Using variation in the wage schedule of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), I document the effects of higher wages in this historical public hiring program. Higher WPA wages led to greater WPA employment but did not reduce unemployment levels. Impacts on private wages were unlikely to be equivalent in size but may have been small. Higher WPA wages did not influence the characteristics of WPA employees or their overall careers but had spillovers to WPA households. Teenage boys in WPA households were less likely to drop out early, and WPA households were more likely to have unmarried teenage girls at home.

I study the impact of financial stress on the incidence of harassment and discrimination using Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) charges brought forward by United States Postal Service workers. An analysis of more than 800,000 EEO charges filed between 2004 and 2019 demonstrates that financial stress experienced in the second week of the pay cycle increases EEO incidents by about 5 percent compared with the first week. Further analyses suggest that the uncovered effects are driven by changes in the number of incidents rather than in their reporting.

I examine the move from phone to online Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) reporting at the United States Postal Service (USPS) to identify the causal impact of grievance procedure use. This shift led to a large increase in sex-based complaints at the USPS in areas with greater access to broadband. However, I observe no commensurate change in sex gaps related to turnover, hiring, and promotions. My results suggest that a 10 percent increase in sex-based complaints changes the female share in separations or hires by less than 1 percent. Increased investment in grievance procedures appears unlikely to significantly influence discrimination outcomes.

I study the impact of extreme heat on the incidence of harassment and discrimination using data on Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) charges brought forward by US Postal Service (USPS) workers. I analyze more than 800,000 EEO charges filed between FYs 2004 and 2019. I find that heat stress experienced on days when maximum temperatures exceed 90°F increases EEO incidents by roughly 5% relative to days when temperatures are between 60°F and 70°F. The uncovered effect is widespread across the USPS and appears to be driven by changes in the number of incidents rather than in their reporting.

The authors explore the educational response to fracking—a recent technological breakthrough in the oil and gas industry—by taking advantage of the timing of its diffusion and spatial variation in shale reserves. They show that fracking has significantly increased relative demand for less-educated male labor and increased high school dropout rates of male teens, both overall and relative to females. Estimates imply that, absent fracking, the teen male dropout rate would have been 1 percentage point lower over the period 2011–15 in the average labor market with shale reserves, implying an elasticity of school enrollment with respect to earnings below historical estimates. Fracking increased earnings and job opportunities more among young men than male teenagers, suggesting that educational decisions respond to improved earnings prospects, not just opportunity costs. Other explanations for the findings, such as changes in school quality, migration, or demographics, receive less empirical support.

The IRS Data Retrieval Tool, a financial aid simplification tool accessed by 7 million students (nearly 40% of FAFSA filers) a year, was suddenly removed during the middle of the 2017 application cycle. Exploiting variation in 1,600 institutional deadlines influencing the amount of time students lacked access to the tool, I find a null effect of its paperwork reduction properties on college access outcomes. Form simplification alone seems unlikely to have the same beneficial impacts as personal assistance in the college financial aid setting, calling into question the notion that small hassle costs by themselves meaningfully deter program take-up.