Current Position:

2010-current: Assistant Professor of Economics, Providence College, Providence, RI

Prior Appointments:

2009-2010: Visiting Lecturer, Wellesley College, Department of Economics, Wellesley, MA

2007-2009: Assistant Professor, Stetson School of Business and Economics, Mercer University, Macon, GA

2002-2007: Assistant Professor, The John E. Walker Department of Economics, Clemson University, Clemson, SC

Fields of Interest

Economics of Education, Labor Economics, Public Economics, Economics of Crime

Education

Boston University, Ph.D. in Economics, January 2003

Thesis: “Intended and Unintended Consequences of Policies: Test Scores and House Values, Peer Effects, and Alcohol Prohibition”

[Kevin Lang, Jeff Miron, and Victor Aguirregabiria]

Boston University, M.A. in Political Economy, September 2000

University of Virginia, B.A. in Economics and Spanish, June 1996, with distinction

Publications

“Negative Publicity and Catholic Schools,” with Rey Hernández, Economic Inquiry, accepted March 2010.

“Social Host Liability and Under-aged Drunk-driving Accidents” Journal of Health Economics, 29(2), March 2010, 241-249.

“More Choice, Less Crime,” with Rey Hernández, Education Finance and Policy, accepted March 2010.

“A Comparative Look at Private and Public Schools’ Class Size Determinants,” with Sean E. Mulholland, accepted at Education Economics.

“What do Economists Know about Crime?” with Jeff Miron and Garrett Summers, in Crime, Institutions, and Policies, Sebastian Edwards, Rafael Di Tella, and Ernesto Schargrodsky, eds., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, forthcoming. Also NBER WP#13759, January 2008.

“Teacher Attitudes and Teacher Knowledge in Economic Education,” with Dennis Placone, Journal of Economics and Economic Education Research, 9(3), 2008, 15-28.

“Course Scheduling and Academic Performance,” with Rey Hernández, Economics of Education Review, December 2008, 27, 646-654. Discussed in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Tuesday, December 16, 2008, Today’s News, “Late to Rise Seems to Make Students Wise,” by David Glenn (http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/12/8694n.htm). Discussed in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, December 29, 2008, “Sleepy youths have science on side,” by Maureen Downey (http://www.ajc.com/search/content/opinion/stories/2008/12/29/learned.html).

“Transfer College Quality and Student Performance,” with Rey Hernández, Eastern Economic Journal, 34(2), April 2008, 172-189. Also, CHERI working paper #98 and discussed on Inside Higher Education, “Tough Questions for Transfer Students,” December 4, 2006 by Paul D. Thacker (http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/12/04/outcome)

“The Effect of Alcohol Prohibition on Alcohol Consumption: Evidence from Drunkenness Arrests,” with Mireille Jacobson and Jeffrey A. Miron, Economics Letters, February 2005, 279-294.

“Does Cream-Skimming Curdle the Milk? A Study of Peer Effects,” Economics of Education Review, February 2005, 19-28.

“Do Parents Value Changes in Test Scores? High Stakes Testing in Texas,” Contributions to Economic Analysis and Policy, Vol. 3: No. 1, Article 10, 2004.

http://www.bepress.com/bejeap/contributions/vol3/iss1/art10/

“Alcohol Prohibition and Cirrhosis,” with Jeffrey Miron, American Law and Economics Review Fall 2004, Vol. 6(2), 285-318. Also NBER WP#9681, May 2003.

Working Papers

“Tiebout Choice and Police Use of Force Complaints” (under review)

“Recess and Elementary School Student Outcomes,” with Hillary Morgan and Kurt Rotthoff

“School Board Selection and Student Achievement,” with Rachel Rhyne

“A Comment on the Donohue and Levitt (2006) Reply to Foote and Goetz (2005)” with Jeff Miron

“The Effects of Schooling on Parental Time in Education Production,” with Jeff DeSimone

“Spread the Wealth, Teach the Poor? School Quality in Vermont,” with Michael Marino.

Work in Progress

“Medical conferences and deaths,” with Rey Hernández

“Intrahousehold bargaining and fertility choices,” with Kurt Rotthoff and Danielle Zanzalari

“Human Capital Investment and Crime”

“Trends in Socio-Economic Status and Academic Achievement”

“House Prices and the Centralization of Education,” with Adora Cheung.

“Recess and Elementary School Student Outcomes,” with Hillary Morgan

Fellowships, Awards, and Grants

Grant from Wellesley’s Mildred McAfee Horton Faculty Award Fund for “Medical conferences and deaths,” 2009-2010, $3000

Clemson’s National Scholars Program Award of Distinction (for student mentoring), 2007

Clemson’s College of Business and Behavioral Science, Summer Mini-Grant, 2006, $3,000

National Council on Economic Education (co-PI Dennis Placone), 2005-2006, $24,999

Clemson University Department of Economics Research Grant Seed Money, 2005, $2000

Voted Fourth Best Assistant Professor in the Tiger’s Reader’s Poll, Fall 2003

Echols Scholar, University of Virginia, 1992-1996.

