Education

Economics

Ph.D.
Temple University

Research

Specialty

Human Capital, Inequality

Funding

GRANTS and AWARDS

Co-PI: The Reutrns to College for Black Students in Florida (25, 900)- Helios Education Foundation (2022)

Co-PI: HBCU Attendance and Longer-term Outcomes (67, 273) - The Washington Center for Equitable Growth (2022)

Co-PI :Research and Teaching in Economics Capacity Grant (1,400,000)- Sloan Foundation (2021)

Senior Researcher: Collaborative Excellence in Research ($484,679)- National Science Foundation (2021)

PI: Academic Grant ($20, 000) – The Washington Center for Equitable Growth (2020)

PI: Pipeline Grant ($26, 652)- Russel Sage Foundation (2020)

PI: Early Career Research Award ($5,000)- Upjohn Institute for Employment Research (2020)

PI: Small Grants Award ($5,000) -University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for Financial Security (2019

Research Fellowship ($10,000) - Howard University (2019)

Dissertation Completion Grant ($10,000)- Temple University (Spring, 2015)

Graduate Student Research Travel Grant- Temple University (Fall, 2014)

Graduate Research/Teaching Assistantship- Temple University (2008-2012)

Group Information

Highlighted Research

 

Labor Market Conditions and Racial/Ethnic Differences in College Enrollment. Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, 1-11.

The racial/ethnic differences in college enrollment are pervasive and persistent. In this article, I provide evidence of a business cycle-driven component to the college enrollment gaps among racial/ethnic groups in the USA. Using a nationally representative sample from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youths 1997 (NLSY97) and fixed-effects enrollment probability models, I find that Hispanics are more likely than non-Black-non-Hispanics to enroll in 2-year college during high unemployment periods. Similarly, I find that individuals who are Black are more likely than non-Black-non-Hispanic individuals to enroll in 2-year colleges but are less likely to enroll in 4-year colleges during periods of high unemployment. The positive effect of high unemployment rate on 2-year college enrollment for Blacks is almost entirely offset by negative effects on 4-year college enrollment. Non-Black-non-Hispanics are least sensitive to labor market conditions. The cyclicality of college enrollment rates of Blacks and Hispanics and the relatively smooth enrollment rates of non-Black-non-Hispanic individuals may be able to explain a part of the persistent gap in college enrollment.

 

Recessions and Racial Income Inequality (under review)

In this paper, I exploit differences in the severity of the early 1980s recessions across geographic localities and use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youths to study the long run effects of recessions on racial economic inequality. I find that for those who were youths and young adults at the onset of the recession, the recession increased the racial gap in adulthood income by  20 percentage points and increased the racial gaps in other educational and labor market outcomes. This paper adds to a growing literature demonstrating long-lasting effects of recessions and adds to the literature the finding that recessions are a key factor in long-term racial economic disparities

 

Student Debt and Labor Market Outcomes. (with Gerald Daniels Jr,). In AEA Papers and Proceedings (Vol. 109, pp. 171-75). American Economic Association.

We study the impact of student debt on various labor market outcomes, namely, income, hourly wages, and hours worked. Using the NLSY97 and a difference-indifference approach, we find statistically significant differences in labor market outcomes for individuals who received a student loan versus those who received no student loan. We find that the difference in post- versus pre-college income is 8-9 percent higher for individuals that received a student loan relative to individuals who received no student loan. Further, we find evidence that this higher income is due to higher work hours.

 

Published Articles

• Applicants to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) (2023) (with Ashely Edwards, College Board, and Justin Ortugas, University of Florida and Jonathan Smith, Georgia State University) (forthcoming)
• The Minimum Wage as a tool for Racial Economic Justice (2022) (with Lin-chi Hsu). In Journal of Economic Literature (forthcoming).
• Child-to-Parent Intergenerational Transfers, Social Security and Child Wealth-building (2022). In AEA Papers and Proceedings (Vol. 112, pp. 53-57). American Economic Association.
• Labor Market Conditions and Racial/Ethnic Differences in College Enrollment. In Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, 1-11.
• Student Debt and Labor Market Outcomes. (with Gerald Daniels Jr,). In AEA Papers and Proceedings (Vol. 109, pp. 171-75). American Economic Association.
• An Examination of Instructional Time Allocation and Student Engagement for Grades K-16 Science, Mathematics, and Education Courses. International Journal of Science in Society. (2011). (Joint with Stull, J. C., Majerich, D. M., & Varnum, S. J.)
• Using Clickers in a University Physics Course to Improve Student Achievement (2011). American Physical Society Forum on Education. http://www.aps.org/units/fed/newsletters/spring2011/stull.cfm (Joint with Stull, J., Majerich, D., Varnum, S., Ducette, J., & Gilles, T)

Book Chapters/Policy Papers

• Smythe, A. (2021). U.S. Labor Markets Require A New Approach To Higher Education. In Boosting Wages For U.S. Workers In The New Economy  (Pp. 71–84). Washington Center for Equitable Growth

Working Papers

• College Degree and Economic Mobility: Differences by Race across 2 Generations (revise and resubmit) 

• Gains and Gaps in College Outcomes over the Business Cycle

   

Works in Progress

• The Returns to HBCU Attendance (joint with Ashely Edwards, College Board, Justin Ortugas, University of Florida  and Jonathan Smith, Georgia State University)
• The Returns to College for Black Students in Florida (joint with Ashely Edwards, College Board, Justin Ortugas, University of Florida  and Jonathan Smith, Georgia State University)
• The Gender-race Wage Gaps after the Great Recession (joint with Keisha Solomon, Howard University)