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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Regularizing undocumented #immigrant status can produce large economic gains. George J. Borjas & Anthony Edo found that France's 1981 amnesty program increased per-capita #GDP in Paris by 5% & low-skill French worker employment by around 4%. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Monopsony, Efficiency, and the Regularization of Undocumented Immigrants
George J. Borjas and Anthony Edo
In 1981, President Mitterrand regularized the status of undocumented immigrants in France, who comprised 12 percent of the non-French workforce and about 1 percent of all workers. Employers have monopsony power over undocumented workers because the undocumented find it costly to participate in the open market. By alleviating this labor market imperfection, a regularization program can move the market closer to the efficient competitive equilibrium and increase employment and wages for the authorized workforce. Our empirical analysis reveals that the Mitterrand regularization program raised employment and wages for low-skill native and immigrant men and increased per-capita GDP.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

From our new #SpecialIssue, Advances in the Economics of Children, @gswagel.bsky.social finds that prescription rate in child #MentalHealth care varies widely between providers & that equalizing intensities would reduce this variance by as much as 65%.

Providers, Places, and Children’s Mental Health Care
Gabriel Swagel
Children’s mental health is the defining public health crisis of our time. Using the largest repository of private insurance claims in the United States, I provide the first systematic quantification of the variation in children’s mental health prescribing in the U.S. I separate variation due to 1) primary care provider (PCP) prescribing intensities, 2) regional practice environments, and 3) child health and demand. Equalizing PCP intensities would reduce the variance of provider prescribing rates by 50 percent for ADHD and 65 percent for antidepressants. Analyzing geographic variation alone significantly understates the extent of treatment variation and the role of providers.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Please welcome our new coeditor, Adam Isen! He is an associate professor at John Hopkins University, Department of Economics. His work spans a variety of subjects including labor, immigration, and education.

Adam Isen
Associate Professor, John Hopkins University

Coeditor
Journal of Human Resources Editorial Board

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Economic integration programs increase #refugee immigrants' opportunities. Ceren Ozgen, Matt Cole, @lizajabbour.bsky.social and @hyumoto.bsky.social found that Netherland's ONA training program recipients' #employment is 15 percentage points higher than control. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Refugees’ Economic Integration and Firms
Ceren Ozgen, Matt Cole, Liza Jabbour and Hiromi Yumoto
We explore whether a civic integration exam component dedicated to labor market training, namely the ONA - a type of job search assistance program, boosts refugees’ economic outcomes and the quality of firms they work for. Using linked employer-employee (monthly) data from 2014 to 2021 for the Netherlands and Regression Discontinuity design, we find that taking the ONA sped up and deepened the economic integration of refugees for at least 3 years in terms of increased employment probability and higher hourly wages. We further show that taking the ONA results in refugees working for larger, less routine-task intensive, higher wage firms. These results reflect improvements in both match efficiency and match quality. The ONA therefore does more than reduce search frictions: it equips refugees with the knowledge to navigate the labor market effectively and find employment that aligns better with their existing abilities and human capital.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Does out-of-home care improve outcomes for at-risk children? Petra Gram Cavalca, Mette Ejrnæs, & Mette Gørtz suggest its complicated: #school absenteeism & criminal charges decline by 12 & 6 percentage points but enrollment remains the same. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Before and after out-of-home placement: Child health, education and crime
Petra Gram Cavalca, Mette Ejrnæs, and Mette Gørtz
We investigate the short-term impact of the first placement in out-of-home care on child health, schooling and crime. Using administrative data and an event study, we document the development in outcomes for the average child in care. We find that primary health care utilization rises temporarily when entering care before returning to pre-intervention levels. School absenteeism and criminal charges decline markedly after placement and remain lower than preplacement levels within two years of placement. Using monthly data, we infer that the decision to place a child in care may be triggered by acute events such as hospitalization or criminality.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Chicago PD's use of ShotSpotter #PoliceTech caused officers to dispatch 1 minute slower & arrive 2 minutes later, decreasing likelihood of arrest by 9%. Michael Topper & Toshio Ferrazares suggest why: more resource constraints for the same number of #police. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

