Time | Event | Details |
---|---|---|
01:00pm - 01:15pm | "Labor Market Constraints, Compensating Wage Differentials and Life Satisfaction: Evidence from Germany over the Last 3 Decades"
Wages and Labor Markets
|
John Ham *80 New York University, Abu Dhabi This paper is joint with Seonghoon Kim
|
01:15pm - 01:30pm | "Firms’ Organizations and the Minimum Wage"
Wages and Labor Markets
|
Nicholas Lawson *13 Université du Québec à Montréal
|
01:30pm - 01:45pm | "Work and the Poor"
Wages and Labor Markets
|
Lisa Barrow *99 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
|
01:45pm - 02:00pm | "The Perverse Effect of Flexible Work Arrangements on Informality"
Wages and Labor Markets
|
Giovanni Mastrobuoni *06 University of Turin (ESOMAS)
|
02:00pm - 02:15pm | "Wage Adjustment in Efficient Long-Term Employment Relationships"
Wages and Labor Markets
|
Gary Solon *83 University of Michigan This paper is joint with Michael Elsby, Axel Gottfries, and Pawel Krolikowski |
02:15pm - 02:30pm | “Accounting for Long-Term Movements in Real Wages and Working Hours”
Wages and Labor Markets
|
John Pencavel *69 Stanford University
|
02:30pm - 02:45pm | BREAK |
|
02:45pm - 03:00pm | "The Impact of Immigration on Firms and Workers: Insights from the H-1B Lottery and US Employer-Employee Data"
Policy Topics
|
Mingyu Chen *19 Senior Economist, Amazon.com
|
03:00pm - 03:15pm | "Labor Disutility in a Warmer World: The impact of climate change on the Global Workforce"
Policy Topics
|
Michael Greenstone *98 The University of Chicago
|
03:15pm - 03:30pm | "Can the Low-Carbon Transition Energize Labor Markets? Evidence from Wind Electricity Investments in the U.S."
Policy Topics
|
Olivier Deschenes *01 University of California Santa Barbara
|
03:30pm - 03:45pm | "Immigration Enforcement, Crime, and Community Trust"
Policy Topics
|
Elisa Jácome *21 Northwestern - Weinberg College of Arts & Science
|
03:45pm - 04:00pm | "Intergenerational Income Transmission among the 1.5 Generation in Canada: The Role of Age at Immigration"
Policy Topics
|
Marie Connolly *07 Université du Québec à Montréal
|
04:00pm - 04:30pm | BREAK |
|
04:30pm - 05:45pm | Plenary Panel |
Joshua Angrist *89, David Card *83, Janet Currie *88, Cecilia Rouse. Moderator: David Lee *99.
|
06:45pm - 11:00pm | Cocktail reception - Dinner and Celebration |
By Invitation only |
Time | Event | Details |
---|---|---|
08:00am - 08:45am | Grab and Go Breakfast |
|
08:45am - 09:00am | "Trends in the Gender Gap among College Graduates: College Major, Graduate Field, and Occupation"
Higher Education I - Group Differences
|
Joseph Altonji *81 Yale University This paper is joint with John Eric Humphries, Cidam Yagmur Yuksel and Ling Zhong |
09:00am - 09:15am | "The Racial Wealth Gap, Financial Aid, and College Access"
Higher Education I - Group Differences
|
Phil Levine *90 Wellesley College
|
09:15am - 09:30am | "Gender Differences in Economics PhD Field Specializations with Correlated Choices"
Higher Education I - Group Differences
|
Ron Oaxaca *71 University of Arizona, Tucson
|
09:30am - 09:45am | "Gender Gap in Earnings Shocks: Effects of Children, Wages, and Locations on growth of earnings for young adults"
Higher Education I - Group Differences
|
A. Abigail Payne *95 University of Melbourne
|
09:45am - 10:00am | "CPS, Sample Selection and Wage Growth"
Data/Econometrics
|
Luojia Hu *00 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
|
10:00am - 10:15am | "One Instrument to Rule Them All: the Bias and Coverage of Just-ID IV"
Data/Econometrics
|
Josh Angrist *89 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
|
10:15am - 10:30am | "Supercompliers"
Data/Econometrics
|
Zhuan Pei *12 Cornell University This paper is joint with Matt Comey and Amanda Eng |
10:30am - 10:45am | BREAK |
|
10:45am - 11:00am | "The Effect of Education on the Relationship between Genetics, Early-Life Disadvantages, and Later-Life SES"
Education/Early Life
|
Silvia Barcellos *10 University of Southern California
|
11:00am - 11:15am | "An Equilibrium Model of the Impact of Increased Public Investment in Early Childhood Education"
Education/Early Life
|
Jessica Brown *19 University of South Carolina
|
11:15am - 11:30am | "Genetics, Economic Choices, and Economic Status"
Education/Early Life
|
Leandro Carvalho *10 University of Southern California
|
11:30am - 11:45am | "Monopsony Power in the Market for Teachers"
Education/Early Life
|
Matthew Weinberg *06 The Ohio State University This paper is joint with Allan Collard-Wexler |
11:45am - 12:00pm | "Why did a Compulsory Schooling Law Raise Earnings but Lower Life Satisfaction?"
Education/Early Life
|
Francisco Perez-Arce *10 University of Southern California
|
12:00pm - 01:15pm | Lunch |
|
01:15pm - 01:30pm | "Public goods and tax compliance"
Public Programs/Taxes
|
Climent Quintana-Domeque *08 University of Exeter
|
01:30pm - 01:45pm | "Administrative Burden and Procedural Denials: Experimental Evidence from SNAP"
Public Programs/Taxes
|
Tatiana Homonoff *13 New York University, Wagner
|
01:45pm - 02:00pm | "Tax Cuts, Firm Growth, and Worker Earnings: Evidence from Small Businesses in Canada"
Public Programs/Taxes
|
Terry Moon *19 University of British Columbia
|
02:00pm - 02:15pm | "Should the punishment fit the crime? Discretion and deterrence in law enforcement"
Crime
|
Steve Mello *19 Dartmouth College
|
02:15pm - 02:30pm | "Do Campaign Contributions Corrupt the Right to Counsel? Evidence from Judicial Elections"
Crime
|
Neel Sukhatme *15 Georgetown Law
|
02:30pm - 02:45pm | "Social Connectedness in Marijuana Use"
Crime
|
Elaine Liu *08 University of Houston
|
02:45pm - 03:00pm | BREAK |
|
03:00pm - 03:15pm | "Opportunity Unraveled: Private Information and the Missing Markets for Financing Human Capital"
Higher Education II
|
Daniel Herbst *18 University of Arizona This paper is joint with Nathaniel Hendren |
03:15pm - 03:30pm | "The Decline in Community College Enrollment"
Higher Education II
|
Diane Schanzenbach *02 Northwestern
|
03:30pm - 03:45pm | "The economic returns to a PhD: A Canada-US comparison"
Higher Education II
|
Dwayne Benjamin *89 University of Toronto This paper is joint with Boriana Miloucheva and Natalia Vigezzi |
03:45pm - 04:00pm | "The Effects of Exposure to a Large-Scale Recession on Higher Education and Early Career Outcomes"
Higher Education II
|
Eleanor Choi *11 Hanyang University
|
04:00pm - 04:15pm | "Labor Market Impacts of Major Switching"
Higher Education II
|
Carl Lieberman *21 US Census Bureau
|
04:15pm - 04:30pm | Closing Remarks |

