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Category Archives: I2

The Changing Impact of School Suspensions on Student Outcomes: Evidence from North Carolina Public Schools

by Lewis Zhu Abstract  Motivated by a historic decline in standardized test scores among US students, this paper investigates whether exclusionary discipline—specifically out-of-school suspensions (OSS)— contributes to changes in academic performance. Drawing on administrative data from the North Carolina Education Research Data Center, which span a period marked by substantial discipline policy reform, I assess […]

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Affirmative Action and Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Brazil Marcos Hirai Catao

by Marcos Hirai Catao Abstract In this study, I examine the effects of affirmative action (AA) policies on high school students’ incentives to invest in human capital, focusing on the Brazilian Quotas Law (QL). This law mandates that federal higher education institutions reserve half of their seats for students from public high schools. Utilizing administrative […]

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School Choice and Neighborhood Change in Post-Katrina New Orleans

by Rosalind Fei Yang Abstract As school choice policies weaken the traditional link between neighborhoods and schools, traditional housing patterns previously governed by school zoning are changing. This paper examines the connection between school choice reform, specifically an increase in charter schools, and changes in neighborhood composition, focusing on New Orleans over time. I use […]

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The Effect of Gun Prevalence on the Occurrence of School Shootings

by Abigail Ullendorff Abstract This paper studies how gun prevalence, represented by federal firearm background checks, affects the occurrence of school shootings. While precedent literature has estimated adverse effects of school shootings on exposed children, including reductions in mental health, academic achievement, and labor market earnings, few studies have attempted to identify factors that influence […]

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Free University? An Investigation of Australia’s 1974 Free Higher Education Policy and Its Impact on Enrollment, Degree Completion, Later-Life Occupational Status, and Income

by Yaxuan “Annie” Cui Abstract To what extent has the free higher education policy of 1974 impacted Australian students’ decisions of university enrollment, degree completion, and later-life human capital development? In this paper, I analyze the impact of the policy from both national descriptive statistics and individual-level enrollment and degree completion decisions using the Australian […]

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Effects of Neighborhoods on Children’s Educational Outcomes in Indonesia

by Audrey Liu Abstract There is considerable observed geographic variable in outcomes across space. Neighborhood effects attempt to explain to what extent the place in which an individual grows up impacts their future outcomes. This paper focuses on neighborhood effects on children in Indonesia where there is a large disparity in public and private amenities […]

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Student Effort and Parent Attitude on Education Attainment: Evidence from Multi-year Survey in Gansu, China

by Ridge Zhong-yuan Ren Abstract  This paper explores whether student effort and parent attitudes have varying effects at different stages of a student’s life in terms of educational attainment and job outcomes. With survey data in Gansu, China, a largely rural province in Northwest China that lags behind the rest of China in education, this […]

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An Analysis of the Labor Market Returns to Community College and Vocational Training

by Eli Levine Abstract  Education and training are fundamentally linked with labor market performance. There is a significant body of work analyzing the role of education in wages with an emphasis on a comparison between a college degree and a high school diploma. However, as states have begun to shift their education policies to make […]

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To What Extent Does Relative Maturity Affect Test Scores Between Tracked and Untracked Education Systems? Evidence From TIMSS 2019

by Qi Xuan Khoo Abstract  Most education systems enforce a cutoff birth date for school entry, and some group students based on their perceived ability—a practice known as tracking. While the former policy leads to maturity gaps among early learners, the concomitant performance gaps may or may not be exacerbated by the latter. Analyzing the […]

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Peer Effects & Differential Attrition: Evidence from Tennessee’s Project STAR

by Sanjay Satish Abstract This paper explores the effects of attrition on student development in early education. It aims to provide evidence that student departure in elementary schools has educational impacts on the students they leave behind. Utilizing data from Tennessee’s Project STAR experiment, this paper aims to expand upon the literature of peer effects, […]

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Questions?

Undergraduate Program Assistant
Matthew Eggleston
dus_asst@econ.duke.edu

Director of the Honors Program
Michelle P. Connolly
michelle.connolly@duke.edu