The Unintended Consequences of Policing Technology: Evidence from ShotSpotter
Michael Topper and Toshio Ferrazares
Technology is integral to police departments, automating officer tasks, but inherently changing their time allocation. We investigate this by studying ShotSpotter, a technology that automates gunfire detection. Following a detection, officers are dispatched to the scene, thereby reallocating their time. We leverage this shock to officers’ time allocation using the rollout of ShotSpotter across Chicago police districts to study the effects on 911 response. We find consequences for calls unrelated to gunfire—officers are dispatched slower (22%), arrive on-scene later (13%), and the probability of arrest is decreased 9%. Consequently, departments must evaluate their resource capacities prior to implementing technologies.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Heat stroke can be a silent killer, but it doesn't have to be. Lester Lusher & and Tim Ruberg found that heat alerts increased ambulance-related hospitalizations by 16%, primarily driven by increased general awareness. Public #health warnings work. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Unveiling the Unseen Illness: Public Health Warnings and Heat Stroke
Lester Lusher and Tim Ruberg
We utilize region-day variation in actual vs. forecasted weather conditions (i.e. forecasting errors) to comprehensively investigate the effects of the first public warning system for extreme heat events on behavioral and health outcomes in Japan. We find that heat alerts led to a 16% increase in ambulance-related hospital visits. An analysis of mechanisms suggests this is primarily driven by increased awareness and thus reporting of heat strokes that would otherwise have gone undetected, as opposed to substitution in health diagnoses. We further document evidence of avoidance behaviors (e.g. electricity usage).

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

#Gender discrimination goes both ways in #Healthcare markets. Haoran He, @neumarkecon.bsky.social & Qian Weng found statistical discrimination against female doctors in male-dominated fields & vice versa, potentially deepening the burden for women entering medicine.

Gender Reveals in the Labor Market: Evidence on Gender Signaling and Statistical Discrimination in an Online Health Care Market
Haoran He, David Neumark and Qian Weng
We study gender discrimination in an online health care market. Statistical discrimination implies that the impact of gender on prices should decline, and the impact of reviews increase, as reviews accumulate. However, in our context these implications do not hold, because doctors choose how strongly to signal gender. We develop a new test for the implications of statistical discrimination based on this choice. We find evidence consistent with statistical discrimination against female doctors in male-dominated fields, and vice versa. For example, female doctors mask gender more strongly initially in male-dominated fields, and the gender gap in signaling declines as reviews accumulate.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Public office & private returns. @billingsecon.bsky.social, Hugh Macartney, Geunyong Park & John Singleton found that winning #school board elections appreciates home values, but only for Republican electees. The cause? Attendance zone redistricting.

Selection into Public Service: Evidence from School Board Elections
Stephen B. Billings, Hugh Macartney, Geunyong Park, and John D. Singleton
In this paper, we use narrowly-decided elections and housing transactions data to test for private returns from public office in the context of school boards in the U.S. We find no detectable effect of election to the school board on home prices in the neighborhoods of winning candidates. Stratifying by political affiliation reveals that homes appreciate in winning Republicans’ neighborhoods, but the estimate is not statistically robust. We do not find corresponding evidence for improvements in local school productivity, but we show that neighborhood public schools of Republican members also shift to serving more white students through attendance zone adjustments.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Weaker #employment protections equal higher costs of job loss. Marco Francesconi & Daniela Sonedda found that Italy's 2012 Fornero reform #policy lowered rehired workers' earnings by 15% after the first year & 4% after three, along with other burdens. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Does Weaker Employment Protection Lower the Cost of Job Loss?
Marco Francesconi and Daniela Sonedda
Leveraging a major Italian reform enacted in July 2012 that eroded employment protection to workers on permanent contracts, we use detailed worker level administrative data to estimate how this reduction affected the cost of job loss. We employ a stacked event-study research design, comparing treated and untreated workers as they move from employment into nonemployment. Weakening employment protection led to additional penalties in terms of lower re-hiring earnings and lower re-employment probabilities. Heterogeneous effects of the reform deepened pre-existing divides, penalizing labor market outsiders, such as young workers, and curbing employment opportunities for individuals in poorer regions, such as the South.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