June 8 at 1:15pm
Firms' Organizations and the Minimum Wage
Nicholas Lawson *13
Université du Québec à Montréal
Abstract
Labour economists have studied minimum wages for decades, but overwhelmingly with a focus on its effects on employment; there has been very little work about the effect of minimum wages on the organization of the firm. We analyze the effects of minimum wages on the hierarchical organization of labour within the firm. In our empirical analysis, we combine the French DADS data with a novel empirical strategy based on a unique source of variation in minimum wages during the transition to the 35-hour week in 1998-2006. We show that higher minimum wages are associated with smaller firms with fewer layers in their hierarchy, but also higher levels of productivity. We then calibrate and simulate a model of hierarchical firms to show that these empirical findings are consistent with the profit-maximizing organization of knowledge within firms.
Favorite Section memory:
Although my research - then and now - has been more theoretical than is typical for the IR Section, being surrounded by people who were innovators in empirical strategies and questions of identification made me a better economist...and, unexpectedly, a good teacher of econometrics.
June 8 at 1:45pm
The Perverse Effect of Flexible Work Arrangements on Informality
Giovanni Mastrobuoni *06
Collegio Carlo Alberto, University of Turin, CEPR, IZA
Abstract
Flexible work arrangements, which are on the rise in many countries, allow for quick labor demand adjustments and are seen as a way to discourage undeclared work. In 2008, Italy introduced one of the most flexible alternative work arrangements: labor vouchers.
Using random timing in labor inspections, as well as the abolition of labor vouchers, we show that badly designed alternative work arrangements disrupt the work of labor inspectors, allowing firms to increase the amount of undeclared work. Firms who use vouchers for this purpose are shown to hire more regular part-time and fixed-term workers when vouchers become unavailable.

