Experience
Senior Economist, Wayfair, January 2022 - now
Applied Economist, Wayfair, July 2020 - December 2021
Education
Ph.D. Candidate, Economics, University of Texas at Austin, May 2020
M.S., Economics, University of Texas at Austin, 2017
B.A., Economics, Mathematics, Brigham Young University, Cum Laude, 2015
References
Sandra Black (co-chair), Department of Economics, Columbia University, sblack@columbia.edu
Richard Murphy (co-chair), Department of Economics, University of Texas at Austin, richard.murphy@austin.utexas.edu
Jason Abrevaya, Department of Economics, University of Texas at Austin, abrevaya@austin.utexas.edu
Stephen Trejo, Department of Economics, University of Texas at Austin, trejo@austin.utexas.edu
Teaching and Research Fields
Fields: Labor Economics, Economics of Education, Public Finance, Applied Microeconomics
Sub-Fields: Education, Gender, Family
Honors, Scholarships, and Fellowships
University of Texas Summer Research Fellowship, 2019
University of Texas Graduate School Fellowship, 2015-2016
Research Experience and Other Employment
Research Assistant, “College Selectivity and Educational Outcomes: Evidence from the Texas Ten Percent Plan,” Sandra Black (Columbia University), Jesse Rothstein (UC Berkeley), Jeff Denning (Brigham Young University), 2016-2019
Research Assistant, “Using Incentives to Encourage Healthy Eating in Children”, “Lunch Recess and Nutrition: Responding to Time Incentives in the Cafeteria”, Joseph Price (Brigham Young University), 2013-2015
Teaching Experience
Labor Economics, University of Texas at Austin, Teaching Assistant for Professor Stephen Trejo, 2019
Labor Economics, University of Texas at Austin, Teaching Assistant for Professor Sandra Black, 2018
Economics of Education, University of Texas at Austin, Teaching Assistant for Professor Richard Murphy, 2018
Labor Economics, University of Texas at Austin, Teaching Assistant for Professor Stephen Trejo, 2017
History of Economics, University of Texas at Austin, Teaching Assistant for Professor Patrick van Horn, 2016
Introduction to Microeconomics, University of Texas at Austin, Teaching Assistant for Professor Michael Hickenbottom, 2015
Econometrics, Brigham Young University, Teaching Assistant for Professor Richard Butler, 2014
Introduction to Game Theory, Brigham Young University, Teaching Assistant for Professor Val Lambson, 2014
Papers
Does Paid Family Leave Increase Fertility? Evidence from California” (Journal of Labor Research, 2022)
Literature on the labor market and health effects of paid family leave largely overlooks the impacts on fertility, particularly in the United States. Increased childbearing following the introduction of a modest paid family leave policy in the U.S. could explain the contrasting short–term gains and long–term losses in women’s labor market outcomes found in recent work. We exploit the nation’s first paid family leave program, implemented in California in 2004. Using the universe of U.S. births and a difference-in-differences strategy, we find that access to leave increases fertility by 2.8 percent, driven by higher order births to mothers in their 30s, as well as Hispanic mothers and those with a high school degree. Our results are robust to corrective methods of inference, including synthetic controls. Our findings may inform the discussion of a national paid family leave policy.
“Does College Access Increase High School Effort? Evaluating the impact of the Texas Top 10% Rule on Disadvantaged Students” (Revise and Resubmit at Journal of Public Economics)
I study how the Texas Top 10% rule, which guaranteed state college admission to all Texas high school students in the top decile of their graduating classes, affected student effort and achievement in high school. The new admissions regime not only increased access to Texas flagships for top students at disadvantaged schools, but potentially made college seem more attainable for all students at these schools by providing increased information about the college admissions process and increasing the incidence of college-going among peers. Using administrative data from Texas and a difference-in-differences framework, I show that the admissions regime change significantly impacted high school student effort. As a result of the policy, students at disadvantaged high schools increase their attendance and are more likely to graduate. These students also perform better on high school exit exams, fail fewer courses in high school, and become more likely to enroll in a state higher education institution. Notably, positive effects are not concentrated only among students likely to qualify for automatic admission but throughout most of the achievement distribution.