How does #immigration enforcement in destination countries affect origin country #labor markets? Thomas Pearson answers exactly that. He found that for every 1pp increase in deportees from the US, Mexican workers' earnings decrease by up to 1.2pp. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Immigration Enforcement and Origin Country Labor Markets
Thomas Pearson
This paper studies how increased immigration enforcement in the destination country impacts labor markets in the origin country. Using variation in Mexican migrant networks and Secure Communities (SC), a policy which expanded local immigration enforcement, I show that the deportation of Mexican migrants from the U.S. increases return migration to Mexico and decreases monthly earnings for workers there. The negative earnings effects are largest for workers most similar to return migrants in terms of their demographics, occupations, and employment types, and are consistent with increased labor market competition.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Pennsylvania's 2011 abortion clinic regulations caused almost half of its facilities to close. Andrea M. K. Hall examines the aftermath: an up to 10% overall reduction in abortion & delayed access to patients, among other findings. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Negative Supply Shocks and Delayed Health Care: Evidence from Pennsylvania Abortion Clinics
Andrea M. K. Hall
In 2011, Pennsylvania passed regulations requiring abortion-providing facilities to meet ambulatory surgical facility standards, which ultimately caused the closure of almost half of the state’s abortion facilities. All closing facilities were geographically near facilities that remained open, meaning distance to the nearest clinic was unchanged while local clinic capacity fell. I use a difference-in-differences design supplemented with a synthetic control method and find that reduced clinic capacity caused 30-40 percent fewer abortions in the first 8 weeks of gestation and more abortions at later gestational ages. Evidence suggests an increase in birth rates for Black women, though these results are sensitive to specification and control group choices.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

#Education, #India, & human capital. @nsunderecon.bsky.social found that beneficiaries of India's DPEP not only achieved higher educational outcomes, but their children did too - particularly those of female beneficiaries. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

School Construction and Intergenerational Human Capital
Naveen Sunder
This paper estimates the direct and intergenerational effects of one of the world’s largest school expansion policies. Starting in 1993-94, the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) constructed over 100,000 new schools and served over 50 million children in India. Using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design I show that the policy increased enrollment, literacy and years of education for both male and female direct beneficiaries. Further, I find that children whose mothers were DPEP beneficiaries had higher scores on vernacular (18 percent), math (13 percent), and English (15 percent) tests, while Father’s DPEP exposure had no effect on children’s learning.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Higher salary = healthier food? So Yoon Ahn and Yu Kyung Koh suggest otherwise. They found that higher #wages among women lead to unhealthier household #consumption patterns, primarily due to uneven distribution of domestic responsibilities. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Juggling Priorities: Women’s Labor Market Opportunities and Household Consumption Patterns
So Yoon Ahn and Yu Kyung Koh
How do women’s relative labor market opportunities affect consumption patterns for married couples? While higher potential wages can enhance women’s bargaining power, shifting consumption toward their preferences, they may increase work hours, altering time constraints and spending. Using exogenous gender-specific wages and scanner data, we find higher female relative wages increase spending on convenience foods and decrease spending on fresh produce, contributing to higher obesity rates. This is primarily driven by women’s time reallocation given their disproportionate domestic responsibilities. Our findings suggest that the impacts of earned female income may differ from those of unearned income found in previous studies.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Higher host-country language proficiency increases #job callback among #immigrants. Magnus Carlsson, Stefan Eriksson & Dan-Olof Rooth found that for every 1-point increase in skill there is a 2-percentage point increase in the callback rate. #OpenAccess doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Employers’ Language Proficiency Requirements and Hiring of Immigrants
Magnus Carlsson, Stefan Eriksson, and Dan-Olof Rooth