June 8 at 2:00pm
Wage Adjustment in Efficient Long-Term Employment Relationships
Gary Solon *83
University of Michigan
This paper is joint with Michael Elsby, Axel Gottfries, and Pawel Krolikowski
Abstract
We present a model in which efficient long-term employment relationships are sustained by wage adjustments prompted by shocks to idiosyncratic productivity and the arrival of outside job offers. In accordance with casual and formal evidence, these wage adjustments occur only sporadically, due to the presence of renegotiation costs. The model is amenable to analytical solution, and yields new insights for a number of labor market phenomena, including: (1) an explanation of why empirical distributions of year-to-year wage change for job stayers exhibit many instances of no wage change, more instances of wage increase, and a non-trivial incidence of wage reduction; (2) a property of near-“memorylessness” in wage dynamics that implies that initial hiring wages have only limited influence on later wages and allocation decisions; and (3) a crucial role for non-base pay, such as recruitment and retention bonuses, in sustaining efficient employment relationships.
Favorite Section memory:
What a time and place to train for a career in labor economics. I got to learn from Orley Ashenfelter's example, and to study alongside fellow students like Dave Card, Mike Ransom, Mark Plant, Joe Altonji.... It doesn't get any better than that.

June 8 at 2:15pm
The Declining Growth in the Well-Being of the Average American Manufacturing Production Worker
John Pencavel *69
Princeton University
Abstract
The results of a search for an enduring long-term relation accounting for movements in real wages and in hours of work of the average manufacturing production worker are reported. Using annual observations of this worker from the late 19th century to the first decades of the 21st century, initially real wages rose and working hours fell, but these improvements in the well-being of this worker slowed and ultimately ceased. Possible explanations for this pattern including movements in labor productivity, statutory legislation, and the role of trade unions are examined.

June 8 at 2:45pm
The Impact of Immigration on Firms and Workers: Insights from the H-1B Lottery and US Employer-Employee Matched Data
Mingyu Chen *19
IZA Institute of Labor Economics
Abstract
We study how random variation in the availability of highly educated immigrants impacts firm performance and recruitment behavior. To do so we combine two rich data sources: 1) the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD), an employer-employee matched data set from the US Census Bureau, and 2) firm-level information on the large-scale 2007 and 2008 H-1B visa lotteries. Using an event-study approach, we find that lottery wins induce temporary increases in a firm's college-educated immigrant workforce but permanent increases in revenues and labor productivity. We do not find evidence that H-1B immigrants crowd out workers at the firm level.
Favorite Section memory:
What I learned from faculties, peers, and visitors at the IR Section shaped how I conduct empirical research and think about economics and causal inference. My favorite moments include hearing about stories of former students/faculties and how they come up with their famous papers in the common space and doing push up challenges with graduate students and RA's.

