Research

The Long-Run Effects of Temporary Protection from Deportation (Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2024, With Rhiannon Jerch) (CGO Working Paper) (Published Paper)

This paper estimates the effect of Temporary Protected Status, a temporary work legalization policy, on the incomes and investments of Salvadoran recipients over twenty years.  We employ a difference-in-difference strategy that compares likely undocumented Salvadoran immigrants who moved to the United States between 1991 and 2000 to likely undocumented immigrants from other Central American countries.  We find that earnings, homeownership rates, and car commute rates increased considerably for Salvadoran adults for at least twenty years following the granting of TPS.  Our study suggests that even temporary and limited legal status can have substantial and sustained economic benefits for recipients.

Teaching Discrimination in Introductory Economics: An Approach Incorporating Stratification Economics (Accepted at Journal of Economic Education, With Mary Lopez) (Link)

We describe how instructors can incorporate Stratification Economics into coverage of discrimination in introductory economics. Stratification Economics is a subfield of economics that provides a framework for understanding how collective action to maintain relative group position can create and sustain economic inequality. We illustrate how Becker’s employer discrimination model can be modified to incorporate collective action by identity groups and we demonstrate how game theory can be used to help students understand the formation and maintenance of group identity. Finally, we show how instructors can use discussion of the racial wealth gap as an opportunity for students to apply elements of the SE framework. Introducing a more relatable and relevant discussion of discrimination and inequality can deepen students’ appreciation for and understanding of economic theory. 

The Effects of Children’s Safety on Parenting Strategy (Link) (Journal of Black Political Economy, 2023)

I develop and test a model that explains high rates of discipline among disadvantaged parents. In the model, children choose levels of delinquent behavior while discounting future consequences, and parents regulate their children through discipline and investment in self-control. The model predicts that parents discipline more when their children have more opportunities to make consequential mistakes. I test this model by estimating the effect of attending a dangerous or disorderly school on parental discipline, controlling for family, neighborhood, and school characteristics. Because dangerous schools more directly affect children than parents, dangerous schools are most likely to affect parenting due to parent’s concern about their child’s environment, rather than parent’s own stress, social isolation, or finances. I find that a 1 SD increase in school disorder is associated with a 0.11 SD increase in harsh parental discipline, with larger effects for poor and Black households.

Professional Interactions and Hiring Decisions: Evidence from the Federal Judiciary (With Eleonora Pataccini and Marco Battaglini, Journal of Labor Economics 2023) (NBER Paper) (Published Paper)

We examine the effect of hearing cases alongside female judicial colleagues on the probability that a federal judge hires a female law clerk. Federal judges are assigned to cases and to judicial panels at random and have few limitations on their choices of law clerks: these two features make the federal court system a unique environment in which to study the effect of professional interactions and beliefs in organizations. We constructed a unique dataset by aggregating federal case records from 2007-2017 to collect information on federal judicial panels, and by merging this data with judicial hiring information from the Judicial Yellow Book, a directory of federal judges and clerks. We find that a one standard deviation increase in the fraction of co-panelists who are female increases a judge’s likelihood of hiring a female clerk by 4 percentage points. This finding suggests that increases in the diversity of the upper rungs of a profession can shift attitudes in a way that creates opportunities at the entry level of a profession. 

Do Wages Fall when Women Enter an Occupation?  New Evidence using an Instrumental-Variables Approach  (Labour Economics, January 2022) (link)

I present the first causal evidence on the effect of the entry of women into occupations on the wages of those occupations.  To determine the causal effect of a change in gender composition, I construct a shift-share instrument that interacts the dramatic increase in the relative educational attainment and workforce participation of women from 1960-2010 with the relative likelihood of men and women to enter the occupation.  I find that a 10 percentage-point increase in the fraction of females within an occupation leads to an 8 percent decrease in average male wage and a 7 percent decrease in average female wage in the concurrent census year. Over the 10 years following the change in the gender composition, I find that the effect of such an increase in the fraction of females grows to a 9 percent decrease in male wages and an 13 percent decrease in female wages.  I present suggestive evidence attributing this finding to effects of gender composition on the prestige and amenity value of occupations.