Labor markets in advanced economies have undergone substantial change due to globalization, technological improvements, and organizational changes, making language proficiency increasingly important even in less skilled jobs. Has this development led employers to shy away from hiring immigrants with limited host-country language skills? We shed light on this question by conducting a large-scale field experiment, where we introduce common second-language features in immigrants’ resumes. We also conduct employer surveys to interpret our experimental results. Our main finding is that language proficiency has a strong positive effect on being invited to a job interview, even in typical immigrant entry jobs.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Should we test the #teacher? Marc T. Law, Mindy S. Marks and @tomerstern.bsky.social found that increases in teacher preparation program testing standards led to an average 9% decline in graduates, suggesting that higher entry requirements = larger #TeacherShortages. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Teacher Testing Standards and the New Teacher Pipeline
Marc T. Law, Mindy S. Marks and Tomer Stern
We examine the impact of changes in testing standards on the new teacher pipeline by exploiting a quasi-experimental change in the minimum passing score required for admission into teacher training programs. Using institution-level data, we find that higher testing standards sharply reduce teacher preparation program enrollments and graduations. Increases in testing standards are also associated with declines in the number of new teacher licenses awarded. According to our estimates, the average increase in standards led to a nine percent decrease in graduations from teacher training programs, accounting for more than one-third of the overall decline in teacher training graduates.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Age eligibility does not always equal #school readiness, especially for boys. @molnartl.bsky.social found that late entry for non-school-ready children narrows the high school completion #GenderGap by up to 60%, among other benefits. #AcademicRedshirting works. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Can Academic Redshirting Shrink the Education Gender Gap?
Causal Evidence on Student Achievement and Mental Health
Tímea Laura Molnár
I study voluntary delays in the school entry of age-eligible children (“academic redshirting”), using Hungarian administrative test score and medical prescription data, and mental health surveys. I identify a new Local Average Treatment Effect of starting school a year older due to redshirting, by exploiting a school-readiness evaluation required only for potentially redshirted children born before January 1. Instrumenting with post-January 1 births, I estimate effects for non-schoolready children who could overcome developmental deficits with redshirting but are deterred by the evaluation. I find improved test scores, high school track choices, educational aspirations, and graduation rates—but only for boys, who are also less anxious, more confident, and less bullied. Redshirting thus shrinks gender gaps, such as closing the high school completion gap by 60 percent.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Wages & work. Gonzalo Castex & Evgenia Dechter found that #remote work decreases #wage growth by up to 1.5 percentage points, but only for men. A possible explanation: a reduction in human capital, less on-the-job training and networking. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Working From Home and Wage Dynamics
Gonzalo Castex and Evgenia Dechter
We study how working from home (WFH) relates to wages and wage growth. We propose a labor supply framework with WFH and on-site work modes, and an empirical strategy linking work arrangements to wages and wage growth while addressing selection into WFH. We find no statistically significant relationship between WFH and contemporaneous wages. Men with higher WFH intensity experience slower wage growth; estimates for women are not distinguishable from zero. These patterns are unlikely to be explained by occupational composition or selection. The findings are consistent with WFH affecting human capital accumulation inputs, while having limited implications for contemporaneous productivity.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Winning the #lottery - marriage maker or breaker? David Cesarini, Erik Lindqvist, @robertostling.bsky.social & Anastasia Terskaya suggest it depends on who you are: male marriage probability increases by 30% while short-term divorce rates nearly double for women. #OpenAccess doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Fortunate Families? The Effects of Wealth on Marriage and Fertility
David Cesarini, Erik Lindqvist, Robert Östling & Anastasia Terskaya
We estimate the effects of large, positive wealth shocks on marriage and fertility among Swedish lottery players. For male winners, wealth increases marriage formation and fertility and likely reduces divorce risk. For female winners, the only clear effect is a higher short-run (but not long-run) divorce risk. The gendered treatment effects are often similar to income gradients. Our findings align with models in which wives derive greater marginal utility from consumption when single than when married, whereas the opposite holds for husbands—but only if marital property is divided unequally upon divorce. We provide descriptive evidence consistent with such unequal division.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