June 8 at 3:00pm
Labor Disutility in a Warmer World: The impact of climate change on the Global Workforce
Michael Greenstone *98
University of Chicago

June 8 at 3:15pm
Can the Low-Carbon Transition Energize Labor Markets? Evidence from Wind Electricity Investments in the U.S.
Olivier Deschenes *01
University of California, Santa Barbara
Abstract
Most western countries have made commitments or enacted policies aiming to transform their economies to become carbon-neutral by 2050. Many of the proposed policies to reduce carbon emissions are also promoted as engines of job creation and local economic development. While low-carbon transition policies continue to be debated and proposed, none have been implemented for a long enough period of time to permit an empirical evaluation of their impact.
This paper uses the natural experiment provided by the rapid deployment of wind electricity projects in the United States over the period 2000-2019 to shed light on whether the low-carbon transition can deliver long-lasting and high-quality jobs. We compile detailed data on the location and operation date of 55,000 wind turbines, combined with county-level data on employment and earnings to estimate the impact of wind projects on employment rates and earnings. The empirical analysis points to a small, but durable positive effect of wind electricity investments on local labor market outcomes. Overall, the results suggest that the deployment of 100 GW of wind electricity production capacity over the last two decades created close to 150,000 jobs.

June 8 at 3:30pm
Immigration Enforcement, Crime, and Police-Community Trust
Elisa Jacome *21
Northwestern University
Abstract
This paper studies the impact of immigration enforcement on both public safety and victim willingness to contact the police. While heightened immigration enforcement may improve safety by incapacitating serious offenders, safety may suffer if victims are unwilling to report crime. We examine the Secure Communities program, which increased cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities and significantly increased the volume of detentions and deportations of unauthorized migrants. Using survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau, we find that Hispanic individuals are more likely to become victims of a crime after the program's introduction, and that Hispanic individuals who are victims of a crime are less likely to report their incident to the police. These two opposing effects result in a null impact of the program on reported crime, explaining previous studies' findings that this program did not alter reported crime rates. We also find no corresponding increase in victimization or decline in reporting among non-Hispanic individuals. We provide evidence that the decline in Hispanic reporting is a key channel driving their increased victimization. Our findings shed light on the importance of directly measuring victim reporting practices for understanding the impact of criminal justice policies.

June 8 at 3:45pm
Intergenerational Income Transmission among the 1.5 Generation in Canada: The Role of Age at Immigration
Marie Connolly *07
University of Quebec in Montreal
Abstract
In this paper, we exploit intergenerationally-linked tax files and Census data to first document the intergenerational income transmission between individuals who immigrated to Canada as children—the 1.5 generation—and their parents. We find that the correlation between parental income rank and child income rank becomes stronger the older the child is at arrival. We then try to get at the causal effect of the age at immigration by estimating a model in which child rank is explained by interactions between age at arrival and the average predicted rank of second-generation immigrants from the same region of origin, living in the same region in Canada, from the same birth cohort, given their parental income. The model gives us the rate at which children from the 1.5 generation catch up to second-generation immigrants. We find that up to age 10, the relation between age at immigration and income is flat, but starting at age 11, each year is associated with 3.3 fewer percentile ranks.
Favorite Section memory:
Back before the age of cloud computing and file syncing using Dropbox, at the Section we had a server (alfa?) that we could connect to remotely, store our files on, and run computer code. It was very useful and state-of-the-art! But I think what I remember most fondly is the intimacy of the old Section in Firestone, the proximity with professors and other grad students, and the support from everyone. That, and the many lunches at Prospect House with seminar speakers, with the crab cakes always "a great choice." A treat for a grad student!
Plenary Panel June 8 at 4:30pm, McCosh 50
Join us for a conversation with:
Joshua Angrist *89, Ford Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
David Card *83, Class of 1950 Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley
Janet Currie *88, Henry Putnam Professor of Economics and Public Affairs and Co-Director, Center for Health and Wellbeing, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
Cecilia Rouse, Lawrence and Shirley Katzman and Lewis and Anna Ernst Professor in the Economics of Education. Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
Moderator: David S. Lee *99, Chemical Bank Chairman's Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.


