Boston University, M.A.. in Political Economy, 2000
University of Virginia, B.A. in Economics & Spanish, with distinction, 1996.
Professional Experience
Gimelstob-Landry Distinguished Professor of Regional Economic Development, Western Carolina University (2016-current)
Associate Professor (2012-2016; with tenure 2014-2016), Associate Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence (2013-2016), Assistant Professor (2010-2012), Providence College
Visiting Lecturer in Economics, Wellesley College (2009-2010)
Assistant Professor of Economics, Mercer University (2007-2009)
Assistant Professor of Economics, Clemson University (2002-2007)
“Sexual Violence Against Women and Labor Market Outcomes,” with Joe Sabia and Jeff DeSimone. American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings. May 2013, 103(3): 274-278.
“Catholic Schools, Competition, and Public School Quality,” with Juliana F. Carratini, Sean E. Mulholland, and Rachel B. Sederberg. Economics Letters, 117(1), October 2012, 334-336.
“Negative Publicity and Catholic Schools,” with Rey Hernández, Economic Inquiry, 50(1), January 2012, 143-152.
“Recess, Physical Education, and Elementary School Student Outcomes,” with Hillary Morgan and Kurt Rotthoff (invited), Economics of Education Review, 30(5), October 2011, 889-900.
“More Choice, Less Crime,” with Rey Hernández, Education Finance and Policy, 6(2), Spring 2011.
“A Comparative Look at Private and Public Schools’ Class Size Determinants,” with Sean E. Mulholland, Education Economics, 18(4), December 2010, 435-454.
“What do Economists Know about Crime?” with Jeff Miron and Garrett Summers, in The Economics of Crime: Lessons for & from Latin America, Rafael Di Tella, Sebastian Edwards, and Ernesto Schargrodsky, eds., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Also NBER WP#13759, January 2008.
“Teacher Attitudes and Teacher Knowledge in Economic Education,” with Dennis Placone, Journal of Economics and Economic Education Research, 9(3), 2008, 15-28.
“Course Scheduling and Academic Performance,” with Rey Hernández, Economics of Education Review, December 2008, 27, 646-654. Discussed in “Late to Rise Seems to Make Students Wise,” Chronicle of Higher Education, Tuesday, December 16, 2008, Today’s News, by David Glenn. Discussed in “Sleepy youths have science on side,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, December 29, 2008, by Maureen Downey. Discussed in “No More 8 a.m. Classes,” InsideHigherEd.com, February 17, 2016
“Transfer College Quality and Student Performance,” with Rey Hernández, Eastern Economic Journal, 34(2), April 2008, 172-189. Also, CHERI working paper #98
“The Effect of Alcohol Prohibition on Alcohol Consumption: Evidence from Drunkenness Arrests,” with Mireille Jacobson and Jeffrey A. Miron, Economics Letters, February 2005, 86(2), 279-294. Reprinted in John H. Cawley and Donald S. Kenkel, eds., The Economics of Health Behaviours, June 2008.
“Does Cream-Skimming Curdle the Milk? A Study of Peer Effects,” Economics of Education Review, February 2005, 19-28.
“Do Parents Value Changes in Test Scores? High Stakes Testing in Texas,” Contributions to Economic Analysis and Policy, Vol. 3: No. 1, Article 10, 2004.
“Alcohol Prohibition and Cirrhosis,” with Jeffrey Miron, American Law and Economics Review, Fall 2004, Vol. 6(2), 285-318. Also NBER WP#9681, May 2003.
Presentations
2017-2018: Lilly Conference on Teaching in Asheville, NC (scheduled); Southern Economic Association in Tampa, FL (scheduled)
2016-2017: Southern Economic Association in Washington, DC; Eastern Economic Association in New York, NY; Association of Private Enterprise and Education in HI
2015-2016: discussant at Southern Economics Association in New Orleans, LA; Eastern Economic Association in Washington, D.C.; IHS & Texas Public Policy Foundation Conference on the Economics of Education; guest lecturer in DWC Colloquium “Hooked: The Stories Behind Drug Use In Western Culture”
2014-2015: Southern Economics Association in Atlanta, GA; discussant and chair at ASSA meetings in Boston, MA.
2013-2014: University of Colorado-Denver; Southern Economic Association in Tampa, FL; Public Choice Society Meetings, Charleston, SC; West Virginia University; IHS & Mercatus Center Conference on “Healthcare Policy and the Regulatory State”.
