Research

Peer-Reviewed Publications (with hyperlinks)

 

• ​"Education and Partisanship" (Sole Author), Conditionally Accepted at The American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. [Working Paper] [SOCAE 2022 Best Paper Award] Media Coverage: The Boston Globe, Marginal Revolution

  • Previously circulated as: "The Effect of Selective Colleges on Student Partisanship"

  • Summary: Admission to highly selective UC campuses as well as compulsory high school education in Florida and California reduce students’ odds of registering to vote as Republicans later in life.​

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• ​"Nonresident Tuition and Human Capital Flows: Evidence from a Lottery" (Sole Author), Conditionally Accepted at The American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. [Working Paper] 

  • Summary: An RCT shows that $10,000 in nonresident tuition relief costs a university $835 net but increases long-run in-state retention and local earnings by about $25,302 in present value, implying profit-maximizing tuition is too high from the state’s perspective, with effects driven by inframarginal and out-of-state students.​

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• ​"Help Really Wanted? The Impact of Age Stereotypes in Job Ads on Applications from Older Workers" (with Ian Burn, Daniel Ladd, and David Neumark), Forthcoming at The Journal of Labor Economics Vol. 44 (4), October 2026. [NBER Working Paper 30287] Media Coverage: The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Barron's, MarketWatch

  • Summary: Subtle ageist language in job ads deters older workers from applying, shifting the applicant pool’s age distribution roughly as much as direct age discrimination in hiring.​

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• "Do Tuition Subsidies Raise Political Participation?" (with Igor Geyn), Forthcoming at The American Economic Journal: Economic Policy Vol. 17 (4), pg. 354-378, November 2025. [Working Paper]

  • Summary: Tuition-free college and the Pell Grant boost recipients’ voter turnout rates, highlighting the large civic returns to education subsidies.

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• "Economic Distress and Electoral Consequences: Evidence from Appalachia" (Sole Author), The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 106 (3), pg. 778-793, May 2024. [A. Kimball Romney Award] 
  [Open Access Manuscript] Media Coverage: The Boston Globe

  • Summary: County-level economic distress declarations raised Democratic candidate vote share in subsequent elections, demonstrating that salient information about local poverty can change votes.

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• "The Impact of Post-Admission Merit Scholarships on Enrollment Decisions and Degree Attainment: Evidence from Randomization" (Sole Author), The Economics of Education Review Vol. 84, 102221, February 2022.

  • Summary: Merit scholarships effectively recruit disadvantaged students, but reduce graduation rates for others by reducing the quality of campuses they attend, suggesting merit aid is more effective when means-tested.

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Special Issues, Invited Submissions, and Book Chapters

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• "Machine Learning and Perceived Age Stereotypes in Job Ads: Evidence from an Experiment" (with Ian Burn, Daniel Ladd, and David Neumark), The Journal of Pension Economics and Finance Vol. 22 (4), pg. 463 - 489, October 2023. Published as a Book Chapter in the NBER's "The Labor Market for Older Workers"

  • Summary: Using machine learning, this study shows that job-ad language resembling ageist stereotypes is perceived as biased against older workers, suggesting such methods could help flag age discrimination.

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• "Age Discrimination and Age Stereotypes in Job Ads" (with Ian Burn, Daniel Ladd, and David Neumark), Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic Letters, March 2023.

  • Summary: Job ads containing subtle ageist language significantly deter older applicants, with a discouragement effect comparable to direct age discrimination in hiring.

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Working Papers​​

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"Online Learning, Opportunity Costs, and Human Capital Attainment" (with Di Xu and Xiaoyang Ye)​

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"Attention Scarcity and Heuristic Voting: Evidence from Ballot Order Lotteries" (with Quinten Carney)​

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Works in Progress​

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"Partisan Costs of Unfulfilled Student Loan Forgiveness" (with Michael Patrick Span)​

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"Gossip and Gunpowder" (with Emiliano Huet-Vaughn)​

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"From Training to Employment: A Multi-Inquiry Study of Noncredit Workforce Training Programs" (with Di Xu, Benjamin Castleman, Catherine Finnegan, Betsy Tessler, Kelli Bird, and Sabrina Solanki)​

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