Highlighted Publications




 

Swiderski and McDonnell (2026) examined whether students who begin at a community college have different long-term educational, occupational, and wage outcomes than similar students who start at a four-year college. They analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), linked to O*NET occupational data, and compared similar students using propensity score weighting. They found that community college starters were more than 20 percentage points less

Olenski (2025) examined whether nursing home closures harm displaced long-stay residents or improve their long-term outcomes by moving them to better facilities. He analyzed nationwide administrative data on all long-stay U.S. nursing home residents, including 1,104 nursing home closures, using a matched difference-in-differences design. He found that closures increased short-term mortality by 1.18 percentage points, a 16.3% increase over the baseline quarterly mortality rate

Amuedo-Dorantes and Wang (2026) examined whether the economic and social benefits of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program persisted after the Trump administration’s 2017 effort to end the program created prolonged policy uncertainty. They analyzed 2008–2022 American Community Survey data (excluding 2020) using difference-in-differences and event-study methods to compare DACA-eligible and ineligible undocumented immigrants. They found that early labor mark

Feigenberg and Miller (2025) examine whether police officers discriminate against low-income motorists during traffic stops and searches. They analyze more than 11 million traffic stops conducted by the Texas Highway Patrol between 2009 and 2015, linking motorists to measures of household income and vehicle status. They find large class disparities in policing. Motorists in the bottom income quintile were searched in 2.5% of stops, compared with 1.1% for those in the top quin