Publications

“Long Run Effects of School Starting Age on Health,” with Briggs Depew.  Health Economics, 27(12): 1904-1920.

School starting age has been shown to have long‐run effects that persist throughout adolescence and into adulthood. Using variation from state‐level school starting age laws in the United States, we find that males who are older when they enter school are more likely to have higher levels of self‐reported health later in life. We are largely able to rule out education and labor market outcomes as significant channels for this finding. Building from the previous studies that have found conflicting evidence on the effect of school starting age on educational attainment and labor market outcomes in the United States, we find that school starting age decreases the likelihood of high school completion among males but has no significant effect for females. We do not find that labor market outcomes are affected by school starting age.

“Information Sensitivity of Corporate Bonds: Evidence from the COVID-19 crisis,” with Meredith Rhodes.  Finance Research Letters, 42(2021):101911. 

We explore the information sensitivity of corporate bonds throughout the COVID-19 crisis by examining whether there is a differential market response to firms with high operating leverage. Our results show that investors appear to discriminate based on firm operating leverage, which estimates the inability to adjust operating inputs quickly. Spreads of high operating leverage firms increase by 70 basis points upon the Fed’s corporate credit facilities announcement, while spreads from all other firms decreased, indicating concern about potential downgrades. When the facilities expanded, which made some downgraded firms eligible, spreads declined by 146 basis points for highly leveraged firms.

“Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers: Nationwide Impact on Abortion Access, Abortion Rates, and Birth Rates.” Journal of Population Economics, 35, 1443-1472 (2022). 

This paper analyzes the impact of supply-side abortion restrictions on aggregate abortion and birth rates in the United States. Specifically, I exploit state and time variation in the implementation of the first targeted regulation of abortion provider (TRAP) law in a state to identify the effects of the laws. I find that TRAP laws are associated with a reduction in the abortion rate of approximately 5% the year the first law is implemented and an average reduction of 11-14% in subsequent years. There is also evidence that TRAP laws increased birth rates by 2-3%, which accounts for approximately 80-100% of the observed decline in abortion rates.

“Sample selection models with common endogeneity in the selection and outcome: Revisiting the family gap,” with Riju Joshi. Applied Economic Letters, 1-4 (2023).
In this paper, we develop a fully parametric estimation procedure for unbalanced panel data models with unobserved effects that allow for a common binary endogenous variable in both the selection equation and the outcome equation. We study the problem in the framework of a switching regression model and obtain correction terms that account for sample selection and the common endogenous dummy simultaneously and describe a two-step estimation procedure. We test the finite sample properties of the estimator using Monte Carlo simulations and find that our estimator performs better in the presence of high endogeneity and high sample selection compared to the estimators that ignore either or both of these issues. We apply our econometric methodology to estimate the effect of fertility decisions on wages for white women using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) data from 1982-2006.

“Debt Financing, the Pandemic, and Federal Reserve Interventions,” with Takeshi Nishikawa and Meredith Rhodes. Journal of Financial Research (2024).  
Using data on newly issued corporate bonds and syndicated loans, we examine the effects of the Federal Reserve's interventions during the pandemic on corporate debt activity. We document heterogeneous effects for participation rates across firm credit ratings and debt maturity, consistent with a default risk channel of policy transmission. Investment-grade firms disproportionately participate in debt markets following the Fed’s announcements, which is driven by the riskiest firms (A and BBB ratings). We also find that BBB and BB-rated firms drive increased participation in short-term debt markets. These results provide evidence that the Fed’s interventions improved credit market access to investment-grade firms and the highest-rated noninvestment-grade firms. 

“Effect of e-cigarette regulations on smoking and vaping behaviour: evidence from Washington,” with Riju Joshi. Applied Economics, 1–15 (2025).
In June 2016, Washington state passed a bundle of regulations targeting electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). In this article, we explore the impact of these regulations on traditional cigarette smoking and e-cigarette use by adults in Washington state. Using the data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System from 2011 to 2019 and difference-in-differences analysis, we find a 7.2% reduction in the average rates of 30–49-year-old adults who reported currently smoking and a 7% reduction in the average rates of 50–64-year-old adults who reported smoking every day. Additionally, we find that older men were less likely to have quit smoking. Using data from the Tobacco Use Supplement to the CPS, we explored the effect of these regulations on e-cigarette use, and overall, we found suggestive evidence that the Washington regulations were associated with reduced e-cigarette use. These findings suggest that Washington’s regulations may be associated with a reduction in both e-cigarette and cigarette use, though further research is needed to determine the welfare implications of such policies.

​“Do Gun-Purchase Waiting Periods Save Lives?” with Mitch Priestley (Former Master's in Economics Student PSU '23). Health Economics (2025).
We study the impact of gun‐purchase waiting periods on suicide rates using county‐level mortality data from 1991–2019. We find that waiting periods are associated with a reduction in both firearm and overall suicide rates of approximately 5% and 2%, respectively. Novelly, we find that counties that are within 50 miles from a state without a waiting period experience no statistically significant reduction in suicides. Our findings reveal that the decrease in suicides under a waiting period is driven by counties that are more than 50 miles from a non‐restricted neighboring state.