Research

Working Papers

Education personnel play a crucial role in identifying and reporting child maltreatment. However, school closures amid COVID-19 pandemic disrupted this vital reporting system. We causally investigate how remote learning influenced trends in child maltreatment allegations and the severity of these cases, leveraging county- and state-level variations in remote learning instructional weeks in the United States during the 2020-21 school year. Utilizing report-level data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), we find that in counties and states with higher exposure to remote instruction, fewer allegations were reported, but a higher proportion of allegations were substantiated, and maltreatment-related child fatalities increased. The reduction in allegations was primarily driven by those reported by education personnel, and the impacts varied significantly based on characteristics such as the child's race/ethnicity and the type of maltreatment. These results highlight an unintended cost of distance learning: remote instruction impaired the detection of child maltreatment, particularly among underrepresented groups, leading to fewer reports but more severe cases that could have lasting impacts on children. They also urge prompt policy interventions to safeguard children who remain undetected and to prevent the consequences of remote learning from exacerbating existing inequalities in child welfare.

The shift to remote and blended learning during pandemic-induced school closures transformed the educational landscape, altering the significance of various educational inputs and their influence on student outcomes. This paper investigates gender disparities in achievement growth during the pandemic. Utilizing Kitagawa-Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition and Two-Stage Least Squares methods, I analyze the effects of exposure to disruptive peers and gender differences in self-control on learning trajectories. Findings reveal that both factors significantly contributed to student achievement during the pandemic, with variations in self-control and peer disruption explaining a notable portion of the gender achievement gaps. Additionally, during blended learning, math achievement gaps widened for students who remained remote, particularly among low-achievers, while no significant gaps were observed for those who returned to in-person instruction. The achievement gaps were most pronounced among low-achieving students.

Closing the Coverage Gap: The Impact of the ACA Medicaid Expansion on Low-Income Young Adults' Health Insurance (draft available upon request)

Low-income young adults are a vulnerable population with significant healthcare needs. While exposed to several physical and mental health problems, yet they often face barriers to accessing care due to their socioeconomic status. Although the "dependent coverage" provision of the ACA Medicaid expansion in 2010 was intended to enhance health insurance coverage for young adults by extending coverage for dependents aged up to 26, this provision is likely to have a greater impact on young adults in middle- to high-income households since only dependents whose parents with private health insurance coverage could benefit from it. Utilizing the March Current Population Survey (CPS), I investigate the impact of the ACA Medicaid expansion on young adults falling in a "coverage gap" by comparing impacts on poor young adults in expansion states and non-expansion states.

Policy Reports

 [Georgia Policy Labs - Metro Atlanta Policy Lab for Education (MAPLE)]

Gender Differences in Remote Learning amid COVID-19 [policy brief / report / appendix]

Works in progress

The Effect of Universal Gaming Shutdown Policy in South Korea

Navigating Post-Pandemic Educational Disparities: K-12 Public School Disenrollment, Chronic Absenteeism, and School Choice

Replicating and Extending "Does the Healthcare Educational Market Respond to Short-Run Local Demand?"