June 9 at 9:00am
The Racial Wealth Gap, Financial Aid, and College Access
Phil Levine *90
Wellesley College
Abstract
We examine how the racial wealth gap interacts with financial aid in American higher education to generate a disparate impact on college access and outcomes. Retirement savings and home equity are excluded from the formula used to estimate the amount a family can afford to pay. All else equal, omitting those assets mechanically increases the financial aid available to families that hold them. White families are more likely to own those assets and in larger amounts. We document this issue and explore its relationship with observed differences in college attendance, types of institutions attended, degrees attained, and education debt using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). We show that this treatment of assets provides an implicit subsidy worth thousands of dollars annually to students from families with above-median incomes. White students receive larger subsidies relative to Black students and Hispanic students with similar family incomes, and this gap in subsidies is associated with disadvantages in educational advancement and student loan levels. It may explain 10 percent to 15 percent of white students’ advantage in these outcomes relative to Black students and Hispanic students.
Favorite Section memory:
I learned more about doing economics in the IR Section standing around the counter talking with faculty and other students than I did in any economics class!

June 9 at 9:15am
Gender Differences in Economics PhD Field Specializations with Correlated Choices
Ronald Oaxaca *71
Princeton University
Abstract
The focus of our paper is the process underlying gender differences in the choice of field specialization among students in doctoral programs in economics. We model the choice among beginning economists within a multi- variate logit framework that accommodates single- and dual-primary field specializations and incorporates corre- lations among field specialization choices. Conditioning on personal, economic, and institutional variables reveals that women graduate students are less likely to specialize in Labor/Health, Macro/Finance, Industrial Organi- zation, Public Economics, and Development/Growth/International and are more likely to specialize in Agricul- tural/Resource/Environmental Economics. Field-specific gender faculty ratios and expected relative salaries as well as economics department rankings are significant factors for gender doctoral specialization dissimilarity. Preferences and characteristics contribute about equally to field specialization dissimilarity.
Favorite Section memory
My fondest memories from my days as a graduate student in the Princeton IRS were the daily afternoon teas. These events generally comprised gatherings around Dean Douglas Brown J. or Dean Richard Lester to hear ``war’’ stories about the establishment of the U.S. Social Security System or the early days of the Section. My subsequent career as an economist was fundamentally shaped by my stimulating intellectual and social experiences in the Section. I felt then, as I do now, that I was most privileged to benefit from my tutelage by Al Rees and Orley Ashenfelter who were at the vanguard of modern, theoretical, and quantitative approaches to labor economics as well as from Fred Harbison representing the traditional institutional perspective on labor economics and labor relations.

June 9 at 9:45am
CPS, Sample Selection, Top-Coding and Wage Growth
Luojia Hu *00
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Abstract
We explore to what extent measures of wage growth using CPS data are sensitive to attrition and to alternative methods for dealing with top-coding. A Chicago Fed Letter by Cole, Hu and Schulhofer-Wohl (2017) discussed conditions under which various statistical measures are the relevant ones. Some of the measures discussed there can be subject to sample selection bias resulting from the fact that wages are only observed for people who work, and all of the measures can suffer from sample selection bias that results from attrition and the failure to match individual over time. When implementing these wage-growth measures using CPS data, one also has to take a stand on how to deal with top-coding.

June 9 at 10:00am
"One Instrument to Rule Them All: the Bias and Coverage of Just-ID IV"
Josh Angrist *89
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Favorite Section memories:
Sit-downs at the big table with Orley (for dissertation progress reports)
Watching David edit my drafts with scissors, scotch tape, and a glue stick!
My time in the Section was (as they say) life-changing: I've been building on what I learned there ever since.

