Lauren C. Russell
Not the Great Equalizer? Local Economic Mobility and Inequality Effects for the Establishment of U.S. Universities
Topics: Families and CommunitiesWe exploit historical natural experiments to test whether universities increase economic mobility and equality. We use "runner-up’" counties that were strongly considered to become university sites but were not selected for as-good-as-random reasons as counterfactuals for university counties.… more →
Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due: Causal Impacts of Reverse Transfer Associate Degrees on Education and Labor Market Outcomes
Tags: Higher educationReverse transfer associate degrees are credentials retroactively awarded to current bachelor’s degree seekers that combine current four-year credits with credits previously earned at a community college. Providing students with an associate degree may not only increase motivation and persistence… more →
Higher Education and Local Educational Attainment: Evidence from the Establishment of U.S. Colleges
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceTags: Equity, NeighborhoodsWe investigate how the presence of a college affects local educational attainment using historical natural experiments in which "runner-up" locations were strongly considered to become college sites but ultimately not chosen for as-good-as-random reasons. While runner-up counties have since had… more →