Brian A. Jacob

About

Brian A. Jacob is the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy and a professor of economics at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. He is also the co-director of the Youth Policy Lab and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His primary fields of interest include labor economics, program evaluation, and the economics of education. Jacob's current research focuses on urban school reform, with particular emphasis on standards and accountability initiatives. He teaches courses such as 'Economics of Education' and classes focused on education policy. Prior to his current position, he came from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, and has experience as a policy analyst in the NYC Mayor's Office and as a middle school teacher in East Harlem. Jacob has received notable recognition, including the David N. Kershaw Prize in 2008 for his contributions to public policy before the age of 40.

Research topics

• Economics
• Economic growth
• Business
• Finance
• Demographic economics
• Medicine
• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Econometrics
• Macroeconomics

Selected publications

• The COVID Cash Transfer Study: The Impacts of a One‐Time Unconditional Cash Transfer on the Well‐Being of Families Receiving SNAP in Twelve States

  Journal of Policy Analysis and Management · 2023 · 34 citations

  Abstract There is growing interest in the use of unconditional cash transfers as a means to alleviate poverty, yet little is known about the effects of such transfers in the U.S. This paper reports on the results of a randomized controlled study of a one‐time $1,000 unconditional cash transfer in May 2020 to families with low incomes in 12 U.S. states. The families were receiving, or had recently received, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. We examine the impact of the cash tran…

  DOI

• The COVID-19 Cash Transfer Study II: The Hardship and Mental Health Impacts of an Unconditional Cash Transfer to Low-Income Individuals

  National Tax Journal · 2022 · 29 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  This paper reports findings from a randomized controlled trial of a one-time, $1,000 unconditional cash transfer to low-income households in October 2020. We use a combination of administrative and survey data collected six weeks posttreatment to examine four preregistered hypotheses: impacts on material hardship and mental health in the full study sample as well as among a very low-income sample. We find no effects of the cash transfer on any of the prespecified or other exploratory outcomes. W…

  DOI

• The Effects of the Flint water crisis on the educational outcomes of school-age children

  Science Advances · 2024-03-13 · 9 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  In 2014, the municipal water source in Flint, Michigan was switched, causing lead from aging pipes to leach into the city's drinking water. While lead exposure in Flint children increased modestly on average, some children were exposed to high lead levels. Surveys of Flint residents show the water crisis was also associated with increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. We use Michigan's administrative education data and utilize synthetic control methods to examine the impact of the c…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Racial differences in parent response to COVID schooling policies

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2024-01-08 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  This paper examines whether school COVID-19 policies influenced enrollment differently by student age and race/ethnicity. Unlike much prior research, we i) analyze enrollments for virtually the entire U.S. public school population for both the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years, ii) compare enrollment trends within districts in order to isolate subgroup heterogeneity from district characteristics, and iii) account for district selection into preferred learning modes. Analyzing data on over 9,0…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Lottery-Based Evaluations of Early Education Programs: Opportunities and Challenges for Building the Next Generation of Evidence

  AERA Open · 2024-01-01 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  Lottery-based identification strategies offer potential for generating the next generation of evidence on U.S. early education programs. The authors’ collaborative network of five research teams applying this design in early education settings and methods experts has identified six challenges that need to be carefully considered in this next context: (a) available baseline covariates that may not be very rich; (b) limited data on the counterfactual; (c) limited and inconsistent outcome data; (d)…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Jonah Rockoff

  Columbia University

  103 shared

• Lars Lefgren

  Brigham Young University

  89 shared

• Jens Ludwig

  National Bureau of Economic Research

  64 shared

• Thomas J. Kane

  Center For Policy Research

  55 shared

• Douglas O. Staiger

  Dartmouth College

  55 shared

• Eric Taylor

  United States Fish and Wildlife Service

  52 shared

• Rachel Rosen

  Pfizer (United States)

  52 shared

• Benjamin Lindy

  Teach For America

  51 shared

Labs

• Youth Policy LabPI

Awards & honors

• David N. Kershaw Prize (2008)

Similar researchers at University of Michigan

• Scott Atranh-83
• Jeremy Levineh-78
• Dean Yangh-61