Research

Dude, Where's My (Summer) Job? Minimum Wages and Student Employment

with John Krieg and Darius Martin (R&R, CEP).

Abstract: We use rich administrative data to study the employment and income effects of minimum wage changes in Washington State for a group of workers with relatively low work experience who may be particularly sensitive to changes in the minimum wage: university students. Using a within-student estimator and quarterly work records, we consistently find that rising minimum wages negatively impact summer employment and income, the quarter in which students tend to work the most. However, students appear to offset reduced summer employment with higher earnings during the rest of the year.

Friends Don't Let Friends Drop Out

(2023) with John Krieg and Darius Martin (Education Economics).

Abstract: We combine administrative data from a regional public university with a novel revealed-preference indicator of student friendships to show that socially connected first-year university students are more likely to be retained into the second year. The impact of friends on retention is statistically and economically significant: each friend raises the probability of retention by about 0.6 percentage points, an effect size roughly equivalent to 66 SAT points. This effect occurs in the presence of a robust set of explanatory variables, including unique indicators of a student’s prior commitment to the university, and applies to a wide variety of student subgroups.

Getting into the Weeds: Does Legal Marijuana Access Blunt Academic Performance in College?

(2020) with John Krieg. Economic Inquiry, 58(2), 607-623.