Declining labor shares and the relative price of investment: evidence from state investment tax credits

This research will explore the changing distribution of income between labor and capital. The project will look specifically at how tax policy focused towards investment may be responsible for the shift of income from labor to capital by looking at differences across states. The shift in the capital-labor distribution is critically important for understanding not just economic inequality, but growth as well.

School finance reform and educational equity

Improving school quality is a well-established way to improve student learning. But one specific approach is understudied: school finance reform. This project will examine state-level school finance reforms, intended to increase funding for schools serving poor children, over the past several decades. If school financing matters, then reforms that equalize funding will also tend to equalize student achievement across districts. This researcher will study the effects of these reforms on the absolute and relative test scores of students in low-income school districts. Policymakers can then understand if these reforms boost overall scores as well as reduce the inequality of outcomes.