Melanie Zaber
@melaniezaber.bsky.social
PhD Economist; codirector of RAND Middle-Class Pathways Center and econ hiring cmte chair. SU and CMU alumna. STEM workforce/middle-class economic mobility research. Opinions mine.
New in Econ of Ed Review: my paper w/ Drew Anderson extending our work on NJ TAG fin aid. Free access here until Sept: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Nickel summary: need-based grant aid replaces work earnings 1:1 (possible mechanism for our prior finding of faster graduation w/ more aid!)
Nickel summary: need-based grant aid replaces work earnings 1:1 (possible mechanism for our prior finding of faster graduation w/ more aid!)
Buying time: Financial aid allows college students to work less while enrolled
Many empirical studies have found that financial aid improves college attainment. Few have been able to test why. This study used administrative recor…
www.sciencedirect.com
August 2, 2025 at 10:06 PM
New in Econ of Ed Review: my paper w/ Drew Anderson extending our work on NJ TAG fin aid. Free access here until Sept: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Nickel summary: need-based grant aid replaces work earnings 1:1 (possible mechanism for our prior finding of faster graduation w/ more aid!)
Nickel summary: need-based grant aid replaces work earnings 1:1 (possible mechanism for our prior finding of faster graduation w/ more aid!)
Excited to be heading to SF in a few weeks for @weai.bsky.social's 100th conference! I'll be at some of the defense and labor sessions, and am happy to meet with econ PhD students interested in policy/think tank careers. #EconSky
June 3, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Excited to be heading to SF in a few weeks for @weai.bsky.social's 100th conference! I'll be at some of the defense and labor sessions, and am happy to meet with econ PhD students interested in policy/think tank careers. #EconSky
Attention #EduSky: findings from @rand.org's Anna Shapiro, @elizabeth-steiner.bsky.social, & collabs' nationally representative public preK teacher survey are out! Links ⬇️, fave findings in comments
report: www.rand.org/pubs/researc...
panel to run your own survey: www.rand.org/education-an...
report: www.rand.org/pubs/researc...
panel to run your own survey: www.rand.org/education-an...
Findings from the Spring 2024 American Pre-K Teacher Survey
Researchers share insights from the first American Pre-K Teacher Survey, exploring the experiences of pre-kindergarten teachers in public schools. It highlights differences in curriculum use, planning...
www.rand.org
April 11, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Attention #EduSky: findings from @rand.org's Anna Shapiro, @elizabeth-steiner.bsky.social, & collabs' nationally representative public preK teacher survey are out! Links ⬇️, fave findings in comments
report: www.rand.org/pubs/researc...
panel to run your own survey: www.rand.org/education-an...
report: www.rand.org/pubs/researc...
panel to run your own survey: www.rand.org/education-an...
Reposted by Melanie Zaber
"This is a pervasive problem. It affects all elements of our society. It’s a health problem, a law enforcement problem, a national security problem. No single action is going to solve it."
New Q&A on fentanyl and other illicit opioids: www.rand.org/pubs/comment...
New Q&A on fentanyl and other illicit opioids: www.rand.org/pubs/comment...
Reducing Deaths from Fentanyl and Other Illicit Opioids: Q&A with David Luckey
In 2022, a bipartisan commission on combating synthetic opioid trafficking released its final report, a point-by-point strategy to address the opioid crisis and reduce its death toll. RAND's David Luc...
www.rand.org
March 16, 2025 at 12:01 AM
"This is a pervasive problem. It affects all elements of our society. It’s a health problem, a law enforcement problem, a national security problem. No single action is going to solve it."
New Q&A on fentanyl and other illicit opioids: www.rand.org/pubs/comment...
New Q&A on fentanyl and other illicit opioids: www.rand.org/pubs/comment...
Excited to head to DC for #AEFP2025 later this week! I'm presenting a side project on teacher salaries on Saturday morning, and I'm also happy to meet with quant folks* interested in careers at @rand.org!**
*We hire qual too, but I primarily know the quant side
**Future openings, not current
*We hire qual too, but I primarily know the quant side
**Future openings, not current
March 10, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Excited to announce that my work with Jessie Coe and Marwa AlFakhri on access to divorce legal services has been published in RevEconHH (@springernature.com)! rdcu.be/ea8yV
#EconSky #REHO
#EconSky #REHO
The impact of access to legal services on divorce outcomes
rdcu.be
February 28, 2025 at 3:26 AM
Excited to announce that my work with Jessie Coe and Marwa AlFakhri on access to divorce legal services has been published in RevEconHH (@springernature.com)! rdcu.be/ea8yV
#EconSky #REHO
#EconSky #REHO
Economists of BlueSky, I need your help with the ultimate ELI5: I volunteered for my kid's Career Day and need to explain my job to kindergartners and 2nd graders. They want a 10 min presentation and then there's Q&A. Suggestions on how to prep for the toughest of peer reviewers?
