Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director
Department of Economics
Labor Economics, Applied Econometrics, Economics of Education
ECO225 Labor Economics (Spring 2009), ECO230 Economics of Difference (Spring 2010), ECO238 Regression Analysis, ECO326 Economics of Human Resources, ECO300 Senior Capstone Project
School Closures — I'm part of an interdisciplinary team (with F. Beck in Sociology and N. Durflinger and J. Pacha from the College of Education) investigating the determinants and the consequences of school closures. With the help of a small army of grad assistants and researchers from CoE, we've assembled a ginormous data set covering all of Illinois outside Cook County from 1972 forward. We have presented preliminary results at a few conferences, including AEFA and AEA, and have a couple working papers.
Migrant Earnings Distributions — In joint work with Carlos Lamarche (University of Oklahoma), we investigate earnings distributions for immigrants and non-immigrants. This is a fun project, a great combination of my interests in econometrics, labor, and migration.
Teacher Pay and Accountability — In preparation for my upcoming sabbatical (Fall 2009), I have started collecting data to investigate the relationship between teacher pay structure, accountability measures, and student outcomes. I plan to incorporate national level survey data and state-specific data for Illinois.
