research interests span econometrics and applied microeconomics, with a focus on developing robust inference methods for regression discontinuity designs and machine learning–based estimation techniques.

Research

Working Papers

Global Testing in Multivariate Regression Discontinuity Designs

Independent work

Regression discontinuity (RD) designs with multiple running variables arise in a growing number of empirical applications, including geographic boundaries and multi-score assignment rules. Although recent methodological work has extended estimation and inference tools to multivariate settings, far less attention has been devoted to developing global testing methods that formally assess whether a discontinuity exists anywhere along a multivariate treatment boundary. Existing approaches perform well in large samples, but can exhibit severe size distortions in moderate or small samples due to the sparsity of observations near any particular boundary point. This paper introduces a complementary global testing procedure that mitigates the small-sample weaknesses of existing multivariate RD methods by integrating multivariate machine learning estimators with a distance-based aggregation strategy, yielding a test statistic that remains reliable with limited data. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed method maintains near-nominal size and strong power, including in settings where standard multivariate estimators break down. The procedure is applied to an empirical setting to demonstrate its implementation and to illustrate how it can complement existing multivariate RD estimators.

Works in Progress

Iterated Random Forest Feasible Generalized Least Squares

with Drew Creal, Marcelo Medeiros, and Rodrigo Sarlo

Understanding the Impact of Evidence-Based Funding on Educational Outcomes: Evidence from Illinois School Districts

Independent work

Optimal Distance for Regression Discontinuity Designs

Independent work

Presentations

State Dependence and Food Stamps: Before and After the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996

27th Annual Issues of Political Economy Conference — February 2020

Curriculum Vitae

A condensed overview — download full CV (PDF)

Education

PhD in Economics

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — 2022–present

MA in Economics

University of Iowa — 2021–2022

BS in Economics

University of Scranton — 2017–2020

Experience

PhD Economics Math Camp Instructor

UIUC — August 2025

Research Assistant (A. Osman, M. Borgschulte, E. Powers)

UIUC — January 2024–present

Teaching Assistant — Principles of Macroeconomics, Economic Statistics II

UIUC — August 2023–December 2025

Teaching Assistant — Principles of Macroeconomics

University of Iowa — August 2021–May 2022

Public Policy Intern

Commonwealth Foundation — January–July 2021

Research Intern

Cato Institute — September–December 2020

Honors & Awards

Paul W. Boltz Fellowship

UIUC — 2025

Summer Research Fellowship

UIUC — 2024, 2026

Excellence in Economics

University of Scranton — 2020

Professional Activities

Reviewer, Journal of Econometrics

2026

Reviewer, Midwest International Economic Development Conference

2025

Programming

Python, R, Stata, LaTeX

Get in Touch

I'm happy to hear from fellow researchers, prospective collaborators, or anyone interested in my work. The best way to reach me is by email.

901 S 1st St Apt 12, Champaign IL, 61820

(860) 712-4760