#EconSky
#EconSky
February 17, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Economists of BlueSky, I need your help with the ultimate ELI5: I volunteered for my kid's Career Day and need to explain my job to kindergartners and 2nd graders. They want a 10 min presentation and then there's Q&A. Suggestions on how to prep for the toughest of peer reviewers?
#EconSky
#EconSky
Hot off the presses: wage returns to credit certificates in IN w/ @lindsaydaugherty.bsky.social
-Wage returns mirror other states: On avg, earnings increase by ~20% after earning a cert (~$5k); earnings remain low.
-Stacking rates are *much* higher in IN.
-& more here: www.rand.org/pubs/researc...
-Wage returns mirror other states: On avg, earnings increase by ~20% after earning a cert (~$5k); earnings remain low.
-Stacking rates are *much* higher in IN.
-& more here: www.rand.org/pubs/researc...
Examining Short-Term Credentials and Student Outcomes in Indiana
Short-term credentials have gained prominence in the U.S., with Indiana making significant investments to scale these programs. From 2010 to 2021, the number of credit certificates earned in Indiana i...
www.rand.org
February 6, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Hot off the presses: wage returns to credit certificates in IN w/ @lindsaydaugherty.bsky.social
-Wage returns mirror other states: On avg, earnings increase by ~20% after earning a cert (~$5k); earnings remain low.
-Stacking rates are *much* higher in IN.
-& more here: www.rand.org/pubs/researc...
-Wage returns mirror other states: On avg, earnings increase by ~20% after earning a cert (~$5k); earnings remain low.
-Stacking rates are *much* higher in IN.
-& more here: www.rand.org/pubs/researc...
Like seeing new diff-in-diff in a horse race against old diff-in-diff? Check out our new report looking at the effects of allowing same-sex couples to marry (all pre-Obergefell states). All the event study plots you could ever want in the appendices! www.rand.org/pubs/researc...
Benefits of Access to Same-Sex Marriage Are Unambiguously Positive
In 20 years of extending marriage to same-sex couples in the United States, the consequences have been consistently positive for same-sex couples and LGBT individuals, their children, and the general ...
www.rand.org
May 13, 2024 at 2:27 PM
Like seeing new diff-in-diff in a horse race against old diff-in-diff? Check out our new report looking at the effects of allowing same-sex couples to marry (all pre-Obergefell states). All the event study plots you could ever want in the appendices! www.rand.org/pubs/researc...
Very exciting new research from the RAND Middle-Class Pathways Center: investing in workers' human capital is good business! Check out a RAND analysis of human capital disclosures and retail company valuations here: www.rand.org/pubs/researc...
Charting Employers' Human Capital Investments in Frontline Retail Workers
The research in this report explores how large retail companies invest in the human capital of frontline workers and whether disclosures of those investments in annual filings to the U.S. Securities a...
www.rand.org
May 6, 2024 at 2:44 PM
Very exciting new research from the RAND Middle-Class Pathways Center: investing in workers' human capital is good business! Check out a RAND analysis of human capital disclosures and retail company valuations here: www.rand.org/pubs/researc...
The CFPB's consent order against BloomTech (formerly Lambda) is a validation of RAND work on ISAs! Our tool (www.rand.org/pubs/tools/T..., Table 2) specifically cautions learners to be skeptical of placement rates and encouraged regulators to standardize such statements: www.rand.org/pubs/researc...
Decoding Income Share Agreements
This tool is designed to help people figure out whether an income share agreement (ISA) is right for them. It provides information about how ISAs work, how to estimate monthly and total ISA payments, ...
www.rand.org
May 3, 2024 at 5:08 PM
The CFPB's consent order against BloomTech (formerly Lambda) is a validation of RAND work on ISAs! Our tool (www.rand.org/pubs/tools/T..., Table 2) specifically cautions learners to be skeptical of placement rates and encouraged regulators to standardize such statements: www.rand.org/pubs/researc...
Reposted by Melanie Zaber
What an achievement by BLS!
"...after 40 years of data collection, the remaining NLYS79 sample continues to be broadly representative of their national cohorts with regard to key labor market outcomes."
www.nber.org/papers/w32361
"...after 40 years of data collection, the remaining NLYS79 sample continues to be broadly representative of their national cohorts with regard to key labor market outcomes."
www.nber.org/papers/w32361
April 22, 2024 at 10:38 AM
What an achievement by BLS!
