Faculty and PhD Researcher Discussion about the future of research in Economics and Education
Panel discussed the methods, research questions, and careers at the frontier of the field and take questions from the audience.
Watch the Panel:
Our Panelists:
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Dr. Natalie Bau
Assistant Professor of Economics, UCLA
PhD In Public Policy, Harvard University, 2015
https://sites.google.com/site/nataliebau/
Research Interests: Development and Education, Industrial Organization of Education Markets
"Natalie Bau is an assistant professor of economics and holds a joint appointment with the department of public policy. She has held positions at the University of Toronto and the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She has published papers in leading economics journals, including the Journal of Political Economy and the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Her research spans a variety of topics in development and educational economics, including the effects of cultural traditions on economic decision-making and the industrial organization of educational markets."
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Dr. Peter Q. Blair
Assistant Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
PhD in Applied Economics, University of Pennsylvania, 2015
Research Interests: Education and the Labor Market, Labor Market Discrimination, Occupational Licensing, Residential Segregation and Educational Outcomes
"Dr. Peter Q. Blair is on the faculty in the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University where he co-directs the Project on Workforce. He serves as a Faculty Research Fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and the Principal Investigator of the BE-Lab – a research group with partners from Harvard University, Clemson University, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His group’s research focuses on the link between the future of work and the future of education, labor market discrimination, occupational licensing, and residential segregation. Dr. Blair received his Ph.D. in Applied Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, his M.Sc. in Theoretical Physics from Harvard University, and his B.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics from Duke University. He is the youngest of his parents’ seven sons, and got his start understanding markets by selling fruit and vegetables in the Bahamas in the Nassau Straw Market with his brothers."
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Dr. Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela
Research Economist, Centre for Economic Performance - London School of Economics
PhD in Economics, European University Institute, 2014
https://sites.google.com/site/ruizvalenjenifer/
Research Interests: Links Between Education and the Labor Market, Intergenerational Labor Market Effects, Vocational education, Educational Inequalities
“Jenifer received her Phd in Economics from the European University Institute in Florence. She started working at CEP as a Research Economist in August 2014, in the Education and Skills group. She is also the Research Coordinator of the Centre for Vocational Education Research at the LSE. She previously worked as a consultant for the Economics directorate of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and as a Junior Economist at the Bank of Spain. Her research spans a variety of topics in the Economics of Education including: the impacts of parental job loss and job insecurity on child outcomes, the consequences of marginally failing high-stake exams, the value-added of post-16 institutions and gender gaps in education, among other research areas.”
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Dr. Breyon Williams
Researcher, Mathematica Policy Research
PhD in Economics, University of South Carolina, 2019
Research Interests: Early Childhood Education, Free School Lunch Programs, Financial Aid in Higher Education
"A native of Columbia, South Carolina, I graduated from C. A. Johnson High School in 2008. I received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (2012), a Master of Arts in Economics (2013), and a Ph.D. in Economics (2019), all from the University of South Carolina. Previously, I served as Program Coordinator for the South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office. As an applied microeconomist, my research is broadly in the fields of labor economics and public economics, with much of my current research focused in the economics of education. Through research, my goals are to emphasize the important role that education plays in enhancing economic and social outcomes and recommend public policy proposals that induce market efficiency. I am happy to be affiliated with both the Ph.D. Project and the American Economic Association's Pipeline Mentoring Program. I also served as an AEA Summer Fellow with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in 2017."
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