What determines life expectancy? From #ClimateChange to #income shocks, the latest #SpecialIssue expands on the growing research of previously misunderstood or understudied factors of longevity & the Determinants of Mortality. Remember to check it out! Intro to the papers: doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

The Journal of Human Resources
Determinants of Mortality
David Cutler & Adrana Lleras-Muney
Special Issue Guest Editors

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

In this #OpenAccess article, Anita Mukherjee and Nicholas J. Sanders find that intense unmitigated heat increases rates of severe violence among prisoners by 20% and the probability by 17%. A takeaway: heat mitigation doesn't just provide comfort, it saves lives. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Cruel and Unusual Punishment: Violence from Unmitigated Heat in Prison
Anita Mukherjee and Nicholas J. Sanders
Prison temperatures in the southern United States frequently exceed dangerous heat index levels and lack temperature controls. Using a unique daily panel of prisoner incidents from correctional facilities spread across the state of Mississippi, a system without air conditioning, we show that hot days increase both the rates and probabilities of severe violent acts by prisoners by approximately 20%. The effects of heat appear neither cumulative nor the result of temporal displacement. These results help inform constitutional concerns of incarceration in extreme temperatures, and document a potentially growing social cost of shifting climate.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Teach the #teacher? Philip Oreopoulos, @chloergibbs.bsky.social, Michael Jensen & Joseph P. Price found that weekly coaching for teachers on computer assisted learning increased #student #math performance up to 0.22 SDs, especially when combined with consistent practice. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Teaching Teachers to Use Computer Assisted Learning Effectively: Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence
Philip Oreopoulos, Chloe R. Gibbs, Michael Jensen and Joseph P. Price
In two field experiments, we test the efficacy of a program designed to encourage greater mastery learning through technology and continuous teacher support. Focusing on elementary and middle school mathematics, teachers receive weekly coaching and guide students through customized, incremental roadmaps. Results indicate significant intent-to-treat effects on math performance of 0.12–0.22 standard deviations. Further analysis shows that these gains are concentrated in classrooms that average 35 minutes or more of practice per week. Teachers able to achieve high-dosage practice have a high degree of initial buy-in, a clear implementation strategy, and a willingness to closely monitor progress.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Current classroom standing and teacher perception. Max Coveney found that a primary #school #student's classroom rank affects #teachers' beliefs on their ability, regardless of their actual cognitive prowess. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Teacher’s Pet: The Effect of Student Rank on Teacher Ability Beliefs
Max Coveney
This paper shows that teacher beliefs about a child’s absolute academic ability are shaped by the child’s relative classroom rank. Using administrative data on Dutch primary school students, I show that teachers are more likely to recommend students with a high (low) academic rank to the most (least) academically demanding track, independent of actual academic achievement. Higher-ranked students attend more academically prestigious secondary school tracks and are more likely to attend university. These findings are replicated using alternative data and methods. The effect cannot be attributed to differences in children’s non-cognitive skills by rank.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Firms, family & child penalty. Elise Coudin, Sophie Maillard, Maxime Tô & Julie Tréguier found that mothers' incomes decline by 39% compared to fathers' post-childbirth. A solution: more affordable #childcare & father involvement. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Mothers’ Sorting into Lower-Paying Firms: The Gendered Firm Premium Differentials After Childbirth in the French Labor Market
Elise Coudin, Sophie Maillard, Maxime Tô and Julie Tréguier
Examining firm-specific wage premiums’ contribution to child-penalties, we find mothers experience 39% income decline relative to fathers following childbirth, with 9% hourly wage penalty. Using French employer-employee data (1995-2021), we show firm premiums account for 10% of wage penalty, from mothers sorting into lower-paying firms rather than receiving lower premiums within firms. After childbirth, mothers sort into firms offering characteristics more conducive to reconciling family and professional lives: part-time work and proximity to home. These findings suggest that addressing the child-penalty requires policies enabling mothers to apply to or remain in high-paying firms, rather than focusing solely on within-firm disparities.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

E-Commerce = #gender equalizer? Zengdong Cao, Wei Huang, Jinyang Ren & Hantao Wu certainly suggest so. They found that #China 's rural #ecommerce program increased female #labor participation by 4% and weekly work hours by 8%, along with other benefits. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

E-Commerce as a Driver of Gender Equity: Labor Supply and Household Outcomes in Rural China
Zengdong Cao, Wei Huang, Jinyang Ren and Hantao Wu
We study China’s Rural E-Commerce Development program, a large-scale digital infrastructure initiative, to assess its labor market and household impacts. Exploiting county-level rollout variation and panel data from the China Family Panel Studies (2012-2020), we find that the program raised female labor force participation by 3 percentage points and weekly hours by 2.5, with no comparable effects for men. It also promoted women’s entrepreneurship, enhanced intra-household bargaining power, and improved daughters’ education and health. A cost-benefit analysis indicates income gains far exceed program costs, underscoring digital infrastructure’s potential to foster gender equity and intergenerational human capital in rural China.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

#CPS interventions affect parents, especially mothers. Marie-Pascale Grimon found that, within a year following investigation, mothers are on average 5% and 11% more likely to use #MentalHealth and #SubstanceAbuse services, respectively. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Effects of the Child Protection System on Parents
Marie-Pascale Grimon
Child protective services investigate a third of child-homes for maltreatment, yet repercussions for parents remain unclear. I show that mothers face considerable adversity when referred for alleged child maltreatment. Using a novel strategy that combines event studies with variation in intervention tendency across investigators, I find that child protective services interventions increase mothers’ enrollment in mental health and substance abuse treatment services for a year, even when those services are not mandated. Earnings and employment are unaffected. Marginal interventions can lead to persistent involvement with social services for years.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Female #students taught by same #gender professors in smaller classes are more likely to receive a top exam grade, but no such effect is found in larger classes. @stephanmaurer.bsky.social, Guido Schwerdt & @simonwiederhold.bsky.social suggest why: Close interaction matters. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Understanding Gender Match Effects in Higher Education: The Role of Class Size
Stephan Maurer, Guido Schwerdt and Simon Wiederhold
It is widely believed that female students perform better when taught by female professors. However, little is known about the mechanisms explaining these gender match effects. Using administrative records from a German public university, which cover all programs and courses between 2006 and 2018, we show that gender match effects are sizable in smaller classes, but are absent in larger classes. These results suggest that direct and frequent interactions between students and professors are crucial for gender match effects to emerge. In contrast, the mere fact that one’s professor is female is not sufficient to increase performance of female students.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

