Scott Carrell

Scott Carrell is a Professor of Economics and the Faculty Athletics Representative at the University of California, Davis. He received his BA from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1995, an M.A. in Economics and an M.S. in Management from the University of Florida in 2002, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Florida in 2003. He previously taught at Dartmouth College and the U.S. Air Force Academy and served as the Senior Economist for Public Finance and Labor Economics on the staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers during the summer of 2004. Professor Carrell is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Research Fellow at Institute for the Study of Labor, and a Co-Editor for the Journal of Human Resources. He spent 10 years as an active duty officer in the U.S. Air Force and retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2015. His primary area of research is in the economics of education.

Teaching 

Principles of Microeconomics (Winter 2015) 

Graduate Public Economics (Fall 2014) 

Peer Reviewed Publications 

“Why Do College Going Interventions Work?” Forthcoming, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. (with B. Sacerdote) 
(PDF copy)

“The Promises and Pitfalls of Measuring Community College Quality,” The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 2(1), 174-190 (2016). (with M. Kurlaender and J. Jackson) 
(PDF copy)

“Are School Counselors an Effective Education Input?,” Economics Letters, 125 (2014) 66-69. (with M. Hoekstra) 
(PDF Copy) 

“In Harms Way? Payday Loan Access and Military Personnel Performance,” Review of Financial Studies, (2014) 27 (9): 2805-2840. (with J. Zinman) 
(PDF Copy) 

“From Natural Variation to Optimal Policy? The Importance of Endogenous Peer Group Formation,” Econometrica. 81(3): 855-882, 2013. (with B. Sacerdote and J. West) 
(PDF Copy) 

“Family Business or Social Problem? The Cost of Unreported Domestic Violence,” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.  Volume 31, Issue 4, pages 861-875, Fall 2012 (with M. Hoekstra) 
(PDF Copy) 

“A’s from Zzzz’s? The Causal Effect of School Start Time on the Academic Achievement of Adolescents,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 3(3): 1-22, August 2011. (with T. Maghakian and J. West) 
(PDF Copy) 

“Is Poor Fitness Contagious? Evidence from Randomly Assigned Friends,” Journal of Public Economics, Volume 95, Issues 7-8, August 2011, 657-663. (with M. Hoekstra and J. West) 
(PDF Copy) 

“Does Drinking Impair College Performance? Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Approach,” Journal of Public Economics, Volume 95, Issues 1-2, February 2011, 54-62. (with M. Hoekstra and J. West) 
(PDF Copy) 

“Does Professor Quality Matter? Evidence from Random Assignment of Students to Professors,” Journal of Political Economy, Volume 118, No. 3, 409-432, June 2010. (with J. West) 
(PDF copy) (NBER Working Paper Version) featured in InsideHigherEd.com, July 11, 2008 

“Sex and Science: How Professor Gender Perpetuates the Gender Gap,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 125, Issue 3, August 2010. (with M. Page and J. West) 
(PDF copy) (NBER Working Paper version) featured in Slate , June 5, 2009 

“Externalities in the Classroom: How Children Exposed to Domestic Violence Affect Everyone’s Kids,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2(1):211-228, January 2010. (with M. Hoekstra) 
(PDF copy)  (Publication Link) (NBER Working Paper version) featured in The New York Times: Freakonomics, July 31, 2008 

“Does Your Cohort Matter? Measuring Peer Effects in College Achievement,” Journal of Labor Economics, 27(3): 439-464, July 2009. (with R. Fullerton and J. West) 
(PDF copy)  (NBER Working Paper version) 

“Politics and the Implementation of Public Policy: The Case of the Military Housing Allowance Program,” Public Choice, Volume 138, Number 3-4, March 2009, 367-386. (with J. Hauge) 
(PDF copy) 

“Peer Effects in Academic Cheating,” Journal of Human Resources.  Volume XLIII, Number 1, Winter 2008, 173-207. (with J. West and F. Malmstrom) 
(PDF copy)

“The National Internal Labor Market Encounters the Local Labor Market: Effects on Employee Retention,” Labour Economics, Volume 14, Issue 5, October 2007, Pages 774-787. 
EALE Prize for the best paper published in Labour Economics during the period 2006-2007. 
(PDF copy)  (Available at ScienceDirect)

“A Sequential Equilibrium for the Army’s Targeted Selective Reenlistment Program,” Human Resource Management,, Vol 46, No 1, Spring 2007, 21-34. (with J. West)
(PDF copy)  (Available at Wiley InterScience)

“Do Lower Student to Counselor Ratios Reduce School Disciplinary Problems?,” Contributions to Economic Analysis & Policy: Vol. 5: No. 1, Article 11, 2006. (with Susan Carrell) 
(PDF copy)  (Available at BE Press) 

“Optimal Compensating Wages for Military Personnel,” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Fall 2005. (with J. West)
(PDF copy)  (Available at Wiley InterScience)

Other Publications 

“How Can We Expand College Going and Retention? Mentoring, Nudges, and Information,” Communities & Banking, 2(1), Spring 2016. (with B. Sacderdote) 
(PDF copy)

“Domino Effect,” Education Next, Volume 9, Number 3, Summer 2009. (with M. Hoekstra) 
(PDF copy) 

Research in Progress 

“The Long-run Effects of Disruptive Peers,” Revisions Requested, American Economic Review. (with M. Hoekstra and E. Kuka) 
(PDF copy)

“TAs Like Me: Racial Interactions between Graduate Teaching Assistants and Undergraduates”, Revisions Requested, Journal of Public Economics. (L. Lusher and D. Campbell) 
(PDF copy)

“The Impact of College Diversity on Behavior Toward Minorities ,” NBER Working Paper 20940. (with M. Hoekstra and J. West) 
(PDF copy)

“Estimating the Productivity of Community Colleges in Paving the Road to Four-Year College Success ,” Working paper. (with M. Kurlaender) 
(PDF copy)

“Experimental Evidence of Professor Engagement on Student Outcomes ,” Working paper. (with M. Kurlaender and M. Bhatt) 
(PDF copy)

“Do Students Choose Optimally? An Experiment in Endogenous Network Formations,” In Progress. (with J. West)

“Network Effects on Academic Performance,” In Progress. (with K. Williams and J. West)

“Who can be helped the most? Biomarkers, Vulnerability and Anti-Poverty Investments,” In Progress. (with M. Page and K. Williams)