Highlighted Publications




 

Johnson (2026) examines whether occupational licensing in the United States improves service quality or mainly raises costs and wages for licensed workers. She draws on national labor force data, prior empirical studies, and policy evidence across occupations and states. The evidence shows that licensing is associated with higher wages—often around 15 percent—and in some cases about 4 percent higher over time, while its effects on employment are mixed. Most studies find littl

Reinmuth and Rockall (2025) examine whether stronger enforcement of non-compete agreements reduces innovation. They analyze U.S. state-level changes in enforceability from 1991–2016, using patent data from the USPTO, firm data from Compustat, and business formation data. They find that increases in enforceability significantly reduce innovation, with patenting declining by about 14% after five years for an average policy change. The negative effects are larger for more novel

Bendtsen (2026) examines whether reducing administrative burdens increases the take-up of social benefits. He analyzes data from 51 field experiments covering 187 treatment effect sizes across multiple countries and programs. Using a meta-analytic framework, he compares interventions that reduce learning demands (information) versus compliance demands (assistance), and distinguishes between application and actual receipt outcomes. He finds that interventions raise application

Weil (2026) asks how continued low fertility would affect the US standard of living, especially age-adjusted consumption per capita. He uses demographic models, stable population simulations, National Transfer Accounts data, and projections of fertility, age structure, and economic variables. He finds that lower fertility modestly reduces long-run living standards, mainly through higher old-age dependency, but this is partly offset by lower investment needs. Quantitatively, r

Nemati (2026) asks whether water-efficiency building codes actually reduce household water use once homes are occupied. He examines monthly residential water billing records from two large water districts in Riverside County, California, linked to property characteristics and weather data. The study compares homes built just before and just after the California Green Building Standards Code (CALGreen) took effect. Nemati finds that homes built under CALGreen use about 11–12 p

Yim (2026) asks whether being assigned to early morning college classes changes students’ academic outcomes and long-term academic paths. He analyzes administrative data from Purdue University covering several thousand freshman course enrollments after the university introduced a system that effectively randomized class times across course sections. The study links course schedules to grades, later STEM course enrollment, major choice, and expected earnings by major. Yim find

Clemens, Montenegro, and Pritchett (2019) ask whether international migration can help match countries with shrinking labor forces to those with rapidly growing working-age populations. They examine global demographic projections and economic data on labor supply, migration flows, and wage differences across countries. Their analysis shows that many high-income countries will experience large declines in working-age populations, while many lower-income countries will see larg

Jensen and Zhang (2024) study whether the death of a parent affects the labor market outcomes of adult children. They ask whether parental loss leads to changes in earnings, employment, or work behavior. They analyze large administrative data linking Danish adults to their parents, tracking employment and earnings before and after a parent’s death. They find that parental death causes measurable declines in labor market performance. Adult children experience short-term earnin

Hensvik and Jävervall (2024) ask whether increased school competition reduces parental “voice,” measured through formal complaints about schools. They analyze administrative complaint data from Sweden’s national education authorities and link it to changes in local school competition following the expansion of independent schools under the voucher system. They find that greater competition is associated with fewer parental complaints to regulators. A one–standard deviation in

Shakya (2026) asks whether participation in a pre-collegiate summer bridge program improves early college outcomes for economically disadvantaged and first-generation students. He analyzes student-level administrative data from a large U.S. public land-grant university, focusing on applicants to the Bridge Scholars Program between 2016 and 2022. Using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design based on a $16,000 Expected Family Contribution eligibility cutoff, he estimates causa

Postel (2026) asks how U.S. immigration policy has shaped the scale, composition, and socioeconomic outcomes of Asian immigration over time. She synthesizes historical census data, immigration records, and prior empirical studies covering the mid-1800s through 2019, focusing on major origin countries such as China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam. She finds that policy shifts—especially the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act—produced dramatic population gr

Hahn, Hendren, Metcalfe, and Sprung-Keyser (2025) ask which climate policies generate the largest social welfare gains per dollar of government spending. They analyze evidence from 96 U.S. climate-related tax and spending policies evaluated using experimental or quasi-experimental methods over the past 25 years. Using the marginal value of public funds (MVPF) framework, they estimate each policy’s benefits relative to its fiscal cost. They find subsidies for clean electricity