#Wealth, #fertility & women's work. Céline Zipfel finds that in sub-Saharan Africa, these three are uniquely intertwined — and the data show that expanding women's #wage opportunities could reshape family size norms. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

The Demand Side of Africa’s Demographic Transition: Desired Fertility, Wealth, and Jobs
Céline Zipfel
This paper investigates the relationship between desired fertility, wealth, and female employment in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). While ideal family size is generally higher at all levels of wealth in SSA, the gap relative to other regions is substantially larger among poorer households and narrows with wealth. Additionally, poorer women in SSA are less likely to work for wages. Examining the relationship between these two patterns reveals a negative correlation between desired fertility and wage work prevalence across SSA provinces, a trend virtually absent in other regions. Furthermore, within SSA provinces, increases in the share of women engaged in wage work over time are associated with a flatter wealth-desired fertility gradient.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Longer school days + better #resources = real gains. Jorge Agüero, @martafavara.bsky.social, Catherine Porter & @alansanchezj.bsky.social found a Peruvian reform boosted #math scores by 0.19 SD & reading by 0.10 SD. Instructional time matters, but so do complementary inputs. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Do More Public Sector School Resources Increase Learning Outcomes? Evidence from a Comprehensive Education Reform in Peruvian Secondary Schools
Jorge M. Agüero, Marta Favara, Catherine Porter, and Alan Sánchez
We evaluate a large-scale government reform in Peruvian public secondary schools that lengthened the school day and invested in pedagogy, staffing, and infrastructure. Using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, we find that the program increased math and reading test scores by approximately 0.185 SD and 0.102 SD, respectively. For math only, we estimate that instructional time contributes approximately two-thirds of the effect, suggesting the importance of complementary inputs. The reform effectively enhanced school resources and increased students’ overall study time. Relative to other education interventions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, the program delivered above-average learning gains but was relatively expensive.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Welcome to our new coeditor, Lena Hensvik! @lenahensvik.bsky.social is a professor at Uppsala University and specializes in labor economics with a specific interest in job search, worker-firm matching, and wage determination.

Lena Hensvik
Professor Uppsala University
Coeditor Journal of Human Resources Editorial Board

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Firms in Latin America & the Caribbean keep 45¢ of each $1 workers produce. Francesco Amodio, Emanuele Brancati, Nicolás de Roux & @micheledimaio.bsky.social found the fix. #Unions, #CollectiveBargaining & #unemployment protection—institutions that give money back to workers. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Labor Market Institutions and Wage-Setting Power: Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean
Francesco Amodio, Emanuele Brancati, Nicolás de Roux, and Michele Di Maio
We measure firms’ wage-setting power in 16 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Exploiting variation in firms’ exposure to trade and exchange rates, we generate shocks to labor demand to trace out firm-level labor supply curves and quantify labor market power. We estimate an inverse labor supply elasticity of 0.82, implying that workers receive 55 cents per additional dollar produced. Wage-setting power is significantly higher among firms in countries with lower union density, limited collective bargaining, and no unemployment protection. This underscores the role of labor market institutions in shaping firms’ wagesetting power and the distribution of the gains from trade.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Pipeline programs work. @cohodes.bsky.social, Helen Ho & Silvia C. Robles found that #underrepresented #minority high schoolers offered #STEM spots were more likely to graduate from elite colleges and earn STEM degrees—raising predicted earnings up to 15%. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Diversifying the STEM Pipeline: Evidence from STEM Summer Programs for Underrepresented Youth
Sarah R. Cohodes, Helen Ho, and Silvia C. Robles
Pipeline programs intended to increase diversity in STEM fields are common, but there is little rigorous evidence of their efficacy. We fielded a randomized controlled trial to study a suite of such programs targeted to underrepresented high school students and hosted at an elite technical institution. Students offered seats in the STEM summer programs were likelier to enroll in, persist through, and graduate from elite colleges and to graduate with a degree in a STEM field. These improvements in college outcomes raised predicted earnings by 3–15 percent.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Welcome to JHR's new editor, Mike Lovenheim! His main research interests include labor economics, public finance, and the economics of education. Mike will start in this role on July 1, 2026, and we are happy to have him join the team! t.co/etUVk7mQbM

Mike Lovenheim
Professor, Cornell University
Editor Journal of Human Resources

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Welcome to our new coeditor, Sergio Urzúa! Sergio is a professor at the University of Maryland and specializes in development economics. He also looks at uncertainty as determinants of schooling decisions, labor market outcomes, social behavior, and inequality.

