Research
I like thinking about broadly defined human capital production function. My primary fields of interest are education, family, health and labor. You can find my CV here.
My RePEc profile can be viewed here.
Published, forthcoming, and accepted
The gift of a lifetime: The hospital, modern medicine, and mortality (with Alex Hollingsworth, Melissa Thomasson, and Anthony Wray), American Economic Review, accepted
Paper Working Paper Pre-publication version
(Breaking) intergenerational transmission of mental health (with Aline Bütikofer, Rita Ginja, and Fanny Landaud), Journal of Human Resources, forthcoming
Paper Working Paper
Lifetime and intergenerational consequences of poor childhood health (with Anthony Wray), Journal of Human Resources , forthcoming
Paper Working Paper Latest pre-publication version
Males at the tails: How socioeconomic status shapes the gender gap (with David Autor, David Figlio, Jeffrey Roth and Melanie Wasserman), Economic Journal, 2023, 133(656), 3136-3152
Effects of maturing private school choice programs on public school students (with David Figlio and Cassandra Hart), American Economic Journal: Economic Policy , 2023, 15(4), 255-294.
Paper Working Paper Latest pre-publication version Education Week Forbes Education Next U.S. News CATO Institute The 74
Setting a good example? Examining sibling spillovers in educational achievement using regression discontinuity design (with Umut Özek), Journal of Human Resources , 2023, 58(5), 1567-1607.
The effects of incentivizing early prenatal care on infant health (with Kamila Cygan-Rehm), Journal of Health Economics, 2022, 83, 102612.
Sibling spillovers (with Sandra Black, Sanni Breining, David Figlio, Jonathan Guryan, Helena Skyt Nielsen, Jeffrey Roth and Marianne Simonsen), Economic Journal, 2021, 131(633), 101-128.
The effects of student composition on teacher turnover: Evidence from an admission reform, Economics of Education Review, 2020, 75, 101960.
"Birth order and delinquency: Evidence from Denmark and Florida" (with Sanni Breining, Joseph Doyle, David Figlio and Jeffrey Roth), Journal of Labor Economics, 2020, 38(1), 95-142.
"Small-for-gestational age birth confers similar educational performance through middle school" (with Gustave Falciglia, David Figlio, Craig Garfield, Karna Murthy and Jeffrey Roth), Journal of Pediatrics, 2019, 212, 159-165.e7.
"Family disadvantage and the gender gap in behavioral and educational outcomes" (with David Autor, David Figlio, Jeffrey Roth and Melanie Wasserman), American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2019, 11(3), 338-381.
Paper Working Paper New York Times Washington Post The Atlantic New York Times
"Long-run consequences of exposure to natural disasters" (with Anthony Wray), Journal of Labor Economics, 2019, 37(3), 949-1007.
Paper Working Paper Policy Brief
"School starting age and cognitive development" (with Elizabeth Dhuey, David Figlio and Jeffrey Roth), Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2019, 38(3), 538-578.
Paper Working Paper Wall Street Journal Quartz Education Week NPR Newsweek The 74 Independent Today
"Evidence that prenatal testosterone transfer from male twins reduces the fertility and socioeconomic success of their female co-twins" (with Aline Bütikofer, David Figlio, Christopher Kuzawa and Kjell Salvanes), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019, 116(14), 6749-6753.
Paper Erratum Science PBS NOVA Newsweek New Scientist Telegraph New York Times Independent IFLScience
"Socioeconomic status and genetic influences on cognitive development" (with David Figlio, Jeremy Freese and Jeffrey Roth), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017, 114(51), 13441-13446.
"Who gets to look nice and who gets to play? Effects of child gender on household expenditure" (with Michal Myck), Review of Economics of the Household, 2017, 15(3), 925-944.
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"Educational performance of children born prematurely" (with Gustave Falciglia, David Figlio, Craig Garfield, Jonathan Guryan, Karna Murthy and Jeffrey Roth), JAMA Pediatrics, 2017, 171(8), 764-770.
"The promise of administrative data in education research" (with David Figlio and Kjell Salvanes), Education Finance and Policy, 2017, 12(2), 129-136.
"For some mothers more than others: How children matter for labour market outcomes when both fertility and female employment are low" (with Michal Myck), Economics of Transition, 2016, 24(4), 705-725.