Cordova-Ramos et al. (2026) examine how U.S. preterm birth rates vary over time by household income and whether racial and ethnic disparities persist across income groups. They analyze nationally representative Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data covering 411,469 mother–infant dyads from 2011–2021. They find that preterm birth rates increased among households below 200% of the federal poverty level but remained stable among higher-income households. Overa

Crespin (2025) examines whether publicly releasing school social climate ratings affects housing prices and the socioeconomic sorting of homebuyers. He studies a plausibly exogenous information shock in Chicago in 2011, when school climate reports were first made public. He links parcel-level housing transaction data from Zillow (ZTRAX) with homebuyer income data from HMDA and school administrative records. He finds that homes zoned to the highest-rated schools saw price incr

Hase and Kasinger (2025) examine whether organized retail crime leads stores to raise prices and how those increases affect consumers. They study the Washington State cannabis market, matching store-level robbery and burglary data to detailed scanner data covering every retail transaction between 2018 and 2021. Using a difference-in-differences design, they find that victimized stores raise prices by about 1.8 percent within four months of a crime. Nearby rival stores raise p

Lawson and Sass (2026) study how teachers’ effectiveness changed when schools shifted from in-person to remote instruction. They ask whether the move to online learning altered relative teacher performance and which teacher traits predicted success. They analyze matched student–teacher administrative data from three large metro-Atlanta districts, using fall-to-winter math and reading test score growth for grades K–8. They find that variation in teacher effectiveness increased

Lin et al. (2026) examine whether state-level flavored e-cigarette sales bans are associated with changes in e-cigarette initiation. They ask if living in a state with a comprehensive flavor ban reduces the likelihood that never-users begin using e-cigarettes. They analyze data from Waves 4–7 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study (2017–2023), focusing on adolescents, young adults, and adults who had never used e-cigarettes at baseline. They find that

Singh, Zhou, Curtis, Maher, and Dumuid (2026) examined how after-school social media use is associated with adolescent well-being across development. They asked whether the relationship is nonlinear and whether it differs by age and sex. The study analyzed data from the South Australian Wellbeing and Engagement Collection, including 100,991 students (173,533 observations) from grades 4–12 between 2020 and 2022. They found a U-shaped pattern: moderate users generally showed th

Landon and Pope (2026) study whether changing how schools schedule instructional time—specifically longer school days paired with fewer school days—affects student achievement and teacher turnover  . They ask whether reallocating the same total annual instructional hours alters productivity. Using administrative data from over 2 million Los Angeles Unified School District students (2002–2012) and policy-driven calendar changes, they estimate causal effects. They find minimal

Wheldon, Tallapragada, and Thompson (2025) examine whether political ideology is associated with trust in scientists as sources of cancer information in the United States. They analyze cross-sectional data from the 2024 Health Information National Trends Survey, a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults. They find that overall trust in scientists is high (86%), but it declines as respondents become more politically conservative. Each one-point shift toward conservatis

Blazar et al. (2026) examine whether access to Maryland’s Teacher Academy (TAM) increases entry into teaching. They ask if a high school “grow-your-own” pathway affects students’ later education, careers, and earnings. They use statewide administrative data linking K–12 records, college enrollment and degrees, teacher employment, and unemployment insurance wages. They find that TAM exposure increased the probability of becoming a teacher by 0.6 percentage points, a 45% rise o

Wright, Arora, and Wright (2025) examine whether a non-binding commitment pledge combined with goal setting affects student achievement  . They ask if having students state a target grade, identify study actions, and sign a pledge improves academic performance. The study uses a randomized field experiment in four Principles of Macroeconomics sections at a public university, analyzing survey responses and official course records. Although treated students pledged higher grades

Gagliarducci, Paserman, and Patacchini (2025) examine whether hurricanes influence legislators’ support for climate-related environmental policy. They analyze data on federal disaster declarations (1989–2020) matched to U.S. House districts, combined with records of sponsorship and cosponsorship of “green” bills. They find that representatives from hurricane-hit districts are more likely to support environmental legislation, especially in the year after a storm. The effect is

Ebinger et al. (2025) investigated how the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires affected local residents’ health. They asked whether emergency department encounters for specific illnesses increased during and after the fires. The study analyzed Cedars-Sinai emergency encounter data from 39 affected or adjacent zip codes, comparing the 90 days post-fire with the same calendar periods in 2018–2024 using interrupted time series models. They found significant excesses in acute pulm