Co-funded by The Washington Center for Equitable Growth
One reason that minority homeowners face a higher tax burden than non-minority homeowners is because they are less likely to appeal their assessed values. Economists Andrew Simon and David Novgorodsky and public policy scholar Justin Holz will examine the causes of racial discrepancies in property tax appeals. They will conduct an experiment and analyze data on property taxes and lottery winnings as well as credit score and income data for their study.
College-in-prison programs have the potential to improve behavior and safety within prisons and prepare incarcerated individuals for reintegration into their communities, families, and the labor market. Economists Mary Lopez and Jorgen Harris will examine how in-person college courses in California prisons impact incarcerated individuals’ preparation for their release. They will utilize data from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the California Department of Justice, and information on college-in-prison programs for their study.
Fiscally constrained local governments recover revenues from overdue tax bills by auctioning off homes in what is known as a tax lien or tax deed sales. Economist Cameron LaPoint will examine whether these tax sales contribute to gentrification and widen the racial wealth gap. He will utilize an original dataset which merges data on tax sales, tax payment history, and property transaction records in seven cities and two states over 15 years for his study.
Children from higher-income families are more likely to attend higher-ranked colleges. The gap in economic outcomes between students who attend elite versus non-elite colleges is large, suggesting that higher education might amplify the persistence of economic status across generations. Economists Ran Abramitzky, Santiago Pérez, and Joseph Price will examine the relationship between higher education and intergenerational economic mobility. They will utilize a dataset constructed by Chetty et al.
Research has shown that conviction and incarceration negatively impact earnings and employment, however, the causes underlying these changes remains unclear. Economists Yotam Shem-Tov and Evan Rose will examine how criminal justice system involvement impacts labor market outcomes. They will utilize an originally constructed dataset consisting of criminal justice records and census data for their study.
The shift to working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic could either foster or hinder workplace diversity efforts. Economists Andreas Leibbrandt, Jeffrey Flory, and Mallory Avery will examine how advertising a job that is a work-from-home position affects application rates by race. They will conduct a field experiment for their study.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) relies heavily on voluntary compliance with the tax code, but it is unable to collect about $1 trillion per year in taxes owed, $37 billion of which is due to individuals’ not filing returns. Economists Elliott Isaac and James Alm, economic psychologist Matthias Kasper, psychologist Erich Kirchler, and IRS management and program analyst Anne Herlache will examine whether behavioral nudges in IRS outreach can increase federal income filing among non-filers. They will conduct a nationwide field experiment for their study.
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has disrupted most areas of social and economic life, with disproportionate effects on service workers and low-income families. The negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may substantially reduce the financial, economic, social, mental, and physical wellbeing of disadvantaged workers and their families. Economists Sarah Miller, Alex Bartik, and Eva Vivalt, political scientist David Broockman, and social worker and political scientist Elizabeth Rhodes will examine the immediate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on low-income individuals and families.
Over 65 years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, racial and socioeconomic segregation and the lack of equal access to educational opportunities persist. Voluntary desegregation busing problems aim to alleviate these disparities. The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) is a model desegregation program founded in 1996 in Massachusetts. Economist Elizabeth Setren will examine the impact of METCO on students’ academic outcomes by comparing outcomes among students admitted to METCO and similar students who applied and were not admitted.