"Long-term cognitive and health outcomes of school-aged children who were born late-term vs full-term" (with David Figlio, Jonathan Guryan and Jeffrey Roth), JAMA Pediatrics, 2016, 170(8), 758-764.
"School quality and the gender gap in educational achievement" (with David Autor, David Figlio, Jeffrey Roth and Melanie Wasserman), American Economic Review Papers & Proceedings, 2016, 106(5), 289-295.
Paper Working Paper Washington Post New York Times VOX
"Education research and administrative data" (with David Figlio and Kjell Salvanes), Handbook of the Economics of Education, 2016, Volume 5, 75-138.
"The effects of poor neonatal health on children's cognitive development" (with David Figlio, Jonathan Guryan and Jeffrey Roth), American Economic Review, 2014, 104(12), 3921-3955.
Paper Working Paper New York Times The Onion
Working papers
Competitive Effects of Charter Schools (with David Figlio and Cassandra Hart)
Using a rich dataset that merges student-level school records with birth records, and leveraging three alternative identification strategies, we explore how increase in access to charter schools in twelve districts in Florida affects students remaining in traditional public schools (TPS). We consistently find that competition stemming from the opening of new charter schools improves reading—but not math—performance and it also decreases absenteeism of students who remain in the TPS. Results are modest in magnitude.Cultural Integration in the Classroom: The Role of Students, Parents, and Teachers (with Alexandra de Gendre, Nicolas Salamanca, and Yves Zenou) [email me for a draft; Best Paper Award at the 2023 Australian Labour Econometrics Workshop]
We develop and empirically test a theory of integration of minorities in the classroom that incorporates endogenous responses of majority students, their parents, and teachers in these classrooms. Using a unique policy that randomly assigns children to classrooms in Taiwanese middle schools and rich survey data, we show that exposure to Indigenous students lowers the test scores of the majority students. These negative effects are primarily due to the aforementioned endogenous responses rather than direct peer effects. Our theory and results question the reduced-form interpretation of commonly used linear-in-means peer effect models.Getting a Second Chance? Prenatal Health Shocks and Infant Health Care (with Aline Bütikofer and Ingrid Semb) [email me for a draft from NBER SI]
Prenatal health insults have negative consequences on adult outcomes while post-natal policies were shown to benefit treated children. Here, combining two orthogonal difference-in-differences designs, we document that access to health care center at ages 0-1 reduces the negative effects of prenatal influenza exposure on completed years of education, lifetime earnings, and adult health. This suggests that health interventions early in childhood can compensate for the adverse health shocks experienced in-utero.Swallow This: Childhood and Adolescence Exposure to Fast Food Restaurants, BMI, and Cognitive Ability (with Sara Abrahamsson and Aline Bütikofer)
Using spatial and temporal variation in openings of fast food restaurants in Norway between 1980 and 2007, we study the effects of changes in the supply of high caloric nutrition on the health and cognitive ability of young adult males. Our results indicate that exposure to these establishments during childhood and adolescence increases BMI and has negative effects on cognition. Heterogeneity analysis does not reveal meaningful differences in the effects across groups, including for those with adverse prenatal health or high paternal BMI, an exception being that cognition is only affected by exposure at ages 0--12 and this effect is mediated by paternal education.Sibling Spillovers May Enhance the Efficiency of Targeted School Policies (with David Figlio and Umut Özek) Fordham #1 Fordham #2 The 74
Public policies often target individuals but within-family externalities of such interventions are understudied. Using a regression discontinuity design, we document how a third grade retention policy affects both the target children and their younger siblings. The policy improves test scores of both children while the spillover is up to 30% of the target child effect size. The effects are particularly pronounced in families where one of the children is disabled, for boys, and in immigrant families. Candidate mechanisms include improved classroom inputs and parental school choice.Permanent working papers (i.e., dead projects)
The Global COVID-19 Student Survey: First Wave Results (with David Jaeger, Jaime Arellano-Bover, Marta Martinez-Matute, John Nunley, Alan Seals, and 37 others)
University students have been particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We present results from the first wave of the Global COVID-19 Student Survey, which was administered at 28 universities in the United States, Spain, Australia, Sweden, Austria, Italy, and Mexico between April and October 2020. The survey addresses contemporaneous outcomes and future expectations regarding three fundamental aspects of students' lives in the pandemic: the labor market, education, and health. We document the differential responses of students as a function of their country of residence, parental income, gender, and for the US their race.