Curriculum  Vitae

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Academic Appointments and Affiliations

• • Assistant Professor of Economics, Brigham Young University, 2021-Present

  • IZA Research Affiliate, 2018-Present

  • CESifo Research Network Affiliate, 2017-Present

  • Global Labor Organization Fellow, 2018-Present

  • WGU Labs Research Advisory Council, 2020-Present

  • Assistant Professor of Economics, United States Military Academy at West Point, 2015-2021

  • Director of Long-Run Research, Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis, 2018-2021

Education

• • Ph.D., Policy Analysis & Management, Cornell University, 2015

  • M.A., Policy Analysis & Management, Cornell University, 2014

  • B.A., Economics, Brigham Young University, 2009

Fields

• • Applied Microeconomics, Economics of Education, Labor Economics,  Behavioral Economics

Research

Peer Reviewed Publications 

• • “Timing Matters:  Evidence from  College Major Decisions.” With Nolan Pope and Aaron Feudo. Journal of Human Resources.  2023.

  • “Army Service in the All-Volunteer Era.”  With Kyle Greenberg, Matthew Gudgeon, Adam Isen,  and Corbin Miller.  Quarterly Journal of Economics. 2022. 

  • “Why Have College Completion Rates Increased? ” With Jeff Denning, Eric Eide, Kevin Mumford, and Merrill Warnick.  American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. 2022.

  • “Low-Touch Attempts to Improve Time Management among Traditional and Online College Students.” With Phil Oreopoulos, Uros Petronijevic, and  Nolan Pope.  Journal of Human Resources.  2022.

  • “Attribution Bias in Major Decisions: Evidence from Major Choice at the United States Military Academy." With Kareem Haggag, Nolan Pope, and Aaron Feudo.  Journal of Public Economics.  2021

  • “Nudges Don’t Work When the Benefits Are Ambiguous: Evidence from a High-Stakes Education Program.” With Benjamin Castleman, Francis Murphy, and William Skimmyhorn. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 2021.  

  • “How Much to Save? Decision Costs and Retirement Plan Participation.” With Tatiana Homonoff, Jacob Goldin, and William Skimmyhorn.  Journal of Public Economics. 2020.  

  • “Benefits left on the table: Evidence from the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act.” With Benjamin Castleman and William Skimmyhorn.  Economics of Education Review.  2019. 

  • “Can Behavioral Tools Improve Online Student Outcomes? Experimental Evidence from a Massive Open Online Course.” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. 2018.

  • “Computers and Productivity: Evidence from Laptop Use in the College Classroom.” With Robert Patterson.  Economics of Education Review. 2017.

  • “Charter School Unionization and Student Outcomes.” With Jordan Matsudaira. Economics of Education Review, 2017.

  • “Could Trends in Time Children Spend with Parents Help Explain the Black-White Gap in Human Capital? Evidence from The American Time Use Survey.” Education Economics. 2017.

  • “Reputation Tapping.” With Bradley Rickard and Jill McCluskey. European Agricultural Economic Review. 2015.

Other Publications

• • “The Competitive Effects of Online Education.” With David Deming and Michael Lovenheim.  Productivity in Higher Education (Caroline Hoxby and Kevin Stange, Eds.). Also published as NBER Working Paper No. 22749. 2019.

  • “Innovation in Education.” With Jordan Matsudaira. In Dominic Brewer and Lawrence Picus, editors. Encyclopedia of Education Economics and Finance. Sage Publications. 2015.

  • “Faculty Members on Boards of Trustees.” With Ronald Ehrenberg and Andrew Key. Academe. 2013.

Ongoing Projects

• • “How do Behavioral Approaches to Increase Savings Compare? Evidence from Multiple Interventions in the U.S. Army.” With William Skimmyhorn. 

  • “Intergenerational Effects of Occupation Choice. Evidence from the United States Army.” With Kyle Greenberg, Matthew Gudgeon, Adam Isen,  and Corbin Miller.

Fellowships, Grants, & Awards

• • 2021-2022 Social Security Administration Retirement and Disability Research Consortium Grant. 

  • 2014-2015 National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship. $25,000.

  • 2014 Russell Sage Foundation. Small Grants in Behavioral Economics. $6,000.

  • 2014 Cornell Population Center Rapid Response Grant. $800.

  • 2012 Cornell Institute for Social Science Small Grants Program. With Jordan Matsudaira. $10,000. 

  • 2009 Brigham Young University Office of Research and Creative Activities (ORCA) student grant. $1,500. 

  • 2007 Brigham Young University Introductory Economics Teaching Assistant of the Semester.

Presentations

• • 2023 (Including Scheduled) APPAM; Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Montana State University; NBER Education Spring Meeting;  Southern Economic Association Meetings; Utah Applied Economics Conference; Utah State University. 

  • 2022 APPAM; San Diego State University;  RAND.

  • 2021 AEA ASSA Annual Meeting; Florida State University.

  • 2020 (includes scheduled) NBER Summer Institute-Labor Studies, NBER Summer Institute-National Security (coauthor presented),  University of Maryland, University of Utah, Utah State University (Cancelled) , Vassar College, E-Con of Education Virtual Seminar. 

  • 2019  University of California,  San Diego;  University of Oregon;    United States Air Force Academy;  Association for Education Finance and Policy;  Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management; Society of Labor Economics.

  • 2018 Brigham Young University; University of Alaska; University of Pittsburgh ; Southern Economics Association; Western Economics Association; Northeast Economics of Education Workshop.

  • 2017  APPAM;  Wesleyan University;  Southern Economics Association; Western Economics Association.

  • 2016  Ideas 42; Association for Education Finance and Policy; NBER Higher Education Productivity Conference (coauthor presented); Western Economic Association, Northeast Economics of Education Workshop.

  • 2015 Analysis Group; Cornell University; Mathematica; Southern Economics Association; United States Military Academy; American Education Research Association meetings (poster).

  • 2014 BYU Graduate Student Conference; Utah State University; Western Economic Association.

  • 2013 Western Economic Association.

  • 2011 AAEA-Behavioral Economics & Child Nutrition; American Marketing Association.

Teaching

• • Applied Econometrics

  • Behavioral Economics

  • Principles of Economics

Professional Service

• • Referee: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Contemporary Economic Policy, Economics of Education Review, Economic Inquiry, Education Economics, Education Finance and Policy, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Human Capital, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Journal of Public Economics,  Management Science