Jhacova Williams is an assistant professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University and previously worked at Xavier University of Louisiana, Clemson University, the Economic Policy Institute, and RAND Corporation before joining the faculty at American University. She is an applied microeconomist focusing primarily on economic history and cultural economics. Her previous work has examined Southern culture and the extent to which historical events have impacted the political behavior and economic outcomes of Southern Black Americans. Recent examples include historical lynchings and the political participation of Black Americans, and Confederate symbols and Black-White labor market differentials. She has also done a series of projects investigating the role of structural racism in shaping racial economic disparities in labor markets. Williams received a B.S. in mathematics from Xavier University of Louisiana, a M.S. in applied mathematics from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Ph.D. in economics from Louisiana State University.
Expert Type: Grantee
Yana Gallen
Yana Gallen is an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. She is a labor economist studying the gender wage gap. Her recent research estimates the effects of unplanned pregnancies on women’s careers and explores whether delaying pregnancy can reduce these career impacts. Her work also examines how new entrants to the labor market learn to navigate work-family trade-offs. Gallen received a Ph.D. in economics from Northwestern University in 2016.
Jordan Richmond
Jordan Richmond is an assistant professor of finance at the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. His research interests lie in public economics, labor economics, and corporate finance. His existing work studies the impacts of corporate tax policies on investment and financing choices and evasion and avoidance behavior. In ongoing work, Richmond develops dynamic models of corporate behavior and explores the distributional consequences of the private equity industry for workers across the income distribution. Prior to joining the University of Maryland, he completed an economics Ph.D. at Princeton University, was a predoctoral fellow at Opportunity Insights, and completed a B.A. in economics and physics at Bowdoin College.
Kassandra Hernandez
Kassandra Hernández is a Ph.D. candidate in economics at the University of California, Berkeley. Trained in labor economics and public finance, she studies how public policy exacerbates or mitigates inequality, particularly for low-wage workers and immigrants. Her work examines worker-led enforcement mechanisms—specifically, labor code violations, lawsuits, and subsequent impacts on workers and firms. Previously, Hernández was the inaugural research analyst at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Latino Policy and Politics Institute, where she led work on economic opportunity, (un)employment, and COVID-19 impacts on the Latino community. Her work has been covered in both English and Spanish media and was presented to members of the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Department of State. Hernández holds an M.P.P. and a B.A. in philosophy with a minor in labor and workplace studies, both from UCLA.
Micah Villarreal
Micah Villarreal is a Ph.D. candidate in economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In her research, she seeks to understand the historical roots of present-day inequality in the United States. Her dissertation exploits a natural experiment in early 1900s Oklahoma to learn about the causes of racial wealth inequality. Previously, Villarreal worked on housing and labor policy research at Abt Associates. She holds a B.A. in international relations and economics from Wellesley College.
Neil Cholli
Neil Cholli is a Klarman Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University’s Department of Economics. His primary fields of research are labor and public economics. Cholli’s work leverages applied microeconomic methods guided by theory to understand the mechanisms of social mobility and evaluate policies aimed at promoting it. He received his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Chicago in 2022 as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and an Institute of Education Sciences Pre-Doctoral Fellow. His dissertation has been recognized by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management and the National Tax Association.
Adam Isen
Adam Isen is an associate professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University. Previously, he worked for 10 years at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. His research interests are in labor and public economics. In his work, Isen studies the effect of government policy on households and firms and the causal pathways that give rise to inequality and intergenerational mobility. He received his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and his Ph.D. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Alejandra Ros Pilarz
Alejandra Ros Pilarz is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work. Her research agenda aims to improve the well-being of working families with low-incomes through policy-relevant research. Her research examines the effects of parental employment and children’s early care and education contexts on family well-being and children’s development. She also examines how public policies shape parents’ employment, children’s early care and education contexts, and, ultimately, influence child and family well-being. Pilarz received her A.M. and Ph.D. from the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago and her B.A. in psychology from the University of Notre Dame.
Amy Claessens
Amy Claessens is a professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the Carl and Mary Gulbrandsen Distinguished Chair in Early Childhood Education and the associate director of the Center for Research on Early Childhood Education. Her research focuses on improving the well-being of families and young children in a variety of contexts, including child care and the early years of school. Her research has been funded by a wide range of agencies, including the Administration for Children and Families and the Heising-Simons Foundation. Claessens has a Ph.D. in human development and social policy from Northwestern University.
Dmitri Koustas
Dmitri Koustas is an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. His research spans labor economics, public economics, macroeconomics, and household finance, with a particular focus on the future of work. In particular, his research measuring and understanding participation in the gig economy has helped inform the policy discussion around gig work, future survey design, and tax administration. In addition to academic publications, his research has been featured in the National Academy of Sciences report on “Measuring Alternative Work Arrangements for Research and Policy,” in multiple editions of the White House Council of Economic Advisers’ Economic Report of the President, and in major media outlets. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2018.