We use roster data of 96 top U.S. economics departments to document the academic origins of their tenure-track faculty. Academic origins may have implications for how undergraduate (B.A.) and doctoral (Ph.D.) students are trained and placed, as well as the type of research produced. We find that...

A common justification for HOPE-style merit-aid programs is to promote and reward academic achievement, thereby inducing greater investments in human capital. However, grade-based eligibility and retention rules encourage other behavioral responses. Using data extracted from the longitudinal...

A common justification for HOPE-style merit-aid programs is to promote and reward academic achievement, thereby inducing greater investments in human capital. However, grade-based eligibility and retention rules encourage other behavioral responses. Using data extracted from the longitudinal...

Using unique data on preference rankings for all high school students who apply for college in Ireland, we investigate whether, conditional on absolute achievement, within school-cohort rank in English and math affects choice of college major. We find that higher rank in math increases the...

This paper uses the NLSY to examine 1) the returns to two-year college, 2) whether attendance at a two-year college helps students to transfer to four-year college, and 3) whether reducing tuition would alter attendance by enough to affect labor outcomes. I find that the returns to a year of...

This paper examines the duties, skills and training of the technicians who work in the UK university science and engineering departments. It examines how universities fill technician roles, and outlines some of the problems they face in trying to do so

Jacob L. Vigdor (2024)'s noteworthy contribution in "The Ebbing Tide: How Will Higher Education Adapt to Demographic Change?" estimates the impact of demographic change on colleges and universities. Here, I highlight two critical factors that should be considered in a model aimed at...

Using data from three waves of Add Health we find that being very attractive reduces a young adult's (ages 18-26) propensity for criminal activity and being unattractive increases it for a number of crimes, ranging from burglary to selling drugs. A variety of tests demonstrate that this result...

There is widespread interest in universal early education, both to promote child development and to support maternal employment. Positive long-term findings from small-scale early education interventions for low-income children in the US have greatly influenced the public discussion. However,...

Higher education should not be evaluated based on good or bad outcomes, but rather based on value-added. Education can add substantial value even while producing unappealing outcomes, because those outcomes may still be better than realistic alternatives after considering heterogeneity in...