Research
PUBLICATIONS & WORKING PAPERS
with Sarah Reber, Michal Kurlaender, and Iwunze UgoWorking, August 2023
Abstract: This paper examines gender gaps in college enrollment using administrative data from two cohorts of public high school students in California. We show that gender gaps tend to be proportionally larger in more disadvantaged populations, consistent with prior work suggesting that boys are more sensitive to socioeconomic disadvantage than girls. Using regression decomposition methods, we show that gender gaps in college enrollment are largely explained by differences in high school performance; high school GPA and course-taking account for 57% of the gender gap in all college enrollment, 79% in four-year enrollment, and 92% in selective college enrollment. Gender differences in test scores account for a substantially smaller portion of the gender gap for any or four-year college enrollment, and do not account for gaps in selective enrollment, suggesting that test scores and in-school measures of academic achievement do not capture the same underlying construct. High school preparation plays a similar role in explaining college enrollment gender gaps across racial and ethnic groups and socioeconomic status. These findings suggest that reducing gender gaps in high school performance will be necessary to narrow gender gaps in college enrollment.
with Jonathan RothwellThe ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2022Media mentions: Business Insider
Abstract: We provide an empirical summary of the relationship between socioeconomic status and the economic and disease burden of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic in the United States. We rely on large-scale public data, including a zip code database we constructed from public records, to investigate the relationship between socioeconomic status and the risk of economic harm, COVID-19 infection, or COVID-19-related death. We find that low levels of education and income are associated with 1.3 to 2 times higher risk of economic harm and 2 to 3 times greater physical harm. Education and income have a similar effect size to racial and ethnic disparities, with many Americans of color facing worse outcomes. Using Gallup data to investigate potential mechanisms, we find that socioeconomic status is not related to preventative behavior like mask use but is related to occupation-related exposure, which puts lower-socioeconomic-status households at risk.
REPORTS
with Sarah ReberThe Brookings Institution, 2023
Abstract: Despite improvements in college-going in the last several decades, bachelor’s degree attainment still varies substantially by socioeconomic status, gender, race and ethnicity. In this report, we estimate college enrollment gaps by gender, race, and socioeconomic status and gaps among students with similar academic preparation—measured by student test scores, high school grades, and course-taking. We use the restricted-use High School Longitudinal Survey (HSLS 2009), a nationally representative sample of 2009-10 ninth graders. We also estimate the extent to which racial disparities in socioeconomic status account for racial disparities in college enrollment. We find that college enrollment gaps by socioeconomic status, gender, and race are significant, and that gaps are much smaller and sometimes reversed among students with similar academic preparation. Our results suggest that policymakers and researchers interested in addressing college enrollment disparities should pay careful attention to disparities in academic preparation during elementary and secondary education.
with Ariel Gelrud Shiro, Christopher Pulliam, and John SabelhausThe Brookings Institution, 2022
Abstract: Wealth cushions adverse economic shocks, such as loss of employment, and helps to fund investments in human capital, like college and post-graduate training. Wealth inequality is much higher than income inequality in the United States. Understanding the dynamics of wealth accumulation may be important to narrowing wealth gaps. Here we study intragenerational wealth mobility using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Using a measure of individual wealth, we first study relative wealth mobility across the prime wealth accumulation years and find that a ten-point increase in an individual’s wealth percentile in their early thirties leads to a 5.9-point increase in their wealth percentile in their late fifties (i.e., a rank-rank slope of 0.59). We also show that rates of wealth mobility are highest between the ages of 25 and 35. Finally, we consider how wealth mobility differs across socioeconomic groups. Black Americans experience much less upward wealth mobility and much more downward wealth mobility than white Americans, conditional on the same initial wealth level. For those with median wealth in their early thirties, Black Americans fall to the 38th wealth percentile in their late fifties while white Americans rise to the 57th wealth percentile in their late fifties, on average. We find similar patterns by educational attainment and income level. In total, our results point to flexible wealth dynamics early in adulthood that subsequently solidify and reinforce existing race and class inequalities.
PROPOSALS/WIP
Social Network Effects on Safety Net Participation Behavior: Medicaid expansion
NSF GRFP Proposal, Fall 2022
