Research
*Some links may be unavailable as I transfer cloud storage systems*
Published Research
Do School Spending Cuts Matter? Evidence from the Great Recession (with C. Kirabo Jackson and Heyu Xiong). 2021. AEJ: Economic Policy.
Published AEJ Print Available Here
NBER Working Paper Available Here
The Costs of Cutting School Spending (with C. Kirabo Jackson and Heyu Xiong). Education Next.
Available Here
Working Papers
Creating Formative Problem Sets: Tools of Reflection, Process, Feedback, and Growth (under review)
In economics coursework, “problem sets” are a common assessment technique. The implicit purpose of these assignments is typically to give students practice engaging with the material outside of exams and longer-term projects and to give instructors feedback about how students are doing. However, problem sets as implemented are often high-stakes, provide delayed feedback between instructors and students, and are more aligned to assessing students’ learning outcomes rather than their learning process. This article outlines a set of objectives that instructors should use when designing problem sets for economics, statistics, and quantitative methods courses that emphasizes an iterative approach to learning, reflection on the learning process, and gathering actionable feedback. I describe one practical, easy to implement method for problem as an example of how to align objectives with practice.
Link to Working Paper Here
Persistence and Variation in the Capitalization of Neighborhood Schools in Housing Markets
Research from the 1980's, 1990's, and early 2000's documented a consistent relationship between the characteristics of neighborhood public schools and housing values. More recently, several studies have found that increasing school choice weakens this link, while other work has suggested that factors such as the availability of information and ratings about schools could strengthen this link. However, these studies have focused on isolating causal effects of such changes instead of offering comparable estimates of the capitalization effect in modern settings. In this study, I ask: how are school characteristics capitalized into the value of housing while school choice and information access are proliferating? Focusing on Denver, Colorado from 2008-2020, I use a boundary discontinuity research design to compare property sales on either side of traditional elementary school boundaries. I find that, despite the rapid expansion of school choice in Denver over this time period, the capitalization of neighborhood school characteristics remains highly consistent with past literature. However, I also document substantial variability in these effects year-over-year. These findings suggest that the capitalization of school characteristics into housing values, while not static, is highly persistent, and points to the need to better understand factors that may be strengthening the link between housing and schools even in the era of school choice.
Link to Working Paper Here
Decoupling Homes and Schools: Assessing the Impact of Forced School Choice on Residential Change (JMP) - Currently Updating
Selected Works in Progress
Property Taxes, Parcel Taxes, and Displacement
Upcoming Presentations: Southern Economic Association 2022
School-Level Spending & Neighborhood Property Wealth