Valerie Michelman

I am an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Delaware. I work in the fields of labor and public economics. My research spans topics in gender, inequality, innovation, and education.

CV (link)

Working Papers

Sex, Drugs, and R&D: Missing Innovation from Regulating Female Enrollment in Clinical Trials [paper link]

with Lucy Msall

Abstract: Data from human subjects are a critical input to innovation; however, some demographic groups are systematically underrepresented. In this paper, we study whether a policy that restricted female enrollment in drug trials shaped the direction of drug innovation in the late 20th century. From 1977-1993, U.S. regulatory guidance was that early-stage drug trials should not enroll pre-menopausal women. This increased development costs and uncertainty for drug candidates targeting predominantly female diseases. We find the 1993 removal of this guidance led to a large and sustained increase in female-focused drug patenting: the share of drug patents with a female focus increased 1.5-2 percentage points (38-51%). Our estimates imply 200-268 fewer female-focused drug candidates entered development during the guidance period, 17-58 of which would have been approved but for the exclusionary guidance.

Rewarding Degrees or Distorting Retention? Teacher Salary Reform in North Carolina [paper link]

Abstract: Productivity returns to years of experience are high in teaching, especially early in a teacher’s career. Therefore, education reforms that unintentionally increase teacher turnover may harm students by exposing them to less experienced teachers. In this paper, I study how a widely used feature of teacher pay—higher pay for teachers with graduate degrees—impacts early-career teacher turnover by rewarding longevity in the profession. My setting is North Carolina, where the state eliminated the 10% pay premium for degrees earned after 2013. I document that the elimination of the graduate degree pay premium coincided with a 57% decline in degree attainment rates in the years after implementation. Using a difference-in-differences design comparing teachers exposed to the policy change to those grandfathered into the premium, I estimate that equalizing pay across teachers’ education levels increases early-career turnover rates by 14%. Using a life-cycle model of educational investments and occupational sorting, I propose an alternative policy design that can achieve the intended effect of no longer rewarding graduate degrees without simultaneously incentivizing attrition.

Publications

Old Boys' Clubs and Upward Mobility Among the Educational Elite [paper link] [appendix]

with Joseph Price and Seth D. Zimmerman

Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2022

Abstract: This paper studies how exclusive social groups shape upward mobility and whether interactions between low- and high-status peers can integrate the top rungs of the economic and social ladders. Our setting is Harvard in the 1920s and 1930s, where new groups of students arriving on campus encountered a social system centered on exclusive old boys’ clubs. Combining archival and Census records, we first show that students from prestigious private feeder schools are overrepresented in old boys’ clubs, while academic high achievers and ethnic minorities are almost completely absent. Club members earn 32% more than other students and are more likely to work in finance and join country clubs, both characteristic of the era’s elite. We then use random variation in room assignment to show that exposure to high-status peers expands gaps in college club membership, adult social club membership, and finance careers by high school type, with large positive effects for private school students and zero or negative effects for others. To conclude, we turn to more recent cohorts. We show that the link between exclusive college clubs and finance careers persists across the 20th century even as Harvard diversifies, and that elite university students from the highest-income families continue to outearn their peers.

Selected Work in Progress

The Full Cost of Children

with Todd Jones and Ezra Karger

Snob Appeal

with Florian Caro, Guillermo Carranza Jordan, and Seth Zimmerman

Pre-Doctoral Publications and Policy Briefs

The Struggle to Pass Algebra: Online vs. Face-to-Face Credit Recovery for At-Risk Urban Students [paper link]

with Jessica B. Heppen, Nicholas Sorensen, Elaine Allensworth, Kirk Walters, Jordan Rickles, Suzanne Stachel Taylor

Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2017

The Back on Track Study: Using Online Courses for Credit Recovery [policy brief link]

with Jessica B. Heppen, Nicholas Sorensen, Elaine Allensworth, Kirk Walters, Peggy Clements, Suzanne Stachel Taylor

The Educational Attainment of Chicago Public Schools Students: A Focus on Four-Year College Degrees [policy brief link]