Sergio Urzúa
Professor, University of Maryland
Coeditor, Journal of Human Resources Editorial Board

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Childhood exposure to #PoliticalViolence in Peru hurt #education — but only if you were in the womb. César A. Huaroto, Fredy Gonzales & Alexander Pacheco found the original study missed key violations. #Replication matters. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Revisiting the Long-Term Effects of Political Violence on Human Capital Accumulation in Peru: A Replication of Leon (2012)
César A. Huaroto, Fredy Gonzales and Alexander Pacheco
Leon (2012) found that exposure to political violence in Peru during childhood negatively affected completed schooling using a 2 percent sample of the 1993 and 2007 censuses. When using the full sample in 1993, we find statistically significant effects of exposure pre-conception, violating the parallel pre-trends assumptions of Leon (2012). We also find that the long-run effects (measured in 2007) are smaller in magnitude using the full census. Finally, we show valid evidence of an actual adverse impact of political violence, but only for those exposed in utero.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

#Welfare is more than just cash – it’s a de facto health safety net. Jeffrey Hicks’s new research shows #healthcare use spikes right before people apply for #benefits, suggesting they turn to welfare to survive temporary, work-limiting #HealthShocks. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Cash Welfare and Health Spending
Jeffrey Hicks
I explore the interplay between cash welfare and health-related outcomes using Canadian administrative data. Healthcare use rises sharply before a welfare application, especially for plausibly work-limiting diagnoses, then partially normalizes within three years. Using application adjudicators’ decisions as "judge IVs", I estimate that welfare receipt has limited effects on subsequent health-related outcomes. Because Canadian healthcare is free and universal, these findings are unrelated to health insurance. An exception is pharmaceuticals, which are free for welfare recipients but not for non-recipients — consistent with this, welfare receipt strongly increases pharmaceutical use, implying that incomplete insurance limits medication among those excluded from welfare.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

#SmartphoneBans in schools are a game changer! Sara Abrahamsson’s new research finds that these bans cut girls’ #MentalHealth visits by 60%, drastically reduce #bullying for all, and boost girls’ GPA and math scores. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Smartphone Bans, Student Outcomes and Mental Health
Sara Abrahamsson
The rapid rise in smartphone use among youth has raised concerns about its effects on well-being and learning. Using administrative and survey data with an event-study design, I show that banning smartphones in middle schools has no average effect on education or mental health but masks important gender differences. Bans reduce psychological health care use among girls, lower bullying for both genders, and improve girls’ GPAs and academic track placement, especially among those from disadvantaged backgrounds. These results suggest smartphone bans can be a low-cost policy to improve outcomes, particularly for girls.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

What if #StandardizedTests are the biased ones — not teachers? @mariabzhu.bsky.social finds teachers actually rate Black students higher than white peers with equal scores, once you correct for test measurement error. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Teacher Perceptions, Test Scores, and Racial Disparities in the Classroom: Evidence from the US
Maria Zhu
This study provides new insights on the expression of bias through disparate treatment of students by race. Specifically, I examine racial discrepancies in teachers’ evaluations of student achievement, conditional on standardized test achievement. After correcting for measurement error in standardized test scores, results indicate that teachers evaluate Black students as higher achieving than White students with the same standardized test performance. This finding contrasts with previous research on Black-White teacher assessment gaps outside of the US. These results are consistent with multiple potential mechanisms, such as teachers holding lower expectations for Black students or bias embedded in standardized tests.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Your work besties literally make you richer. @jmessina.bsky.social, Anna Sanz-de-Galdeano, and Anastasia Terskaya find that same-gender coworkers boost your wages 2x more than opposite-gender peers. #GenderEquality at work = smaller gap. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Birds of a Feather Earn Together: Gender and Peer Effects at the Workplace
Julián Messina, Anna Sanz-de-Galdeano and Anastasia Terskaya
Utilizing comprehensive administrative data from Brazil, we investigate the impact of peer effects on wages, considering both within-gender and cross-gender dynamics. Since the average productivity of both individuals and their peers is unobservable, we estimate these values using worker fixed effects while accounting for occupational and firm sorting. Our findings reveal that within-gender peer effects have approximately twice the influence of cross-gender peer effects on wages for both men and women. Furthermore, we observe a reduction in the disparity between these two types of peer effects in settings characterized by greater gender equality.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Calling in sick costs more than you think. Pyoungsik Kim’s new study finds #AcuteIllness = $2,400/yr in lost #productivity per worker — and that’s before factoring in #psychological costs. The hidden price of the common cold is more than you may think. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Search, Acute Illness, and Absenteeism
Pyoungsik Kim
This paper examines the economic costs of absenteeism from acute illness, which reduces labor market participation and burdens workers and firms. I extend a search, matching, and bargaining framework to incorporate medical care use, illness dynamics, health capital, and employer-sponsored health insurance (ESHI). Using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), I estimate the model and find that acute illness lowers productivity, raises medical expenditures, and reduces welfare. Counterfactual analyses show subsidizing health capital improves total welfare. Moreover, while both a universal ESHI mandate and a penalty-based policy expand coverage, the penalty-based approach yields greater welfare gains.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

