Publications and Others
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Single-sex schools and students’ Physical Health: Evidence from National Physical Test in South Korea (with Youngjoo Jung, Economics Letters, 2025)
Abstract: Leveraging a randomized natural experiment, this study examines the impact of attending single-sex middle schools on students' physical fitness, measured through standardized nationwide physical tests. In South Korea, middle school students are assigned by lottery to either single-sex or coeducational schools within their designated school zones, providing an ideal setting to evaluate the effects of single-sex schooling. Using school-level data covering all middle schools, the study finds that boys attending single-sex schools achieve significantly higher pass rates on standardized physical fitness tests, suggesting improved physical fitness compared to their peers in coeducational schools. However, no similar improvement is observed for girls attending single-sex schools. These findings suggest that single-sex schooling has differential effects by gender, highlighting the need to further research to understand the mechanisms underlying these varied outcomes. đź“„ View Paper
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Analysis of Unemployment Insurance Claimant Experience Survey (with Eliza Forsythe, Report prepared for the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES))
Abstract: This report analyzes the Illinois Unemployment Insurance (UI) Claimant Experience Survey, conducted between August 2023 and August 2024, with the goal of improving equity in access to UI benefits and strengthening survey design. Using regression analysis of demographic characteristics and text analysis of open-ended responses, we examine how claimants’ backgrounds and filing circumstances shape their reported experiences with the UI system. The study focuses on key dimensions of the claimant journey, including sources of information, reliance on in-person services, perceived difficulty of filing, and narrative accounts of the process. By combining quantitative and qualitative evidence, the report provides insights into heterogeneity across demographic groups and filing types, and develops recommendations for improving data collection, reweighting procedures, and survey integration to support more representative and actionable insights for IDES.
Working Papers
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Disrupted Support, Disrupted Careers: Time Constraints and Occupational Heterogeneity in Women's Labor Market Behavior (Job Market Paper)
Abstract: Skilled women often rely on outsourced household services to balance professional and household responsibilities. When the availability of these services contracts—such as through changes in local labor market conditions—women face intensified time constraints, often forcing a reallocation of hours toward household tasks at the expense of market work. The extent of this adjustment can differ across occupations due to variation in job demands and constraints. This paper exploits the staggered rollout of the Secure Communities immigration enforcement program as an exogenous shock, reducing the availability of domestic service workers to estimate its impact on women’s labor supply. A difference-in-differences model using American Community Survey data shows that the shock significantly reduced the working hours of college-educated women in skilled occupations. The reductions are significantly larger for women in “time-greedy” occupations—those with a convex wage structure that disproportionately rewards long hours—compared to women in low-return occupations. This pattern can arise when greater reliance on outsourced services prior to the shock amplifies the impact of service disruptions. Among married women in high-return occupations, the reductions are substantially smaller when spouses hold flexible jobs, highlighting the importance of intra-household dynamics in buffering the career consequences of service disruptions. These findings reveal an important channel through which disruptions in household services increase women's time constraints, producing occupation-specific penalties for women’s labor supply and potentially widening gender disparities among skilled professionals.
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Impact of the Drug Crisis During Adolescence on Educational and Labor Market Outcomes (with Sunny Liu)
Abstract: Drug overdose in the United States has increased over six times in the past three decades. We investigate the education and labor market consequences of adolescent exposure to the drug crisis. Previous research has largely focused on the direct labor market effects on drug users. Our paper shifts focus to the long-term consequences, specifically examining the educational attainment and labor market outcomes of adolescents who grew up in communities affected by the drug crisis. To mitigate potential omitted variable bias, we instrument for the severity of teens' exposure to the drug crisis using the state-level triplicate prescription programs, which influenced pharmaceutical companies' marketing strategies. By leveraging the variation in these state-level policies, we establish a causal link between the drug crisis and teenagers' outcomes in adulthood. We further shed light on the potential mechanisms by looking at direct effects on individuals and indirect effects on neighborhood amenities. Given the potential lifelong consequences of education and early career experiences, this research offers vital insights into the broader societal consequences of the ongoing drug crisis.
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Unintended Benefits: Immigrant-Inclusive Policy, Mental Health, and Risk Behaviors of Hispanic Adolescents
Abstract: This study examines the effects of immigrant-inclusive policy on the mental health and risk behaviors among Hispanic adolescents using state-level sanctuary policy. Employing a difference-in-differences design, the findings reveal significant mental health benefits, including a 10% reduction in reports of sadness and a 16% decrease in the probability of considering suicide. Additionally, declines in risk behaviors are observed with a 35% reduction in smoking initiation, a 15% decrease in the likelihood of currently smoking, and a 9% drop in alcohol consumption. The findings underscore the policy's impact, which extends beyond its initial goals, yielding unforeseen positive effects across the broader Hispanic population. Considering the connection between adolescent mental health and subsequent labor market performance, as well as the economic costs associated with risky behaviors, the research stresses the importance of adopting a comprehensive perspective in future immigration policy formulation.
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Effects of Eliminating Early Morning School Hours on Adolescents’ Sleep Patterns, Health, and Time Use
Abstract: By examining the nine o'clock attendance policy implemented in Gyeonggi Province of Korea, this paper investigates the effects of eliminating early morning school hours on adolescents’ sleep patterns and health. The results indicate that the policy significantly delays adolescents' hours of rising on weekdays. However, the increment in sleep duration that resulted from the later waking time was partly offset by the deferral of bedtime. Additionally, the increase in the length of sleep derived from the policy has decreased over time. On weekends, there were no significant changes in their wake-up time, while their habit of going to bed late persisted, resulting in a significant decrease in sleep duration. The estimates on various health measures implied an adverse impact of the policy on adolescents’ health. To identify the possible mechanism behind health deterioration, this paper also examined its impact on time use. The results indicate that adolescents spent more time studying. The changes in their time allocation, accompanied by the higher academic pressure, may have affected their health via the policy.
Work in Progress
- Cure Model Difference-in-Differences Estimator (with Wonjun Choi and Juhyeon Oh)
- Opioid Crisis and Firm Response
- Racial Segregation and Health: Evidence from Historical Railroad Configuration