Research Overview

Research Interests

• Labor Economics
• Applied Econometrics
• Urban Economics

Selected Publications

• On the Production of Skills and the Birth Order Effect (Accepted for publication at JHR)
• "The Specificity of General Human Capital: Evidence from College Major Choice" (Last Modified 05/2014 - joint with Josh Kinsler) Forthcoming at Journal of Labor Economics - October 2015.
• "Inequality and City Size". (joint with Nathaniel Baum-Snow) Review of Economics and Statistics (2013) 95-5: 1535-1548.
• "Understanding the City Size Wage Gap". (joint with Nathaniel Baum-Snow) – 2012 Review of Economic Studies 79 (1), 88-127.
• "Family Income and Higher Education Choices: The Importance of Accounting for College Quality",  (joint with Josh Kinsler) Journal of Human Capital 5-4 (Winter 2011)
• "Career Choice and Wage Growth". – Journal of Labor Economics 29-3 (July 2011)
• "The role of Career Choice in Understanding Job Mobility." – LABOUR, 2010, 24, (2), 107-127

Working Papers

• Why Has Urban Inequality Increased? (joint with Nathaniel Baum-Snow and Matthew Freedman - 2014)
• Total Earnings and "Usual" Wages: Reinterpreting the Role of Job to Job Transitions (joint with Maria Canon)
• "A Flexible Model of Individual Wage Dynamics and Job Mobility Outcomes", (Last modified 08/08)

Work in Progress

• Substance Abuse and the Production of Cognitive Skill (joint with Josh Kinsler)
• Distorted Beliefs and Parental Investment in Children (joint with Josh Kinsler)
• Maternal Emotional Well-being and Child Development (with Emilia Del Bono)