Highlighted Publications




 

Christakis et al. (2026) examine whether adult attitudes—especially parental attitudes—support banning student smartphone access during the school day. They ask whether support for school smartphone bans is widespread across countries and which individual characteristics predict that support. They analyze cross-sectional survey data from 35,018 adults across 35 countries, using logistic regression to adjust for demographics, parental status, life satisfaction, and digital beh

Baker, Halberstam, Kroft, Mas, and Messacar (2025) ask whether faculty unionization changes the distribution of wages in Canadian higher education. They analyze longitudinal administrative salary data from 1970–2022 and link it to the staggered rollout of faculty unions. They find that unionization raises wages at the bottom of the distribution by roughly 10 percent while leaving top salaries unchanged, compressing inequality. On average, salaries rise about 2 percent in the

Dupas et al. (2025) examine whether men and women are treated differently when presenting research in economics seminars. They ask whether presenter gender affects how often and how negatively audience members interrupt speakers. They analyze detailed data on thousands of seminars, job talks, and conference presentations, combining human-coded observations with machine learning analysis of audio recordings. The authors find that women receive about 10–20 percent more interrup

Evans and Christensen (2025) ask whether banning legacy preferences in college admissions changes the racial and socioeconomic composition of enrolled students, and why effects differ across institutions. They analyze policy documents and enrollment data from seven case studies where legacy preferences were eliminated, including public systems and selective private colleges. Using before-and-after comparisons and difference-in-differences style estimates, they find mixed resu

Zhong (2024) asks whether third-grade test-based retention improves or harms students’ long-term outcomes. He examines administrative data from Texas public schools linked to college enrollment records and state earnings data, following students from third grade into their mid-20s. Using a regression discontinuity design around the reading test promotion cutoff, he finds that retention briefly raises test scores but increases absenteeism, violent behavior, and juvenile crime.

Cohodes and Pineda (2025) ask whether attending Massachusetts charter schools affects students’ college preparation, enrollment, and degree completion, and whether these effects differ between urban and nonurban schools. They analyze randomized admission lottery data from Massachusetts charter schools between 2002 and 2014, linked to state education records and National Student Clearinghouse college data. They find that urban charter schools substantially increase test scores

Bowden, Rodriguez, and Weingarten (2025) examine whether relaxing high-school grading standards reduces student effort and learning. They use statewide administrative data from North Carolina (2013–2019), linking exact birthdates, course grades, absences, and ACT scores. They find that the shift to a more lenient 10-point scale mechanically raised GPAs by about 0.13 points (roughly 4.8%) but caused meaningful declines in effort: absences rose 22% (about 1.3 days) and numeric

Crema (2025) investigates whether charter school openings increase racial segregation within traditional public school classrooms. She analyzes North Carolina administrative data covering 97 charter openings from 1997–2015, along with classroom-level records showing the racial composition of students in grades 1–5. She finds that segregation in nearby public schools rises as soon as a charter opening is announced, before any students transfer. Classroom segregation increases

The study asks whether providing free universal preschool for 3- and 4-year-old children in disadvantaged Arab communities in Israel improves long-term educational and social outcomes. Using administrative data that follow nearly 85,000 children from early childhood through young adulthood, the authors analyze test scores, high school completion, college enrollment, juvenile crime, and early marriage. They find substantial gains: high school graduation rises by 2.8 percentage

The study asks whether intensive college advising helps low-income students earn bachelor’s degrees and why it works. The authors use data from a multisite randomized controlled trial, baseline surveys, advisor–student interaction records, and National Student Clearinghouse enrollment data. They find that advising increases four-year college enrollment by about 9 percentage points and raises bachelor’s degree completion by 7.6 percentage points within five years—about a 16 pe

This study asks whether giving teachers detailed maps of their students’ classroom social networks can reduce social isolation and antisocial behavior. Using data from an RCT in 46 Italian primary schools, the researchers analyzed friendship nominations, incentivized games measuring sabotage and cooperation, and surveys on student well-being. The intervention reduced the share of children reporting no classroom friends by 1.5 percentage points (a 50% relative decrease) and cu

The study asks whether having more classmates whose parents hold advanced degrees increases a student’s chances of entering highly selective university programs. Using Norwegian administrative data that follow students from middle school through early adulthood, the authors link each student to detailed records on peers, parents, grades, university enrollment, and earnings. They find that a one–standard deviation increase in exposure to such peers raises selective-degree enro

This article reviews evidence from recent randomized controlled trials and lottery studies, comparing them with older, small-scale interventions. Across studies, modern preschool programs produce much smaller short-term gains (about 0.21 SD vs. 0.45 SD in earlier programs) and show faster fadeout, with impacts shrinking by 62% within a year. The Policy Scientist's Perspective This article addresses an important policy question: why the measured impacts of preschool have weake

This study asked whether federal and state Universal Free School Meal (UFSM) policies increased student participation in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP). Using school-level meal claims from 25 U.S. states between 2019 and 2024, the authors conducted a difference-in-difference analysis. They found that federal UFSM policies during the COVID-19 pandemic raised participation by 10 percentage points for lunches and 8 for breakfasts. Whe

This article asks why U.S. K–12 academic achievement has been declining since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Using national and state NAEP data from 2009–2019, along with supporting evidence from TIMSS and SEDA, the study finds that achievement losses began around 2013 and were especially large among low-performing students. Scores at the 10th percentile in eighth-grade math fell by about 0.17 standard deviations—roughly equivalent to 4.5 months of learning. The analysis shows

This study asks whether changes in state NAEP math scores predict long-term economic and social outcomes for the students who experienced them. The authors link state-level 8th-grade NAEP math results from 1990–2019 to later-life data from the Census, American Community Survey, and FBI crime records. They find that a one–standard deviation increase in 8th-grade math scores is associated with about an 8% rise in adult earnings, higher educational attainment, and lower rates of

This study asked how the design of Virginia’s “Get a Skill, Get a Job, Get Ahead” (G3) tuition-free college program affected community...

This study asks how the COVID-19 pandemic affected student learning trajectories in Michigan, particularly in math and reading....

This study examines whether a weighted-student funding pilot in Nevada improved school expenditures and student achievement. Researchers...

This study asks how the duration and timing of childhood net worth poverty (NWP)—household wealth below 25% of the federal poverty...