June 9 at 10:15am
Supercompliers
Zhuan Pei *13
Cornell University
This paper is joint with Matt Comey and Amanda Eng
Abstract
In a binary-treatment instrumental variable framework, we define supercompliers as the subpopulation whose treatment take-up positively responds to eligibility and whose outcome positively responds to take-up. Supercompliers are the only subpopulation to benefit from treatment eligibility and, hence, are of great policy interest. Given a set of jointly testable assumptions and a binary outcome, we can completely identify the characteristics of supercompliers. Specifically, we require the standard assumptions from the local average treatment effect literature along with an outcome monotonicity assumption (i.e., treatment is weakly beneficial). We can estimate and conduct inference on supercomplier characteristics using standard instrumental variable regression.

June 9 at 10:45am
The Effect of Education on the Relationship between Genetics, Early-Life Disadvantages, and Later-Life SES
Silvia Barcellos *10
University of Southern California
Abstract
We investigate whether education weakens the relationship between early-life disadvantages and later-life SES. Besides early, favorable family and neighborhood conditions, we argue that the genes children inherit also represent a source of advantages. Using a regression discontinuity design, we study a UK compulsory schooling reform that generated exogenous variation in schooling. The reform reduced educational disparities but did not weaken the relationship between early-life disadvantages and wages because advantaged children had higher returns to schooling. Exploiting family-based random genetic variation, we find the policy reduced educational differences driven by both environmental (e.g. credit constraints) and genetic advantages (e.g. innate ability).
Favorite Section memory:
So many happy memories! I loved the tradition of toasting to celebrate successful dissertation defenses. It gave me something to look forward to, even when my own dissertation results kept falling apart.

June 9 at 1:15pm
Local Public Goods and Property Tax Compliance: Evidence from Residential Street Pavement
Climent Quintana-Domeque *08
University of Exeter
Abstract
Does property tax compliance improve when the supply of local public goods expands? This paper uses administrative property tax records and information on the rollout of first-time asphalting of streets in inhabited residential neighborhoods in Mexico to show that the provision of local public goods can improve property tax compliance rates. We put forward a simple explanation to link local public goods and property tax compliance: When citizens observe public goods being delivered, they update their beliefs about the government's quality in public good provision and become more likely to comply.

June 9 at 1:30pm
Administrative Burden and Procedural Denials: Experimental Evidence from SNAP
Tatiana Homonoff *13
New York University
Abstract
Many safety net program applications result in procedural denials due to the administrative burden associated with applying. We study the effect of an alternative application process for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program designed to alleviate barriers to program access associated with the intake interview. Using a field experiment involving over 60,000 applicants in Los Angeles, we find that access to on-demand interviews expedites approvals and increases overall participation rates: early approvals nearly double and approval rates increase by six percentage points. Our findings highlight the importance of incorporating flexibility into the design of program integrity policies to minimize procedural denials.
Favorite Section memory:
Watching Orley do a photoshoot with 50 Big Macs...and then getting to eat 50 Big Macs.

June 9 at 1:45pm
Tax Cuts, Firm Growth, and Worker Earnings: Evidence from Small Businesses in Canada
Terry Moon *19
University of British Columbia
Abstract
This paper assesses the effects of corporate tax reductions for small businesses on their growth and employee earnings. Following a 2014 reform in Quebec, Canada, firms that received tax cuts increase their employment, payrolls, and capital stock by 1.7 percent, 2.3 percent, and 3.2 percent, respectively, relative to unaffected firms. In turn, these firms experience 5.2 percent, 0.4 percentage points, and 890 dollars increases in their sales, profit margins, and EBITDA per worker. Furthermore, annual earnings increase by 1.3 percent for workers in treated firms relative to workers in control firms. We estimate that workers without ownership in their own firms bear about a third of corporate tax burdens, and combined workers (with or without ownership) bear about three quarters of the tax burdens. Additionally, the effects are larger for firms and workers in high-growth and high-tech industries, suggesting a cash-flow channel playing an important role behind our results. Taken together, these findings suggest that tax incentives designed for small businesses may lead to significant increases in their growth and worker earnings, and targeting a specific sector or industry when designing corporate tax cuts may be an effective way to stimulate growth and employment in the economy.
Favorite Section memory:
Favorite memory from my time in the Section is observing a collection of Orley's wine bottles in his office back in the Firestone Library. The Section had a tremendous impact on my academic and personal life -- I learned a lot just by talking with other members in the Section, and it really felt like a family.

