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About Me

I am an Economist and Professor of Public Policy at UCLA, Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and Research Associate at UCSC. My research interests include public policy, entrepreneurship, education, racial and gender inequality, information technology, labor economics, developing countries, and immigration. The overarching goal of my research is to have broad impact by providing rigorous, unbiased and objective evidence on questions that are important for society and often involve highly-charged policy debates. The methodological focus of my work includes implementing randomized control field experiments, employing advanced econometric techniques and identification strategies, and working with and building large administrative datasets. Publications from my research have appeared in leading journals in economics, policy, management, science, and medicine (e.g. American Economic Review, AEJ: Applied, AEJ: Policy, ReSTAT, JPAM, Management Science, and JAMA: Surgery), and I have written two books published with MIT Press. I received a Ph.D. and M.A. from Northwestern University and B.A. with honors from Stanford University. I have held a faculty position at UCSC and visiting positions at Stanford University, Yale University, UC Berkeley, and Australian National University. I have received funding for my research from the National Science Foundation, National Academies, and Russell Sage Foundation as well as numerous government agencies and foundations, and have testified in front of the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Department of Treasury, and the California State Assembly. Recent awards and honors include a joint resolution from the California State Assembly and Senate, Choice Academic Title award, and the Bradford-Osborne research award two years in a row. I am regularly interviewed by the media to comment on economic, education, entrepreneurship, inequality and policy issues.