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
Civil rights protests and election outcomes: Exploring the effects of the Poor People's Campaign (with Mark Anderson, Kerwin Charles, Daniel Rees and Camila Steffens), Explorations in Economic History , 2025, 97, 101686.
Lifetime and intergenerational consequences of poor childhood health (with Anthony Wray), Journal of Human Resources , 2025, 60(1), 187-223.
The gift of a lifetime: The hospital, modern medicine, and mortality (with Alex Hollingsworth, Melissa Thomasson, and Anthony Wray), American Economic Review, 2024, 114(7), 2201-2238 (winner of Quality of Research Discovery Award from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association)
(Breaking) intergenerational transmission of mental health (with Aline Bütikofer, Rita Ginja, and Fanny Landaud), Journal of Human Resources, 2024, 59(Supplement), S108-S151.
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.
Paper Working Paper Old Working Paper
"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 (links to originally released working papers. Most of these projects are actively being updated so email me for the latest drafts)
Birth Order in the Very Long-Run: Estimating Firstborn Premiums between 1850 and 1940 (with Angela Cools, Jared Grooms, Siobhan O'Keefe, Jospeh Price and Anthony Wray)
The nineteenth-century American family experienced tremendous demographic, economic, and institutional changes. By using birth order effects as a proxy for family environment, and linked census data on men born between 1835 and 1910, we study how the family's role in human capital production evolved over this period. We find firstborn premiums for occupational outcomes, marriage, and fertility that are similar across census waves. Our results indicate that the returns to investments in the family environment were stable over a long period.Protecting older workers in the labor market: Externalities and "deadwood labor" effects (with Paweł Chrostek and Michał Myck) [supersedes Labor Market Externalities of Pre-retirement Employment Protection]
Using population-level administrative data, we study labor market effects of age-specific employment protection legislation (EPL). Our results show no economically meaningful overall effects of the EPL on employment or earnings of workers approaching eligibility. Considering separately incumbents and non-employees we find small positive and small negative employment effects for the two groups, respectively. Supplemental analysis, based on removal of the protection for retirement-eligible workers, is consistent with modest ``deadwood labor'' effects. Information asymmetry and age-at-coverage effects are plausible explanations for our findings.Market effects of charter school penetration (with David Figlio and Cassandra Hart) [supersedes Competitive Effects of Charter Schools]
Using matched student-level birth and school records from Florida, coupled with quasi-experimental methods based on birth location, we explore how charter school penetration affects public sector student outcomes. Overall, charter school penetration boosts reading but not math scores, and reduces absence rates. We also find evidence of complementarity between charter school density and private school voucher competition that is limited to absences. We document potential mechanisms for the charter school penetration effects, including peer effects, class size, teacher experience, and teacher racial/ethnic composition.Integrating Minorities in the Classroom: The Role of Students, Parents, and Teachers (with Alexandra de Gendre, Nicolas Salamanca, and Yves Zenou) [Best Paper Award at the 2023 Australian Labour Econometrics Workshop]
We develop a multi-agent model of the education production function where investments of students, parents, and teachers are linked to the presence of minorities in the classroom. We then test the key implications of this model using rich survey data and a mandate to randomly assign students to classrooms. Consistent with our model, we show that exposure to minority peers decreases student effort, parental investments, and teacher engagement and it results in lower student test scores. Observables correlated with minority status explain less than a third of the reduced-form test score effect while over a third can be descriptively attributed to endogenous responses of the agents.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)