Research
Research
Working Papers
Job Market Paper (ERC UTA#227 project)
Since 1995, Texas has criminalized student minor misbehaviors by issuing Class C misdemeanors (student citations). In this paper, I examine a series of reforms initiated in the 2011-12 academic year that progressively restricted the use of student citations in Texas. Using linked administrative data that follows students over time, I examine the impact of these reforms on education, work, and adult criminality. I leverage variation across school districts in their capacity to issue student citations in a difference-in-difference design, comparing high-capacity to low-capacity districts before and after the reforms. I find that limiting student citations increases high school graduation rates, enhances employment rates, and reduces adult convictions without significantly impacting college enrollment on average. Notably, the effects on outcomes vary across the distribution of student suspension propensities. Students with high suspension risk drive these positive effects, while students with low suspension risk do not experience any negative effects. In fact, for low-risk students, the reforms increase high school graduation rates and college enrollment, and lead to a mild decrease in adult convictions, but they do not affect employment. These findings suggest that student citations are not beneficial in Texas, and overly harsh disciplines can harm students.
When Less Is More: The Effects of Correctional Education Downsizing on Reincarceration
Accepted at Economics of Education Review [Published Version]
Correctional education is prevalent but costly. However, there is a lack of evidence on how educational programs affect outcomes like recidivism. This paper examines the impact of correctional education downsizing on reincarceration likelihood, focusing on the Windham School District within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. In the 2012 academic year, educational programs in certain facilities were downsized due to budget cut. Using released inmates and campus profiles data, and a difference- in-difference strategy, the study finds that inmates released from downsized facilities are 11% less likely to be reincarcerated within 12 months. This decrease may be attributed to the benefits for students who remain in the educational programs after the downsizing, such as experiencing smaller class sizes and better peer composition, offsetting the potential negative effects from fewer inmates receiving training. The study underscores the need for targeted and efficiency in correctional education programs.
Poverty Impedes Cognition: Is There A Peer Effect?
I study how peer poverty impedes cognition using conditional class randomization in China’s middle schools. The results show that adding one more poor student to a class of 45 will decrease the average cognitive ability test score by around 2.4% of a standard deviation. The poverty index mainly captures low income and operates beyond other poverty-correlated characteristics. Furthermore, the negative spillover effects are driven by poor students and peer poverty impairs mechanisms through which poverty impedes cognition. This provides additional evidence supporting poverty traps.
Work in Progress
The Impact of Depression Treatment on Labor Migration, with Manuela Angelucci and Daniel Bennett
Gaming the NAEP? Do US States Manipulate the Pool of Students Who Take the National Assessment of Educational Progress?, with Paul T. von Hippel, Yujin Kwon, Ashley Kurian and Katrina Kasyan [draft available upon request]
A Mississippi Miracle? The Effect of Mississippi’s Science-of-Reading Reforms on Elementary Reading Skills, with Paul T. von Hippel, Francisca Flimán Bogolasky and Yujin Kwon
“The Causal Effects of Establishing Early College High School” (ERC UTA #184 project)