Dara Lee Luca

Select Publications

• Examining the Consequences of Poor Neonatal Health on the Family (with Purvi Sevak), Journal of Demographic Economics, 2022, 1-29.

• Evaluating Teen Options for Preventing Pregnancy: Impacts and Mechanisms (with Jack Stevens, Dana Rotz, and Brian Goesling), Journal of Health Economics, 2021 (77): 1024-59.

• Improving the Earnings of Youth with Health Limitations: Evidence from the Job Corps Program (joint with Heinrich Hock, Tim Kautz, and David Stapleton). Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 2021: 1-21.

• Using Machine Learning to Estimate the Incidence of Unintended Pregnancy at the Sub-State Level and Identify Hot Spots for Intervention: An Application to Missouri. (with Keith Kranker, Sarah Bardin, and So O’Neil). PLoS ONE,  2020, 15(10), e0240407.

• Financial Toll of Untreated Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders Among 2017 Births in the United States (with Caroline Margiotta, Colleen Staatz, Anna Christensen, and Kara Zivin.) American Journal of Public Health, 2020, 110(6): 888-896.

• The Role of Non-Attorney Representation in the SSDI Determination Process: A Case Study of One Prominent Intermediary. (with Yonatan Ben-Shalom.) Journal of Disability Policy Studies. 2020. Online first.

• The Impact of School Improvement Grants on Practices and Student Outcomes: Findings from a National Evaluation Using a Regression Discontinuity Design (with Lisa Dragoset, Jaime Thomas, Mariesa Herrmann, John Deke, Susanne James-Burdumy) The Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2019, 12(2): 215-250.

• Impact of Pneumococcal Vaccination on Pneumonia Hospitalizations and Related Costs in Ontario: A Population-Based Ecological Study (with Jeff Kwong, Anna Chu, Beate Sander, Ryan O'Reilly, Allison McGeer, David Bloom). Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2017, 66(4), 541-547. 

• The Effectiveness and Effects of Alcohol Regulation: Evidence from India (with Emily Owens and Gunjan Sharma). IZA Journal of Development and Migration, 2019, 9(4)

• Can Alcohol Prohibition Reduce Violence Against Women? (joint with Emily Owens and Gunjan Sharma). American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, 2015, 105(5): 625-29.

• Do Traffic Tickets Reduce Motor Vehicle Accidents? Evidence from a Natural Experiment. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2015, 34(1): 85-106) (Media coverage: The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, The Seattle Times)

• The Impact of Repealing Sunday Closing Laws on Educational Attainment. Journal of Human Resources, 2013, 48(2):286-310.

• Higher Education and Economic Growth in Africa (with David E. Bloom, David Canning, and Kevin Chan) 2014. International Journal of African Higher Education 1(1): 22-57.

Working Papers

• No Shots, No School: The Effects of School Entry Vaccination Requirements on Vaccine Uptake and Morbidity. Revision requested, Journal of Health Economics.

• Understanding the Local-Level Predictors of Disability Program Flows: New Adult Awards and Beneficiary Work Activity (with Jody Schimmel Hyde, Jonathan Swabish, Paul O'Leary) Center of Retirement Research Working Paper 2021-22

• Employment Outcomes for Social Security Disability Insurance Applicants Who Use Opioids (with April Wu, Denise Hoffman, Paul O'Leary)  Center of Retirement Research Working Paper 2022-1.

• Survival of the Fittest? The Impact of the Minimum Wage on Firm Exit (with Michael Luca) NBER Working Paper No. 25806. (Media coverage: The Washington Post, The New York Times,  the LA Times, the Economist, Forbes, Bloomberg, the Atlantic, NPR, Marketplace, CBS, San Francisco Chronicle, KQED, Buzzfeed, SFGate, Vice) Under review.

• The Returns to Parental Health: Evidence from Indonesia (with David E. Bloom) NBER Working Paper No. 25304 

• Scheduling Uncertainty and Employment of Young Adults with Disabilities (with Purvi Sevak) Center of Retirement Research Working Paper 2020-05

• Child Disability, Maternal Labor Supply, and Household Well-Being (with Purvi Sevak) Disability Research Consortium Working Paper 2019-09.

• The Digital Scarlet Letter: The Effect of Online Criminal Records on Crime.

Selected Policy Reports

• Health Care Transitions for Individuals Returning to the Community from a Public Institution: Promising Practices Identified by the Medicaid Reentry Stakeholder Group. Report to Congress. US Department of Health and Human Service. January 2023.

• Marijuana Health Baseline Study: Estimating the Fiscal Impacts of Marijuana Legalization (with Aparna Keshaviah, Eric Morris, Sarah LeBarron, Colleen Staatz, and David Jones). Boston, MA: Massachusetts Department of Health. 2019

• Accelerating Teen Pregnancy Prevention in Phillips County, Arkansas and Coahoma County, Mississippi (with Katie Adamek, Sarah Bardin, So O'Neil). Mathematica Policy Research.

• Final Impacts of the AIM 4 Teen Moms Program (with Reginald Covington, Brian Goesling, Christopher Trenholm, Jennifer Manlove, Kate Welti, Pamela Drake, and Jill Glassman). Washington, DC: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Adolescent Health, February 2017. 

• Final Impacts of the Teen Options to Prevent Pregnancy Program (with Dana Rotz, Brian Goesling, Elizabeth Cook, Kelly Murphy, and Jack Stevens). Cambridge, MA: Mathematica Policy Research, July 2016.

• Societal Costs of Untreated Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders in the United States (with Kara Zivin, Nellie Garlow, Colleen Staatz, Caroline Margiotta, Kara Zivin). Mathematica Policy Research, 2019. 

• Outcomes from a Certification Program for Early Career Professionals in Supply Chain Management (with Nan Maxwell, Sarah Dolfin, Julie Bruch). Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research, 2017.

• Estimating Program Effects on Program Participants. Evaluation Technical Assistance Brief for OAH Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Grantees. Office of Adolescent Health. 2017

• The State of the World Population Report 2016. (with David Bloom, Jeffrey Edmeades, Gretchen Luchsinger, Louise Searle, Lyric Thompson, Ayla Black, Rachel Clement, Alyssa Lubet, Johanne Helene Iversen, Michael Kuhn, Kristine Husøy Onarheim, Klaus Prettner). New York, NY: United Nations Population Fund. (Media coverage: Reuters, Daily Mail, The Guardian, Le Monde, La Tribune, RFI Espanol, La Repubblica)

Book chapters

• Luca, Dara Lee, and David E. Bloom. “The Global Demography of Ageing: Facts, Explanations, Future.” In Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edited by J. Piggott, and A. Woodland. Amsterdam, North Holland: Elsevier, vol. 1, 2016, pp. 3-56.

• Luca, D., Iversen, J., Lubet, A., Mitgang, E., Onarheim, K., Prettner, K., & Bloom, D. (2018). Benefits and Costs of the Women’s Health Targets for the Post-2015 Development Agenda. In B. Lomborg (Ed.), Prioritizing Development: A Cost Benefit Analysis of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 244-254). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108233767.014. See 1-page summary here (Media coverage: TIME magazine)