Dr. C. Kirabo Jackson is Assistant Professor at the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University, is a Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research, and is a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. His research interests span the fields of labor economics, public finance, and applied econometrics, with a focus on the economics of education. Much of his research has focused on the role of teachers in the K-12 system. Specifically, his recent work analyzes the role of peer learning among teachers in determining teacher effectiveness, how student demographics directly affect the distribution of teacher quality across schools, and how policies that reward teachers (and students) for student achievement improve student outcomes. His work has appeared in economics journals such as the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, the Journal of Labor Economics, the Economic Journal, and the Journal of Human Resources, and his research has been featured in numerous news outlets including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Globe and Mail, and USA Today.
Publications 2012
School Competition and Teacher Labor Markets: Evidence from Charter School Entry in North Carolina, Journal of Public Economics (2012)
We analyze changes in teacher turnover, hiring, effectiveness, and salaries at traditional public schools after...
Single-Sex Schools, Student Achievement, and Course Selection: Evidence from Rule-Based Student Assignments in Trinidad and Tobago, Journal of Public Economics (2012)
Existing studies on single-sex schooling suffer from biases because students who attend single-sex schools differ...
Recruiting, Retaining, and Creating Quality Teachers, Nordic Economic Policy Review (2012)
This article synthesizes the research literature on how to ensure that the teaching workforce is...
Publications 2011
One for the Road: Public Transportation, Alcohol Consumption, and Intoxicated Driving (with Emily G. Owens), Journal of Public Economics (2011)
We exploit arguably exogenous train schedule changes in Washington DC to investigate the relationship between...
Do Social Connections Reduce Moral Hazard? Evidence from the New York City Taxi Industry (with Henry Schneider), American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (2011)
We investigate the role of social networks in aligning the incentives of agents in settings...
Publications 2010
A Little Now for a Lot Later: A Look at a Texas Advanced Placement Incentive Program, The Journal of Human Resources (2010)
The Texas Advanced Placement Incentive Program pays both students and teachers for passing grades on...
Do Students Benefit From Attending Better Schools?: Evidence From Rule-based Student Assignments in Trinidad and Tobago, The Economic Journal (2010)
In Trinidad and Tobago students are assigned to secondary schools after fifth grade based on...
Publications 2009
Teaching Students and Teaching Each Other: The Importance of Peer Learning for Teachers (with Elias Bruegmann), American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (2009)
Using student examination data linked to longitudinal teacher personnel data, we document that a teacher’s...
Student Demographics, Teacher Sorting, and Teacher Quality: Evidence From the End of School Desegregation, The Journal of Labor Economics (2009)
The reshuffling of students due to the end of student busing in Charlotte-Mecklenburg provides a...
Publications 2008
Cash for Test Scores: The impact of the Texas Advanced Placement Incentive Program, Education Next (2008)
Working Papers
Do High-School Teachers Really Matter? (2012)
Unlike in elementary schools, high-school teacher effects may be confounded with unobserved track-level treatments (such...
Match Quality, Worker Productivity, and Worker Mobility: Direct Evidence From Teachers (2012)
I investigate the importance of the match between teachers and schools for student achievement. I...
Peer Quality or Input Quality?: Evidence from Trinidad and Tobago (2009)
Using exogenous secondary school assignments to remove self-selection bias to schools and peers, I obtain...
The Effects of a Novel Incentive-Based High-School Intervention on College Outcomes (2009)
I analyze the longer-run effects of a program that pays both 11th and 12th grade...
Other Papers
Ability-Grouping and Academic Inequality: Evidence From Rule-Based Student Assignments, (2008)
In Trinidad and Tobago students are assigned to secondary schools after fifth grade based on...
Cost Should Be No Barrier: An Evaluation of the First Year of Harvard's Financial Aid Initiative (with Christopher Avery, Caroline Hoxby, Kaitlin Burek, Glenn Poppe, and Mridula Raman), Working Papers (2006)
This paper evaluates the first year of Harvard’s Financial Aid Initiative, which increased aid and...