2012-2013: SEA, New Orleans, LA; National Bureau of Economic Research conference on Religion and Culture, Eastern Economic Association, New York, NY
2011-2012: Association of Education Finance and Policy, Boston, MA; Eastern Economic Association, Boston, MA; Seton Hall University guest lecturer in “Economics and Liberty” class; “School Choice” presentation to the Free State Project, discussant at SEA, Washington DC
2010-2011: SEA, Atlanta, GA
2009-2010: SEA, San Antonio, TX; Wellesley College brown bag seminar; Seton Hall University guest lecturer in “Economics and Liberty” class; discussant at IZA’s second annual conference on the economics of risky behaviors, Stone Mountain, GA.
2008-2009: Latin American meeting of the Econometric Society/Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association meeting, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2007-2008: SEA, New Orleans, LA (2); ASSA, New Orleans, LA
2006-2007: SEA, Charleston, SC (2); Lafayette College; Wake Forest University; Drew University; Fairfield University; Cornell College; Clemson School of Education; Mercer University; University of Colorado – Denver; AEFA, Baltimore, MD
2005-2006: APPAM, Washington, D.C.; SEA, Washington, D.C. (2); Rutgers University – Camden; Baruch College (CUNY); Clemson University Brown Bag Lunch
2004-2005: University of Georgia; Clemson University Brown Bag Lunch; Appalachian State University; Southern Economic Association, New Orleans, LA (2); ASSA Meetings, Philadelphia, PA; University of South Florida; AEFA, Louisville, KY
2003-2004: Clemson University Brown Bag Lunch; SEA, San Antonio, TX; Clemson University; University of South Carolina; AEFA, Salt Lake City, UT; AERA, San Diego, CA
2002-2003: Appalachian State University
2001-2002: Clemson University; Santa Clara University; UC-San Diego; Bureau of Labor Statistics; Louisiana State University; University of Guelph; CNA Corporation.
Additional Professional Activities
“Dose of Reality: The Effect of State Marijuana Legalizations” with Sietse Goffard and Jeffrey Miron. September 2016. Cato Policy Analysis No. 799: https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/pa799.pdf. Discussed in Bagri, Neha Thirani. “What Happens to Marijuana Use when States Legalize it?” September 28, 2016, Quartz. http://qz.com/794153/what-happens-to-marijuana-use-when-states-legalize-it/ Discussed in NORML. “Report: Marijuana Legalization Has Had “Minimal” Adverse Impact On Health” September 29, 2016, The Daily Chronic. http://www.thedailychronic.net/2016/62797/report-marijuana-legalization-minimal-adverse-impact-health/ Our Op-Ed in the Boston Herald, “Experience Shows Little Impact on Safety,” October 24, 2016. http://www.bostonherald.com/opinion/op_ed/2016/10/dills_goffard_and_miron_experience_shows_little_impact_on_safety Our blog post for Cato, “Common Myths About Marijuana Legalization,” November 4, 2016. https://www.cato.org/blog/common-myths-about-marijuana-legalization
“Government Policy and Tuition in Higher Education” with Rey Hernandez and Nathan Hale. Dec. 2013. White paper for the Mercatus Center: http://mercatus.org/publication/government-policy-and-tuition-higher-education
Testimony in Support of the Marijuana Regulation, Control, and Taxation Act (S510/H 5777), April 2015
“Embrace the ‘green economy’” op-ed for Providence Business News, Feb. 22-28, 2016, p. 29.
Grants and Awards Received
Excellence in Research Award, WCU College of Business, Spring 2017
Summer Research Grant from WCU’s Center for the Study of Free Enterprise, Summer 2017
Grant from Koch Foundation for Spring 2011 Guest Speakers. Renewed for 2011-2016 school years.
Grant from Wellesley’s Mildred McAfee Horton Faculty Award Fund, 2009-2010, for “Medical conferences and deaths,” $3,000
Clemson’s National Scholars Program Award of Distinction (for student mentoring), 2007
Clemson’s College of Business and Behavioral Science, Summer Mini-Grant, 2006, $3,000
National Council on Economic Education (co-PI Dennis Placone), 2005-2006, $24,999
Clemson University Department of Economics Research Grant Seed Money, 2005, $2,000
