Publications
Safer in School? The Impact of Compulsory Schooling on Maltreatment and Associated Harms (with Nicole Black, David W. Johnston, and Leonie Segal)
The Review of Economics and Statistics. (2025).
Abused and neglected children are at extreme risk of school dropout, poor health, and destructive behaviours, yet evidence on interventions that prevent maltreatment and its harms is limited. We use a South Australian education reform to examine whether extending the school-leaving age from 16 to 17 improves maltreatment-related outcomes. Using administrative records and regression-discontinuity techniques, we find that the reform reduced first-time cases of maltreatment reported to Child Protection Services (CPS). Among adolescents with past CPS involvement, it also reduced emergency healthcare utilisation. Our findings suggest school attendance can improve child safety, with an incapacitation effect as the likely mechanism.
Media coverage: Herald Sun, The Advertiser, The Educator, EducationHQ, Child Magazine, Monash Media Release, CHE Research Bites, Youth Jam Radio
Ungated version of the manuscript available here.
Recipient of the Best Paper/Presentation Prize at the 2022 PhD Conference in Economics and Business (link).
Previously circulated as "Compulsory Schooling and Adverse Outcomes of Maltreated Children" and "Safer in School? Compulsory Schooling Reduces Maltreatment and Associated Harms", and as my PhD thesis chapter.
Working Papers
The Earlier, the Better? School Entry and Child Maltreatment (with Nicole Black, David W. Johnston, and Leonie Segal)
Debate over the optimal school starting age has focused largely on children’s educational and developmental outcomes, with little attention given to whether starting school earlier may protect vulnerable children from maltreatment. This paper examines that possibility by exploiting a date-of-birth cut-off for school entry in Australia. We find that earlier school entry reduces the probability of a maltreatment notification from a noneducation reporter by 4.3 percentage points or 50% relative to the mean. The reduction is driven largely by fewer police notifications and notifications involving emotional abuse. In contrast, notifications from education-sector reporters are unaffected overall, reflecting offsetting changes in notifications from preschool and school-based educators. The protective effects are concentrated among children without younger siblings and extend to older siblings, with the pattern of results suggesting that relaxed childcare constraints and increased maternal employment may be important mechanisms.
Recipient of the Best Paper Award at the 2024 Australian Health Economics Doctoral (AHED) Workshop (link)
Previously circulated as "Does Schooling Reduce Child Maltreatment? Evidence from School Entry Laws in South Australia".
Burning Out? Effects of Severe Bushfires on Firefighters (with Daniel Avdic, Sonja de New, Rachel Knott, and David Lawrence)
(Under embargo by data custodians, available upon request)
Natural disasters are increasing in frequency and severity, making the retention of frontline workers an urgent priority. We examine how severe bushfires affect the labour market outcomes of Australian firefighters. Using population-level linked longitudinal administrative data and a difference-in-differences design, we find that bushfires generate significant disruptions. Exposed firefighters are 4.2 percentage points less likely to remain in their frontline occupation, experience a drop in salary or wage income, and are more likely to receive temporary income support. A triple-differences design suggests these effects reflect occupational exposure to bushfires rather than general residential displacement.
Work in Progress
Compensating Wage Differentials for Frontline Workers (with Paul Amores, Daniel Avdic, Sonja de New, Rachel Knott, and David Lawrence)
Compulsory Schooling Reduces Teen Pregnancies for Maltreated Children (with Nicole Black, David W. Johnston, and Leonie Segal)
How Does Subsidised Guardianship Affect Children in Foster Care? (with Francis Graham)
Schooling, Child Labour, and Household Violence (with Sara Hutchinson-Tovar and Giovanni van Empel)
Determinants of Reproducibility and Replicability (contributor to a large-scale meta-analysis led by Abel Brodeur, Derek Mikola, and Nikolai Cook)
Pre-analysis plan (link)