Research

Political Views & College Choices in a Polarized America (with Emily Cook & Paola Ugalde Araya)

Suspended from Work and School: Impacts of Layoff Events and Unemployment Insurance on Disciplinary Incidence (with Jo King* & Austin Smith). Annenberg Institute EdWorkingPaper No. 23-839 & IZA Discussion Paper No. 16423. Revised & resubmitted to Labour Economics.

Spending & Achievement Effects of Increased Funding to Rural School Districts: Evidence from Wisconsin (with Cody Orr & Salem Rogers).  Annenberg Institute EdWorkingPaper No. 23-724 & IZA Discussion Paper No. 15915.

• Media Coverage: FutureEd

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles 

Distance to Degrees: How College Proximity Shapes Student’s Enrollment Choices and Attainment Across Race-Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status (with Kalena Cortes, Lois Miller, & Camila Morales). NBER Working Paper No. 33337, Annenberg Institute EdWorkingPaper No. 24-1055, & IZA Discussion Paper No. 17338. Conditionally accepted at Economics of Education Review. (PDF)

• Media Coverage: EdSurge, Inside Higher Ed, Texas Tribune, The Hill

The Effect of Vaccine Mandates on Disease Spread: Evidence from College COVID-19 Mandates (with Wenjia Cao, Emily Cook, Scott Imberman, & Michael Lovenheim). Forthcoming, Journal of Human Resources.  (PDF) (Appendix)

• Media Coverage: Chronicle of Higher Education, Detroit Free Press, Forbes, Higher Ed Dive, Inside Higher Ed, MarketWatch, New York Times, NPR, Philadelphia Inquirer, Stats + Stories Podcast, The Economist, WLWT

Is a Name Change a Game Change? The Impact of College-to-University Conversions. Economics of Education Review, 88, 2022. (PDF) (Appendix)

• Media Coverage: Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, Buffalo Business First (1, 2), Las Vegas Sun, Reno Gazette Journal, The Nevada Independent

The Influence of Peer Institutions on Colleges' Decisions: Evidence from Fall 2020 Reopening Plans (with Emily Cook & Allison Luedtke). Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 195, 2022. (PDF) (Appendix)

Do Health Insurance Mandates Spillover to Education? Evidence from Michigan's Autism Insurance Mandate (with Scott Imberman & Michael Lovenheim). Journal of Health Economics, 80, 2021. (PDF)

• Media Coverage: Tradeoffs

Community College Program Choices in the Wake of Local Job Losses. Journal of Labor Economics, 39(4), 2021. (PDF) (Appendix)

• Media Coverage: The Connecticut Mirror

Effects of Reduced Community College Tuition on College Choices and Degree Completion. Education Finance and Policy, 16(3), 2021. (PDF) (Appendix) (Summary)

• Media Coverage: Boston Globe, Deseret News

Book Chapters

COVID and Higher Education (with Emily Cook). In: Live Handbook of Education Policy Research (Doug Harris, Ed.), 2025. Association for Education Finance and Policy. 

Distance to Opportunity: Higher Education Deserts and College Enrollment Choices (with Kalena Cortes & Camila Morales). In: Financing Institutions of Higher Education (John Campbell & Kaye Husbands Fealing, Eds.), 2025. National Bureau of Economic Research. 

• Media Coverage:  Education Gadfly Podcast

Research & Policy Reports

Community College Bachelor’s Degrees: How CCB Graduates’ Earnings Compare to AAs and BAs (with Kalena Cortes, Lois Miller, Camila Morales, & Julia Turner). Report for the Postsecondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) Coalition, 2025.

Estimating the Value of a New Postsecondary Credential: An Audit Study of Community College Bachelor's Degrees (with Kalena Cortes, Lois Miller, Camila Morales, & Julia Turner)

Distance to College as a Barrier to Application: Documenting Evidence and Exploring Solutions (with  Emily Cook, Kalena Cortes, Lois Miller, & Camila Morales)

Long-Run Effects of Public Investments in Higher Education Access: Evidence from the Community College Expansion Period (with Emma LaGuardia* & Gregory Niemesh)

Modifying Introductory Course Material to Increase Participation in College Majors: A Randomized Curriculum Intervention (with Peter Nencka, Carla Nietfeld, Aiday Sikhova, & Bruce Weinberg)