Job Market Paper
"Paying for Lack of Performance? Effects of Principal Incentive Pay on Students and Teachers"
Abstract: With national test scores at historic lows, incentives that motivate effective school leadership are increasingly important, yet principal pay typically follows fixed schedules rather than student outcomes. This paper studies the effects of a principal incentive pay program implemented in North Carolina on principal effort, teacher effectiveness and student test scores. I employ two models to estimate the causal effects of principal incentive pay on student test scores: (i) a difference-in-differences matching model and (ii) a synthetic difference-in-differences model, both using school-grade panel data and comparing North Carolina (NC) to Georgia (GA). I find the policy induced large declines in student outcomes, reducing reading and math scores by 0.09-0.11 and 0.13-0.14 SD, respectively. To decompose policy channels, I combine NC administrative data with the Teacher Working Conditions Survey to construct principal-effort indices along four dimensions and estimate teacher value added pre/post reform. I then relate teacher value added to principal effort and characteristics to understand how principals influence teachers. I find that teacher effectiveness fell by 0.05 SD in math and 0.01 SD in reading, and principal effort devoted to school climate declined by 0.03 SD. Teachers are most responsive to principal effort in school climate, professional development, and reduced administrative load. My results suggest that incentive pay induced principals to exert effort towards margins that teachers are less responsive towards.
Working Papers
"Peer Suspension Effects on Student Misbehavior"
(with Margaux Luflade and Maria Zhu)
Abstract: School suspensions are a widely debated disciplinary tool, yet evidence on their effectiveness remains mixed. While most discussion focuses on the suspended students themselves, suspensions may also generate spillover effects on peers' behavior. This paper uses administrative data from North Carolina public schools, including detailed disciplinary records, to estimate the impact of peers' misbehavior and suspensions on a student's subsequent misbehavior. We construct peer networks based on shared disciplinary infractions in prior periods and estimate a fixed effects model that exploits temporal variation in peers' infractions to identify the causal effects of peer misbehavior and suspensions on future student behavior. We find that exposure to peer misbehavior not resulting in suspension increases a student's propensity of misbehaving in the subsequent two-week period by 8–9 percent, and that peer suspensions do not mitigate this effect, indicating no evidence of a deterrent effect of peer suspensions.
Work In Progress
"The Impact of Workplace Harassment on the Occupational Outcomes of Women: A Structural Approach to an Equilibrium Problem"
(with Ornella Darova)
Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of workplace harassment on various occupational outcomes, utilizing a novel empirical approach that combines reduced-form strategies with a structural equilibrium framework. Leveraging the restricted-use Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) database, we exploit sharp thresholds in Title VII coverage and the diffusion of the #MeToo movement to study the effect of workplace harassment on labor supply. We employ regression discontinuity designs and event studies to estimate the causal effects of vicarious liability on firm demographics, wage gaps, and employee turnover. We then exploit the findings in a structural model that estimates a job market equilibrium.