About
I am a PhD candidate in Economics at Yale University. My fields of interest are Labor Economics and Economics of Education.
My research examines how school choice policies reshape communities and their implications for inequality. Using large-scale linked datasets, I trace these effects through housing markets, residential location patterns, teacher-student interactions, and school selection decisions.
I am on the 2025-2026 job market.
Research
Working Papers
The Impact of Open Enrollment on the Capitalization of Neighborhood School Quality in Housing Prices (JMP)
Abstract
Intra-district open enrollment reduces the link between locations and local school quality. This paper estimates the impact of open enrollment on the housing market and on residential sorting in large school districts across the U.S. I employ a spatial boundary discontinuity design (RD) to estimate the causal effects of neighborhood school quality on housing prices by district-level open enrollment policy adoption status and by time period. Then I employ a difference-in-differences framework to quantify the effect of open enrollment on the capitalization of neighborhood school quality in housing prices after 2014. I find that districts implementing open enrollment experienced a 1.7 percentage-point decline, relative to districts without open enrollment, in neighborhood school quality capitalization effects estimated at around 5% for one standard deviation of school quality in the initial period. Further, using linked data on demographic characteristics of home buyers, I find that open enrollment reduced residential sorting on income along school attendance boundary lines.The Impact of Teachers on Academic Decision Making: The Case of School Choice
Abstract
Previous literature has found that teachers meaningfully impact the test scores and academic behaviors of students. I find that teachers can also influence the schooling decisions of students in educational environments with school choice. I analyze three distinct contexts that reflect popular school choice policies using administrative data in North Carolina: (1) charter or magnet schools versus traditional public schools, (2) schools in Charlotte before and after the open enrollment reform, (3) schools in Charlotte impacted by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) that were required to offer alternative school options versus non-NCLB schools in Charlotte. In each, I assess how teachers’ test-score value-added (VA)—a measure of their ability to improve student test scores from the beginning to the end of the school year—affects the quality of middle schools attended by their students. In all three settings, I find evidence of stronger effects of teacher VA on middle school quality in schools with more choice, relative to schools with less choice. Random effect analyses suggest that teachers could explain up to 10% of the variation in student middle school quality in choice-rich environments. I provide suggestive evidence that teacher counseling may play a role. I show that improved test scores explain only a small portion of the observed effects, while higher teacher VA is associated with a broader range of schools selected by students. These findings suggest that as school choice expands, disparities in teacher quality have broader consequences beyond test scores, potentially amplifying educational inequalities through differences in school selection guidance.The Effect of Teacher Allocations in Grades 3 through 5 on Middle School Academic Outcomes
[Draft Available Upon Request]
Abstract
This paper examines the potential non-linear effects of teachers across elementary school grades on middle school academic outcomes by addressing two key questions: First, within grades 3 through 5, are teachers from certain grades more influential than others on middle school test scores? Second, are there interaction effects from having multiple high or low value-added (VA) teachers? The existing teacher value-added literature generally assumes that teacher effects are homogeneous and additive across grades. I test this assumption by adopting a human capital production function framework, treating teacher value-added from different elementary grades as distinct inputs. Using large administrative data from North Carolina, I apply a statistical model that allows for grade-specific teacher effects and interactions between teachers in grades 3, 4, and 5. I find no significant differences in teacher effects across grades, nor any notable interaction effects from having multiple high- or low-value-added (VA) teachers. These results suggest that more evenly distributing high value-added teachers across grades 3 through 5 could improve equity without compromising efficiency, compared to the current system, which resembles random assignment.Publications
Is the rise in high school graduation rates real? High-stakes school accountability and strategic behavior
with Douglas Harris, Lihan Liu and Nathan Barrett Labour Economics 82, Article 102355 (2023). Link
Abstract
This paper examines the impact of No Child Left Behind on graduation rates, by comparing districts below and above state graduation rate targets. It finds that districts below targets experience larger growth in graduation rates after the NCLB reform. Further, it analyzes detailed data on graduation codes in Louisiana, to show that strategic behaviors like non-verifiable exits and remedial courses are not the main drivers of the increase in graduation rates.Work in Progress:
“The Impact of Private-School Vouchers on the Capitalization of Neighborhood School Quality in Housing Prices” with David Figlio and Douglas Harris, October 2025