June 9 at 2:15pm
Judges for Sale: The Effect of Campaign Contributions on State Criminal Courts
Neel Sukhatme *15
Georgetown University Law Center
Abstract
Scholars and policymakers have long sought to determine how campaign contributions might affect the behavior of elected officials. Using data on donations from Texas, we show that criminal defense attorneys who contribute to a district judge's electoral campaign are preferentially assigned by that judge to indigent defense cases, i.e., public contracts in which the state pays private attorneys to represent poor defendants. We estimate that attorney donors receive twice as many cases as non donors during the month of their campaign contribution. Nearly two thirds of this increase is explained by the contribution itself, with the remainder attributable to shared preferences within attorney-judge pairs, such as professional, ideological, political, or personal ties. Defendants assigned to donor attorneys also fare worse in cases resolved in the month of contribution, with fewer cases dismissed and more convictions and incarcerations. Further evidence suggests recipient judges close cases to cash out their attorney benefactors, at the expense of defendants. Our results provide some of the strongest causal evidence to date on the corrosive potential of campaign donations, including their impact on the right to counsel as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
Favorite Section memory:
attending the weekly labor workshops in Firestone, and talking shop with colleagues in the IR Section lounge while enjoying an espresso!

June 9 at 2:30pm
Social Connectedness in Marijuana Use
Elaine Liu *08
University of Houston
Abstract
We study how the social network is facilitating how marijuana legalization in one state affects other areas. To do this we combine data on social connectedness from Facebook and substance use from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health. We find that marijuana consumption increases more in areas that are more socially connected to the states that legalized recreational marijuana use or licensed sales. Our findings of the externality of legalization in one state to other more connected out-of-state areas imply that studies that estimate the impact of legalization using a standard difference-in-differences approach without taking into account the network underestimate the direct effect on the state that legalizes.

June 9 at 3:45pm
The Effects of Exposure to a Large-Scale Recession on Higher Education and Early Career Outcomes
Eleanor Choi *11
Hanyang University
Abstract
This study examines the effects of the timing of exposure to the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis on higher education and early labor market outcomes. We estimate an extended difference-in-differences model using variation in age at exposure and regional severity of the recession in South Korea. Using data from the Census and twenty waves of the Youth Panel, we find that individuals living in regions more severely affected by the recession are less likely to attend and graduate from four-year colleges, and are less likely to choose humanities majors conditional on college enrollment. We also find that the quality of the first job, measured by wage, firm size, and skill level, deteriorates for those more hard-hit by the crisis. These effects are more pronounced for those who were younger (below age 12) at the time of the recession.

June 9 at 4:00pm
The Labor Market Impacts of Major Switching
Carl Lieberman *21
Center for Economic Studies, US Census Bureau
Abstract
How does major switching in college affect students' earnings trajectories after they finish schooling? Using novel data combining the Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes and Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics program, I examine the effects of switching majors on items such as graduation and earnings and also explore how they may vary across different demographics.
Favorite Section memory:
The best part of being in the Section was having so many open doors to knock on: faculty, visitors, postdocs, grad students, RAs, staff, everyone. The environment was warm and collegial, and these conversations were invaluable for support, research ideas, and what level to cluster your standard errors.
Book by May 1
A room block has been reserved at the Princeton Marriott at Forrestal at a discounted rate for the evenings of June 7th and 8th. Reservations must be guaranteed with a major credit card or with a first night's deposit. Please book your reservation by May 1, 2023 for the discounted rate.
Location: 100 College Road East, Princeton NJ 08540
Should you require financial assistance to support your attendance, please contact Valerie Ching
