Working Papers
Sealing the Past: Evaluating the Effects of Clean Slate Reforms on Employment and Educational Advancement (Job Market Paper)
I explore the labor market impacts of the Clean Slate Law, a policy designed to reduce barriers to entry by automating the sealing of criminal records. Using IPUMS CPS data from seven states, I employ a difference-in-differences framework with individual fixed effects and an event study design to identify changes in employment outcomes. This is the second paper on Clean Slate reforms, focusing on policy rollouts across multiple states. I find that the Clean Slate policy increases employment by 0.33 percentage points and weekly hours worked by 0.44 hours (approximately 24 minutes). Full-time employment rises, while self-employment declines by 0.12 percentage points, suggesting a shift from informal to more stable, formal jobs. Robustness checks, including a "leave-one-out" analysis, confirm that these effects are driven by individuals transitioning from unemployment to employment. Heterogeneous effects reveal the largest gains for men aged 25–34 and those without a college degree, with blue-collar industries such as manufacturing, construction, and food services showing the most significant gains.
Long-Term Effects of Criminal Justice System Interactions When Young (coauthored with Bryan McCannon), Under Review
We explore the long-term consequences of being involved in the criminal justice system when young. Utilizing data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth we employed Coarsened Exact Matching to account for selection effects. We consider those who self-report being criminally engaged in 1997 and identify samples of those arrested and those not arrested who are observationally similar. We show that by 2019 being criminal justice-involved leads to less employment and lower incomes. Additionally, we document that these effects have grown gradually over time. Finally, we explore a potential mechanism - human capital accumulation. We find that being criminal justice involved increases the likelihood of not completing high school and reduces the total number of years of education obtained. Further, human capital interruption explains most of the later-in-life income differences.
No One Wants to Be on the List: How Public Flagging for Suspensions Shapes School Discipline
I examine the impact of an Illinois disciplinary reform policy on school suspension practices. By making high suspension rates publicly visible, the policy introduces a form of social sanction that pressures districts to adjust behavior through reputational incentives. Senate Bill 100 requires public flagging of school districts in the top 20\% for out-of-school suspension rates. Using administrative data and a sharp regression discontinuity design around the 80th percentile cutoff, I estimate the causal effect of being flagged as a high-suspension district. I find that public identification increases next-year suspension rates by 3.2 percentage points. The effect is concentrated among first-time flagged districts, with no change following mandated reporting requirements after three consecutive years. Districts just below the threshold appear to reduce suspensions to avoid being listed.
Works in Progress
The Effects of Charter Schools Openings on College Enrollment
Flames to Classrooms: The Impact of Wildfires on College Applications and Admissions in California
How Accessible Is Accessible? The Effect of Emergency Contraceptive Accessibility on Educational Outcomes
Chicken Tournaments (coauthored with Bryan McCannon and Kole Reddig)