#Military spouses move every 2-4 years for their partner’s career, but their licenses don’t move with them. Kihwan Bae finds that expedited licensing programs boosted their #employment rate by 17%. A simple #policy fix with a $1.2B impact. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

License on the Way: The Effects of Expedited Licensure for Migrant Workers
Kihwan Bae
Occupational licenses are not easily portable across states or national borders, creating labor market frictions for migrant workers. This study examines whether expedited licensing programs reduce these frictions for military spouses, a group of tied migrants who frequently relocate across states. I find that following the programs, the employment rate significantly increased among military spouses who recently moved across states. Consequently, military spouses in licensed occupations earned more from work and received less unemployment compensation in the year of migration. These findings highlight expedited licensure as an effective policy tool for reducing occupational licensing barriers associated with interstate migration.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

#Retirement doesn’t mean withdrawing. Kadir Atalay, Anita Staneva, and Rong Zhu’s new study finds retirees build more social connections, volunteer more & and even boost their #MentalHealth. The real cost? Raising retirement age may quietly harm older adults. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

Integration or Isolation? The Impact of Retirement on Social Capital
Kadir Atalay, Anita Staneva and Rong Zhu
This paper examines the causal impact of retirement on social capital using nationally representative Australian panel data. Exploiting the eligibility age for the Age Pension, we find that retirement significantly enhances social capital by increasing social connectedness and community involvement. These gains improve physical and mental health, with effects comparable to those of physical activity. However, older individuals’ perceptions of social relationships remain unchanged. Our findings highlight a key policy tradeoff: while raising the retirement age may boost labor force participation, it may reduce opportunities for meaningful social engagement and, in turn, undermine the health of older adults.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

4/4 Recipients reduced work hours but showed little change in overall income or spending patterns. Why the gender gap? That remains an open and crucial question. #MortalitySpecialIssue

JHR Determinants of Mortality
David Cutler & Adriana Lleras-Muney, Special Issue Guest Editors

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

3/4 The authors found 5.5% mortality reduction for women, driven by non-cardiovascular causes and inconclusive evidence for men due to pre-existing trends, highlighting gender differences in program impacts.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

2/4 Mexico's “70 y Más” program gave ~$55/month (2024 USD) to adults 70+ in villages under 2,500 people. For recipients, this represented 32% of their average income – a substantial boost from what they had previously been receiving.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

1/4 Can #CashTransfers save lives? A major pension reform in rural Mexico offers surprising answers – with stark differences between men and women. @fmenares.bsky.social, William H. Dow, @susanwparker-mx.bsky.social, Emma Aguila, Jorge Peniche & Soomin Ryuu found surprising results.

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Welcome to our new co-editor, Andrew Goodman-Bacon! Andrew is an economist at the Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and specializes in health economics, public economics, and applied econometrics.

Andrew Goodman-Bacon photo
Economist, Fed Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Coeditor
Journal of Human Resources Editorial Board

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Reposted by The JHR

Delia Furtado @deliafurtado.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

For the immigration researchers interested in identification techniques, in our nursing home paper, we use an an IV strategy pioneered in this paper, also coincidentally just out in print this month (at the AER): www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

aeaweb.org

Immigration, Innovation, and Growth

(March 2026) - We propose a novel identification strategy to isolate exogenous immigration shocks across US counties, by interacting quasi-random variations in the composition of ancestry across count...

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

4/4 The authors found the key drivers to be #alcohol, #PhysicalActivity, and #education itself. Interventions targeting #HealthDisparities must start early – long before #ChronicDisease becomes visible. #MortalitySpecialIssue doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

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The JHR @j-humanresources.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

3/4 By age 30, #LowEducation individuals show biomarker profiles equivalent to #HighEducation people 7-14 years older. The #inequality is literally “under the skin” decades before diagnosis.

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