His research and teaching focus on economic history and development. Research topics include the 1930s American Dust Bowl and long-run adjustment to environmental change; the 1880s introduction of barbed wire fencing and the effects of property rights on agricultural development; and agglomeration spillovers generated by large manufacturing plant openings in the 1980s. Richard received his PhD in economics from MIT in 2009, and a BA in economics from the University of Chicago in 2004.