Research
A statement of my research interests can be found here. My current research is below.
"The Returns to Returning to School" International Journal of Manpower.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-01-2023-0044
This work estimates the returns to education for workers who pursue additional education after time spent out of school and in the labor force. It expands on previous research by comparing the 1979 and 1997 cohorts of the NLSY and by examining both those who remain in the labor force while pursuing additional education and those who drop out. The results indicate a sheepskin effect of approximately 14 percent for those who remain in the labor force and a return of approximately 9 percent to years of additional education for those who drop out of the labor force. This contrasting pattern of returns is robust to expanded specifications, selection effects and a variety of alternative variable and sample definitions. This allows for speculation regarding the differences between the internal labor market faced by those who remain in the labor force to pursue additional education and the external labor market faced by those who drop out of the labor force.
Linked here.
"Locus of Control and Performance Pay: Evidence from U.S. Survey Data", Richard Perlman Prize Winner.
DOI: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/labr.12273
This work estimates the relationship between locus of control and performance pay. Using the NLSY79, it uniquely examines different types of performance pay, demonstrating sharp differences. Bivariate probit estimates of receiving locus-sensitive and locus-insensitive performance pay show that moving from one standard deviation more external than the mean to one standard deviation more internal increases the probability of only receiving locus-sensitive performance pay from 9.13% to 11.11%. Moving from one standard deviation more external than the mean to one standard deviation more internal decreases the probability of only receiving locus-insensitive performance pay from 23.79% to 22.53%.
Linked here.
"Performance Pay, Gender and Divorce", in progress.
This work examines the influence of receiving performance pay on the probability that a worker will divorce. Uniquely, it compares two different cohorts of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Probit estimates show that, for men, receiving performance pay has no impact on the probability of divorce among men in the older cohort and may decrease the probability of divorce in the younger cohort. For women, receiving performance pay increases the probability of divorce in the older cohort and has no impact in the younger cohort.
Linked here.
"Locus of Control and Drinking Behaviors", in progress.
Locus of control is a measure of how much an individual believes they can control their outcomes. Individuals with an internal locus of control believe they can control their outcomes, whereas those with an external locus of control believe outcomes are the result of chance. Though past work has generally found that locus of control is associated with engaging in healthy behavior and avoiding the consumption of unhealthy substances, evidence from Germany suggests that locus of control is associated with moderate drinking. This work examines the relationship between locus of control and alcohol consumption in a U.S. context and finds that individuals with an internal locus of control are more likely to drink but less likely to binge drink. The impact of locus of control on household income growth is partially explained by whether an individual drinks, suggesting that drinking is a form of investment in future earnings. Binge drinking, however, resembles other negative health behaviors such as smoking.
Linked here.