Does Familiarity Breed Contempt? Interracial Interactions, Racial Polarization, and Hiring Decisions in the Federal Judiciary (With Eleonora Patacchini) (Link)

We study the effect of hearing cases alongside nonwhite judicial colleagues on the probability that a federal judge hires a nonwhite law clerk. Federal judges are assigned to judicial panels at random and have few limitations on their choices of law clerks. Using a unique dataset of federal case records merged with judicial hiring information, we find suggestive evidence that White judges who are randomly assigned to cases at higher rates with nonwhite colleagues are less likely to hire nonwhite law clerk. This finding presents a surprising contrast to prior work in Battaglini, Harris, Patacchini (2021) which found strong positive effects on interaction with female colleagues on hiring of women.

When and For Whom is Discrimination Profitable? An Exploration of Stratification Economics (SSRN)

DATA ANALYSIS OF POLICING AND HUMAN RELATIONS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY SUBURBAN POLICE DEPARTMENTS An Analysis of Suburban Policing Activity in Glendale, Pasadena, and South Pasadena (Link) (LA Times Coverage)

This report examines arrest records from Glendale, South Pasadena, Pasadena, and Los Angeles. In Section 1, we present an overview of arrest trends in each city over the past ten years. In Section 2, we examine the demographics of individuals facing arrest, and compare them to the demographics of the cities themselves and explore how these vary among arrested residents versus non-residents. Section 3 examines changes in the level and disposition of arrests in each city and examines the effect of Proposition 47 in producing changes in the rate of arrest for drug and property offenses. Section 4 examines the geography of arrest within each city. Section 5 examines the use of cash bail in Glendale and Pasadena and jail time awarded in Pasadena. Section 6 suggests further avenues for data transparency and analysis.  

Glendale Arrests: Prevalence, Racial Disparities, and Implications (With Seva Rodnyansky, Sarah Yi, Rayhon Choudhry and Alexis Martinez (Link)

We examine records of all arrests conducted by the Glendale Police Department from 2011-2019.  During this time period, the Los Angeles Police Department reduced its rate of arrest by 50%, from 42 arrests per thousand residents to 22 arrests per thousand residents.  During the same time period, the Glendale Police Department saw virtually no change in arrests per resident or in arrests per year.  We find that these differences are driven by an expansion in the rate of low-level arrests in Glendale, particularly for drug possession offenses that were downgraded to misdemeanors in 2015.  Because Black residents of Glendale are arrested at three times the rate of other Glendale residents, this stance toward minor crime has a particularly large impact on Black residents.

Dispatch and Arrest Trends in South Pasadena: Analysis of Arrests and Dispatches from 2012 to 2021 in South Pasadena, CA (With Seva Rodyansky, Jazz Henry, Delphi Drak-Muede, Rayhon Choudhry, and Alexis Martinez) (Link)

Does Subsidizing Earned Income Improve Child Development?

I estimate the effect of subsidizing earned income through the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on parental investment in children and child development.  I exploit differences in knowledge about the EITC schedule between Southern and non-Southern households identified by Chetty, Freidman and Saez (2013) to perform a difference in difference estimation on Southern and non-Southern households with earnings above and below the minimum income to attain the maximum earned income tax credit benefit.  Because households without knowledge of the EITC schedule will not act on the incentives provided by the EITC toward increased work, this comparison tests the effect of EITC work incentives on parental behavior.  Using the NLSY, I find that EITC work incentives increase parental investment in children, while causing both increased cognitive achievement and increased behavior problems in children.

The Impact of Marriage Bars on Gender Composition of Teachers and on Teacher's Wages (Joint with Mallika Thomas)