"...after 40 years of data collection, the remaining NLYS79 sample continues to be broadly representative of their national cohorts with regard to key labor market outcomes."
www.nber.org/papers/w32361
"...after 40 years of data collection, the remaining NLYS79 sample continues to be broadly representative of their national cohorts with regard to key labor market outcomes."
www.nber.org/papers/w32361
Whoever writes the DoL emails brings joy to inboxes. Today's subject line: "Nothing can eclipse the importance of worker rights."
Last month's "It's pi day, pi day, gotta get down on pi day" probably is my all-time favorite.
Last month's "It's pi day, pi day, gotta get down on pi day" probably is my all-time favorite.
April 11, 2024 at 2:06 PM
Whoever writes the DoL emails brings joy to inboxes. Today's subject line: "Nothing can eclipse the importance of worker rights."
Last month's "It's pi day, pi day, gotta get down on pi day" probably is my all-time favorite.
Last month's "It's pi day, pi day, gotta get down on pi day" probably is my all-time favorite.
This is the coolest WP I've seen in a while! I love the inclusion of certificate earners.
Fascinating that the unexplained portion of wage differences is so consistent across ed levels, except at the most selective institutions.
www2.census.gov/library/work...
Hopefully race/ethnicity is next?
Fascinating that the unexplained portion of wage differences is so consistent across ed levels, except at the most selective institutions.
www2.census.gov/library/work...
Hopefully race/ethnicity is next?
February 22, 2024 at 6:18 PM
This is the coolest WP I've seen in a while! I love the inclusion of certificate earners.
Fascinating that the unexplained portion of wage differences is so consistent across ed levels, except at the most selective institutions.
www2.census.gov/library/work...
Hopefully race/ethnicity is next?
Fascinating that the unexplained portion of wage differences is so consistent across ed levels, except at the most selective institutions.
www2.census.gov/library/work...
Hopefully race/ethnicity is next?
Reposted by Melanie Zaber
Thrilled to see this paper available in its final form!
If you measure school or student economic disadvantage in your research, I encourage you to read this. Direct certification-based measures are promising but not yet widely available to researchers.
journals.sagepub.com/eprint/WRIJU...
If you measure school or student economic disadvantage in your research, I encourage you to read this. Direct certification-based measures are promising but not yet widely available to researchers.
journals.sagepub.com/eprint/WRIJU...
January 9, 2024 at 3:08 PM
Thrilled to see this paper available in its final form!
If you measure school or student economic disadvantage in your research, I encourage you to read this. Direct certification-based measures are promising but not yet widely available to researchers.
journals.sagepub.com/eprint/WRIJU...
If you measure school or student economic disadvantage in your research, I encourage you to read this. Direct certification-based measures are promising but not yet widely available to researchers.
journals.sagepub.com/eprint/WRIJU...
Econ JMCs--if you're trying to signal and you can't find the JOE listing to get the ID, there's a little checkbox below the "Published Date" filter to include archived listings.
Apropos of nothing, RAND's (archived) JOE ID is 2023-02_111472744.
#econjobmarket #econsky
Apropos of nothing, RAND's (archived) JOE ID is 2023-02_111472744.
#econjobmarket #econsky
November 28, 2023 at 8:16 PM
Econ JMCs--if you're trying to signal and you can't find the JOE listing to get the ID, there's a little checkbox below the "Published Date" filter to include archived listings.
Apropos of nothing, RAND's (archived) JOE ID is 2023-02_111472744.
#econjobmarket #econsky
Apropos of nothing, RAND's (archived) JOE ID is 2023-02_111472744.
#econjobmarket #econsky
Folks in NOLA for SEA--can highly recommend both Lufu Nola (lots of veg options) and Hurts Donuts. Warning--the apple fritter and cinnamon roll are the size of FOUR donuts.
Looking forward to seeing folks at CSWEP mentoring events today!
#EconTwitter
Looking forward to seeing folks at CSWEP mentoring events today!
#EconTwitter
November 17, 2023 at 3:32 PM
Folks in NOLA for SEA--can highly recommend both Lufu Nola (lots of veg options) and Hurts Donuts. Warning--the apple fritter and cinnamon roll are the size of FOUR donuts.
Looking forward to seeing folks at CSWEP mentoring events today!
#EconTwitter
Looking forward to seeing folks at CSWEP mentoring events today!
#EconTwitter
Reposted by Melanie Zaber
#EconSky
Senior scholars: consider volunteering to “adopting a paper” as part of round 4:
adoptapaper.org/apply.html
@EliraKuka and I do our best to create good paper-senior matches, but the likelihood increases with the size of the mentor pool.
More past mentors below:
Senior scholars: consider volunteering to “adopting a paper” as part of round 4:
adoptapaper.org/apply.html
@EliraKuka and I do our best to create good paper-senior matches, but the likelihood increases with the size of the mentor pool.
