About

Emma Harrington is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Virginia. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College and a Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard University. Her fields of interest include Labor, Personnel, Law & Economics, and Crime. Her research focuses on these areas, contributing to the understanding of economic issues related to labor markets, legal frameworks, and criminal activity.

Research topics

• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Science
• Business
• Biomedical engineering
• Anatomy
• Composite material
• Engineering
• Materials science

Selected publications

• Home Alone: Remote Work, Isolation, and Mental Health PSID Data

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-02-27

  datasetOpen access

  <span>This dataset is referenced in another replication package for Home Alone. </span>

  PublisherDOI

• Home Alone: Remote Work, Isolation, and Mental Health PSID Data

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-02-27

  datasetOpen access

  <span>This dataset is referenced in another replication package for Home Alone. </span>

  PublisherDOI

• The Payoffs of Higher Pay: Labor Supply and Productivity Responses to a Voluntary Firm Minimum Wage

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• The Power of Proximity to Coworkers

  The Quarterly Journal of Economics · 2026-05-12

  article

  Abstract How does proximity to coworkers affect training and productivity? We study software engineers at a Fortune 500 firm from 2019 to 2024, leveraging two shocks to proximity: (i) the office closures in 2020 and (ii) the subsequent return-to-office mandates in 2022 and 2023. In both cases, co-located teams experienced bigger changes in proximity than distributed ones, facilitating difference-in-differences designs. We find that sitting near teammates increases coding feedback by 18.3% and improves code quality. Gains are concentrated among less-tenured and younger employees, who are building human capital. However, there is a tradeoff: experienced engineers write less code when sitting near teammates. In national US data, we find evidence that the rise of remote work has had scarring effects on young college graduates. In remotable jobs, young graduates’ unemployment rate increased relative to older graduates’ post-pandemic (2022−2024) compared to pre-pandemic (2017−2019), a pattern we do not observe in non-remotable jobs.

  PublisherDOI

• Can Remote Work Narrow Gender Gaps in Greedy Jobs?

  AEA Papers and Proceedings · 2026-05-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Women are underrepresented in highly paid "greedy jobs" (Goldin 2014). Could flexibility over where to work narrow this gender gap? Our evidence suggests yes. Using hypothetical choice data from Maestas et al. (2023a), we show that women view work from home (WFH) as more complementary with long hours than men do. The gender difference in WFH preferences is driven by people working over 40 hours per week. In these long-hour jobs, women are willing to forgo 15.9 percent of their pay for WFH, compared to 2.4 percent for men. Women also choose longer hours when they can WFH.

  PublisherDOI

• Has the Rise of Work from Home Reduced the Motherhood Penalty in the Labor Market?

  National Tax Journal · 2025-08-01 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  When women become mothers, they often take a step back from their careers.Could work from home (WFH) reduce this motherhood penalty, particularly in traditionally family-unfriendly careers?We leverage technological changes prior to the pandemic that increased the feasibility of WFH in some college degrees but not others.In degrees where WFH increased, motherhood gaps in employment narrowed: for every 10% increase in WFH, mothers' employment rates increased by 0.78 per centage points (or 0.94%) relative to other women's.This change is driven by majors linked to careers that have high returns to hours and inflexible demands on workers' time.We microfound these results using panel data that show that women who could WFH before childbirth are less likely to exit the workforce.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Working Remotely? Selection, Treatment, and the Market for Remote Work

  American Economic Journal Applied Economics · 2024-09-26 · 32 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  How does remote work affect productivity and how productive are workers who choose remote jobs? We decompose these effects in a Fortune 500 firm. Before COVID-19, remote workers answered 12 percent fewer calls per hour than on-site workers. After offices closed, the productivity gap narrowed by 4 percent, and formerly on-site workers' call quality and promotion rates declined. Even with everyone remote, an 8 percent productivity gap persisted, indicating negative selection into remote jobs. A cost-benefit analysis indicates savings in reduced turnover and office rents could outweigh remote work's negative productivity impact but not the costs of attracting less productive workers. (JEL D22, J22, J24, J63, L84, M12, M54)

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Working Remotely? Selection, Treatment, and the Market for Remote Work

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023 · 89 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Computer Science
  • Business
  PublisherDOI

• Novel hybrid biocomposites for tendon grafts: The addition of silk to polydioxanone and poly(lactide-co-caprolactone) enhances material properties, in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility

  Bioactive Materials · 2023 · 22 citations

  • Materials science
  • Biomedical engineering
  • Composite material

  studies indicate that the silk can reduce the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines after six weeks of implantation. Finally, we selected a promising biocomposite and created a prototype TL graft based on extruded fibres. We found that the tensile properties of both individual fibres and braided grafts could be suitable for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) repair applications.

  PublisherDOI

• The Power of Proximity to Coworkers: Training for Tomorrow or Productivity Today?

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Behzad Shiroud Heidari

  Razi University

  13 shared

• Barry J. Doyle

  Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre

  13 shared

• Matthew Basilico

  Chestnut Hill College

  12 shared

• Abhiram R. Bhashyam

  Massachusetts General Hospital

  11 shared

• Marilyn Heng

  Population Health Research Institute

  11 shared

• Elena M. De‐Juan‐Pardo

  Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre

  10 shared

• Rodney J. Dilley

  10 shared

• Minghao Zheng

  7 shared