My research is in labor and gender economics, with a focus on families and inequality. I study how firm and government policies shape outcomes for families and individuals, and how those effects vary by socioeconomic status, gender, and race.
The Gendered Effects of Work-from-Home on Spousal Labor Market Outcomes
with Shelby Buckman
Working paper (draft expected winter)
Supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the NBER Gender in the Economy Fellowship
We study how firm hybrid and full-time work-from-home policies affect families’ labor market outcomes. We link detailed firm-level work-from-home information to Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) Census data and use an intent-to-treat event-study design. Preliminary results suggest that when husbands work from home, their wives are more likely to join the labor force and remain attached to it; when wives work from home, husbands are more likely to look for new jobs, potentially ones that are farther away or a better fit. Ongoing work examines how these effects interact with earnings and non-market outcomes such as mobility and partnership dissolution.
Do Employment Dynamics Explain the Black-White Earnings Gap? The Dual Roles of the Wage and Separation Gaps
with Johannes Schmieder, Savannah Kochinke, and Adrien Bilal
Working paper
Supported by the Russell Sage Foundation
We study whether employment dynamics help explain the Black–White earnings gap, focusing on the dual roles of wage gaps and separation gaps. Using restricted Census Bureau data, we examine how firm dynamics and differential hiring and firing practices by race have shaped outcomes for Black and white workers over time. Our goal is to better inform targeted policy aimed at continuing to shrink this gap.
Parental Participation in a Pandemic Labor Market
with Olivia Lofton and Nicolas Petrosky-Nadeau
FRBSF Economic Letter 2021-10, April 2021
Letter · PDF · Working paper
We compare employment and labor force participation for mothers, fathers, and non-parents during 2020. Gender gaps largely reflect differences across parents: fathers’ participation fell much less, while mothers’ recovery was weaker, especially around the school year. Schedule flexibility appears more helpful for mothers’ employment than the ability to work from home. Presented at the Canadian Economics Association, Summer 2021.
The Impact of Children’s Disabilities on Families
with Herdis Steingrimsdottir and Snaebjorn Gunnsteinsson
Accepted, Journal of Human Resources
PDF
We study how having a child with a severe disability affects families’ long-term labor market and demographic outcomes. Using Danish administrative data and an event-study design, we find that a child’s severe disability reduces families’ long-term earnings, career progression, and fertility. We then examine the Danish transfer system. Wage-replacement transfers for parents who cannot work because of caregiving more directly help mothers and fathers with higher socioeconomic status, while transfers for additional expenses appear to help families across the socioeconomic distribution. These findings suggest that policymakers may want to increase information about income-replacement policies, or expand transfer opportunities for mothers of lower socioeconomic status, to make support more equal across families.
The Economic Gains from Equity
with Shelby R. Buckman, Laura Y. Choi, and Mary C. Daly
Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Fall 2021
Article · PDF
We estimate how much larger U.S. GDP would have been from 1990–2019 if labor market outcomes by race and ethnicity were more equitable. Closing gaps in employment, hours, education, educational utilization, and earnings implies large aggregate gains—measured in trillions of dollars of GDP. My contribution focused especially on measuring underutilization of educational attainment in occupations by demographic group.
Replicating and Projecting the Path of COVID-19 with a Model-Implied Reproduction Number
with Shelby R. Buckman, Reuven Glick, Kevin J. Lansing, and Nicolas Petrosky-Nadeau
Infectious Disease Modelling 5 (2020): 635–651
Journal · FRBSF working paper
We build a SEIR model that matches daily infected cases by backing out a model-implied reproduction number, then project the path of COVID-19 and relate declines in mobility to declines in transmission.
The Unequal Impact of COVID-19: Why Education Matters
with Mary C. Daly and Shelby R. Buckman
FRBSF Economic Letter 2020-17, June 2020
Letter · PDF
We show that workers without a college degree faced the most severe labor market disruptions early in the pandemic. Education insulated attachment in part through job type and telework feasibility, highlighting how COVID-19 widened existing inequalities.
The Highs and Lows of Productivity Growth
with Andrew Foerster and Christian Matthes
FRBSF Economic Letter 2020-21, August 2020
Letter
Using a regime-switching model, we find persistent high- and low-productivity-growth regimes over time and project expected productivity growth forward.
Permanent and Transitory Effects of the 2008–09 Recession
with Andrew Foerster
FRBSF Economic Letter 2020-36, November 2020
PDF
We separate permanent and cyclical components of GDP around the Great Recession and show that the downturn lowered the trend level of GDP, leaving output in 2019 below what pre-recession trends would have implied.