Courses Taught:

Wellesley: Principles of Microeconomics, Health Economics, Economics of Education Policy (Spring 2010), Labor Economics (Spring 2010)

Mercer: Undergraduate: Introduction to Microeconomics, Business Quantitative Analysis (in computer lab), Law and Economics, Econometrics

MBA: Applied Microeconomic Analysis, Applied Data Analysis

Clemson: Undergraduate: Labor Economics for Non-Majors

BA/MA: Introduction to Econometrics (with computer lab), Economics of Education (developed new course), Advanced Econometrics

PhD: Economics of Education (developed new course)

BU: Undergraduate: Intermediate Microeconomics, Economics of Less-Developed Regions, Introductory Macroeconomics

Presentations

2009-2010: SEA, San Antonio, TX; Seton Hall University guest lecturer in “Economics and Liberty” class; discussant at IZA’s second annual conference on the economics of risky behaviors, Stone Mountain, GA.

2008-2009: Latin American meeting of the Econometric Society/Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association meeting, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2007-2008: SEA, New Orleans, LA (2); ASSA, New Orleans, LA

2006-2007: SEA, Charleston, SC (2); Lafayette College; Wake Forest University; Drew University; Fairfield University; Cornell College; Clemson School of Education; Mercer University; University of Colorado – Denver; Western Economic Association, Seattle, WA

2005-2006: APPAM, Washington, D.C.; SEA, Washington, D.C. (2); Rutgers University – Camden; Baruch College (CUNY); Clemson University Brown Bag Lunch

2004-2005: University of Georgia; Clemson University Brown Bag Lunch; Appalachian State University; Southern Economic Association, New Orleans, LA (2); ASSA Meetings, Philadelphia, PA; University of South Florida; AEFA, Louisville, KY

2003-2004: Clemson University Brown Bag Lunch; Southern Economic Association, San Antonio, TX; Clemson University; University of South Carolina; American Educational Finance Association, Salt Lake City, UT; American Education Research Association, San Diego, CA

2002-2003: Appalachian State University

2001-2002: Clemson University; Santa Clara University; UC-San Diego; Bureau of Labor Statistics; Louisiana State University; University of Guelph; CNA Corporation.

Professional service:

Research Committee Member, Georgia Council on Economic Education, 2008-2009

Referee: 2009-present: Education Economics,Springer Books, Journal of Population Economics, The B.E. Journals in Economic Analysis & Policy

2007-2009: Contemporary Economic Policy, Journal of School Choice, Southern Economic Journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Economic Inquiry

2002-2007: American Economic Review, The B.E. Journals in Economic Analysis & Policy, Contemporary Economic Policy, Economics of Education Review, Economic Journal, Journal of Human Resources, Labour Economics, Southern Economic Journal, Public Choice

Textbook reviewer for Jeffrey Wooldridge’s Introductory Econometrics

Invited Participant, Liberty Fund Colloquia and Socratic Seminar

“Free Market Environmentalism” (2003)

“Liberty, Responsibility, and Bioethics” (2005)

“Responsibility and Liberty in Deirdre McCloskey’s The Bourgeois Virtues” (2007)

“Rights, Responsibilities, and Freedom: The Contributions of Armen A. Alchian” (2007)

Faculty Member, Institute for Humane Studies

“Freedom, Tolerance, and Civil Society” June 2007, June 2008

“Liberty and Society” March 2009

“Liberty in Education” July 2010 (scheduled)

Faculty Member, Foundation for Teaching Economics

Economics for Leaders, July 2008

Presentation on 2008 Financial Crisis, First Presbyterian Day School, October 2008

Consulting for TheRackesGroup predicting South Carolina teacher retirements, Summer 2007

Department and University service:

Mercer:

Co-Chair, SSBE Faculty Committee, 2008-2009

Participating Faculty Member, Center for the Teaching of America’s Western Foundations (AIM Fund grant recipient for 2008-2009)

Presentation for prospective students, Spring 2009

Clemson:

“2020 Plan” ad hoc committee (Fall 2004)

Econometrics Comprehensive Committee (Spring 2003-Spring 2006)

Faculty Recruiting Committee (2004-2005)

Student Advising:

Ph.D. (committee member): Rey Hernandez (2005), Oana Diaconu (2005),

Alex Grecu (2006), Jason Rudbeck (2006)

Aileen Sampson (2006), Brighita Bercea (2007)

Anca Cotet (2007), Kurt Rotthoff (2007)

M.A. (committee member): Lori Milstead (2003), Ashley Cluley (2007)

Senior Honors Theses (chair): Adora Cheung (2004), Rachel Rhyne (2006),

Carla Bridges (2006), John Masslon (2007)

Independent Study: Adora Cheung (Spring 2004)

Faculty Advisor for the Club Water Polo Team (Spring 2004-Spring 2007)

Faculty Advisor for Phi Sigma Pi Honor Fraternity (Fall 2004-Fall 2005)

BB&T Economics Summer Camp for High School Students (2005, 2006, 2007)

Professional Affiliations:

American Economic Association, Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession