Research in Progress

“Human Capital Implications of High School Exit Exams and Graduation Requirements”

Abstract: Over the last twenty years, the number of states which require their high school students to pass exit exams in order to graduate has doubled. This paper demonstrates that the introduction of exit exam requirements increases summer enrollment rates by 2.5 percentage points on average, and reduces weekly hours worked in the summer by 6%. These effects are strongest for youth from more disadvantaged backgrounds. Further work seeks to understand how exit exam and other graduation requirements differentially affect later life outcomes for advantaged and disadvantaged youth.

“Do Workers Value a Smoke-free Workplace? Evidence from Smoking Bans in Restaurants and Bars” (with Neil Bhutta, MIT)

Abstract: Hedonic wage theory suggests workers are compensated for accepting workplace risk. Bar and restaurant workers face potentially severe health risks associated with second hand smoke. We test for the existence of a compensating differential by examining the impact of smoking bans on wages for restaurant and bar employees. We assemble a comprehensive dataset on smoking bans at the county level and draw wage data from the Census of Employment and Wages. Exploiting cross-county and intertemporal variation in the enactment of smoking bans, we find smoking bans negatively affect bar workers' wages. This result, however, may be due at least in part to a ban's negative impact on the demand for bar services. Ongoing work seeks to evaluate the role of lower demand as an explanation for reduced wages.