More past mentors below:
October 13, 2023 at 2:20 PM
#EconSky
Senior scholars: consider volunteering to “adopting a paper” as part of round 4:
adoptapaper.org/apply.html
@EliraKuka and I do our best to create good paper-senior matches, but the likelihood increases with the size of the mentor pool.
More past mentors below:
Senior scholars: consider volunteering to “adopting a paper” as part of round 4:
adoptapaper.org/apply.html
@EliraKuka and I do our best to create good paper-senior matches, but the likelihood increases with the size of the mentor pool.
More past mentors below:
By some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations, looks like voter turnout for Allegheny County, PA (county exec, DA up for grabs) was 40.6% of registered voters, compared to 35.1% for PA overall (state supreme court, other judges, local races).
Not bad for a non-gubernatorial year!
Not bad for a non-gubernatorial year!
November 8, 2023 at 7:52 PM
By some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations, looks like voter turnout for Allegheny County, PA (county exec, DA up for grabs) was 40.6% of registered voters, compared to 35.1% for PA overall (state supreme court, other judges, local races).
Not bad for a non-gubernatorial year!
Not bad for a non-gubernatorial year!
Reposted by Melanie Zaber
Teachers matter a ton, but so do school counselors. Counselors can have big impacts on educational attainment, particularly for low income students.
Thrilled to see Christine Mulhern's important work published this morning in the AER.
www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
Thrilled to see Christine Mulhern's important work published this morning in the AER.
www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
October 30, 2023 at 2:12 PM
Teachers matter a ton, but so do school counselors. Counselors can have big impacts on educational attainment, particularly for low income students.
Thrilled to see Christine Mulhern's important work published this morning in the AER.
www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
Thrilled to see Christine Mulhern's important work published this morning in the AER.
www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
Reposted by Melanie Zaber
📢 🎉 New CSWEP event alert!
If you’re a senior woman or non-binary economist, we hope you’ll join us for conversation and celebration at a reception at this year’s ASSA meetings.
@aeacswep.bsky.social
Details & registration here: www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/co...
If you’re a senior woman or non-binary economist, we hope you’ll join us for conversation and celebration at a reception at this year’s ASSA meetings.
@aeacswep.bsky.social
Details & registration here: www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/co...
American Economic Association
www.aeaweb.org
October 21, 2023 at 5:03 PM
📢 🎉 New CSWEP event alert!
If you’re a senior woman or non-binary economist, we hope you’ll join us for conversation and celebration at a reception at this year’s ASSA meetings.
@aeacswep.bsky.social
Details & registration here: www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/co...
If you’re a senior woman or non-binary economist, we hope you’ll join us for conversation and celebration at a reception at this year’s ASSA meetings.
@aeacswep.bsky.social
Details & registration here: www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/co...
FTC takes aim at ISAs for false advertising (outcomes): www.ftc.gov/business-gui...
We recommend
--collecting standardized Scorecard-like data from all institutions offering ISAs (www.rand.org/content/dam/...)
--asking schools how placement outcomes are calculated (www.rand.org/pubs/tools/T...)
We recommend
--collecting standardized Scorecard-like data from all institutions offering ISAs (www.rand.org/content/dam/...)
--asking schools how placement outcomes are calculated (www.rand.org/pubs/tools/T...)
www.rand.org
October 20, 2023 at 1:41 PM
FTC takes aim at ISAs for false advertising (outcomes): www.ftc.gov/business-gui...
We recommend
--collecting standardized Scorecard-like data from all institutions offering ISAs (www.rand.org/content/dam/...)
--asking schools how placement outcomes are calculated (www.rand.org/pubs/tools/T...)
We recommend
--collecting standardized Scorecard-like data from all institutions offering ISAs (www.rand.org/content/dam/...)
--asking schools how placement outcomes are calculated (www.rand.org/pubs/tools/T...)
Hello #econsky! The application for @randcorporation.bsky.social's summer associate program (PhD student intern) is now open: www.rand.org/jobs/summer-...
It's a great opportunity to try out policy research with an eye towards postgrad plans. My 2 former summer associates are coauthors on our work!
It's a great opportunity to try out policy research with an eye towards postgrad plans. My 2 former summer associates are coauthors on our work!
Graduate Student Summer Associate Program
Graduate students can apply to work with RAND experts on developing solutions to today's public policy challenges. Summer associates gain practical research experience in areas such as security, healt...
www.rand.org
October 16, 2023 at 4:18 PM
Hello #econsky! The application for @randcorporation.bsky.social's summer associate program (PhD student intern) is now open: www.rand.org/jobs/summer-...
It's a great opportunity to try out policy research with an eye towards postgrad plans. My 2 former summer associates are coauthors on our work!
It's a great opportunity to try out policy research with an eye towards postgrad plans. My 2 former summer associates are coauthors on our work!