Jonathan Smith
@jonisaacsmith.bsky.social
W.J. Usery, Jr. Chair of the American Workplace @ Georgia State University, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Economics Department | Co-editor Economics of Education Review | https://sites.google.com/site/jonathansmithphd/
Test-optional policies reduce college admissions of high-achieving, disadvantaged students Under test-optional policies, too few of these applicants submit test scores; they more than double their admission probability (from 2.9% to 7.2 %) by reporting scores. drive.google.com/file/d/10mW5...
"high-achieving underrepresented minority college-goers were up to 10 percentage points less likely to enroll in highly selective colleges... “cascading” down the college selectivity distribution into less selective colleges with lower graduation rates and earnings." edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1392
College Enrollment Patterns After SFFA v. Harvard
We study how U.S. high school students’ patterns of college entry changed in the first year after the Supreme Court’s 2023 SFFA v. Harvard ruling. Drawing on a rich dataset linking more than 12 millio...
edworkingpapers.com
Thrilled to kick off the Spring 2026 Economics Seminar Series at @gsueconomics.bsky.social 🎉 If you’re in Atlanta and would like to join one of the talks, feel free to reach out!
🚨📢 Call for papers - IV Workshop on Economics of Education, Valle Nevado 🇨🇱⛷️ 📅 August 18-21 📍Valle Nevado, Chile Keynotes by Josh Goodman ( @buwheelock.bsky.social ) and Chris Neilson (Yale) Submit by March 6 👇 bit.ly/49QSsd3 @joshua-goodman.com @christopherneilson.bsky.social
"The College Backlash Is a Mirage" Americans are more pessimistic than ever about the value of a degree—but enrollment keeps going up. By @rosehorowitch.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
The College Backlash Is a Mirage
Americans are more pessimistic than ever about the value of a degree—but enrollment keeps going up.
theatlantic.com
MDRC's THE-RCT data file, an individual-level data file including 33 higher ed RCTs and 80k students, is now available on OpenICPSR with a couple updates: -Two new studies (MMA and ASAP Westchester) -More years of data for three studies (EASE, DPP, and ModMath) www.openicpsr.org/openicpsr/pr...
MDRC's The Higher Education Randomized Controlled Trials Restricted Access File (THE-RCT RAF)
openicpsr.org
Recently accepted by #QJE, “Diversifying Society’s Leaders? The Determinants and Causal Effects of Admission to Highly Selective Private Colleges,” by Chetty (@Oppinsights), Deming, and Friedman: doi.org/10.1093/qje/...
Diversifying Society’s Leaders? The Determinants and Causal Effects of Admission to Highly Selective Private Colleges*
Abstract. We use anonymized admissions data from several colleges linked to income tax records and SAT and ACT test scores to study the determinants and ca
doi.org
Kevin Roberts' defense of Nick Fuentes is a watershed moment: the right has officially declared open, unabashed Hitlerism to be an acceptable position in their coalition www.vox.com/politics/466...
The GOP’s top think tank just defended an open Nazi
Reasonable people can disagree about whether Hitler was good, says the Heritage Foundation.
vox.com
Econ of Ed (and other) friends: what are the best studies linking in-college interventions to labor market outcomes? Especially interested in those that improve outcomes via different mechanism than completion. E.g. if a college wants to improve earnings of grads, what should they do?
Meet the 2025–2026 job market candidates from GSU Economics! 🎉 @gsueconomics.bsky.social #econsky 👇 Here’s a quick introduction to each candidate.
Huge thanks to @jonisaacsmith.bsky.social for arranging my visit. GSU has an impressive econ department, full of great applied micro folks and the Georgia Policy Lab that supports work directly relevant to improving public policy.
Joshua Goodman@joshua-goodman.com · 12mo agoWhat better way to end my trip to Georgia State University, then to run into Chloe Gibbs coming back from giving a talk at Duke!
Our 2nd annual @gsueconomics.bsky.social PhD Summer Symposium was a success! 🎉 It was great to showcase our GSU Economics JMCs for 2025–26. Thanks to @jonisaacsmith.bsky.social y.social for co-organizing, and a big thank-you to our endowed chairs for sponsoring this event!
Sounds about right to me.
Morgan Polikoff@mpolikoff.bsky.social · last yr."[Black] students initially enrolling in a HBCU are 14.6 percentage pts more likely to earn a bachelor's degree and, ... have higher household income and more student loan balances... driven by relatively broad-access HBCUs in lieu of a two-year college or no college." www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
Hopkins shows clearly that this is not about wokeness, or antisemitism, or whatever other excuse they may claim. It’s about bringing universities to heel, following the playbook of authoritarians everywhere.
It's a paper about voting, yes. But really, it's a paper about peer effects. We think we are uniquely able to identify causal peer effects in a vitally important behavior.
John Holbein@johnholbein1.bsky.social · last yr.Did you know that your siblings can influence whether you vote? Well, because of our new working paper you do! @mike-bloem.bsky.social, @jonisaacsmith.bsky.social, sam imlay
Deep cut. And better/accurate spelling of Marcia.
David Darmofal@daviddarmofal.bsky.social · last yr.Greg voted for Pat Conway over Marcia :)
Depends on whether Marsha voted. Marsha, Marsha, Marsha..
Robert (Bob) Kubinec@rmkubinec.bsky.social · last yr.So did the Brady brunch always vote or never vote? Need to think about real world implications
The suspense is killing me...I hope it will last.
John Holbein@johnholbein1.bsky.social · last yr.We are now!!
I'm lucky enough to have Alex as my new-ish colleague! Go @gsueconomics.bsky.social!
Aaron Sojourner@aaronsojourner.org · last yr.Super interesting column @equitablegrowth.bsky.social by Alex Bell on how identification by anti-instruments reveals attribute tradeoffs, applied to job quality. Got to see him present it @upjohninstitute.bsky.social recently. New & interesting. #EconSky equitablegrowth.org/the-hidden-t...
Very cool to see this paper (my former JMP!) forthcoming at one of my favorite journals!
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management@jpam-dc.bsky.social · last yr.Early view from JPAM: "Time to baccalaureate degree in the labor market: Evidence from a field experiment" by Michael Bloem (@mike-bloem.bsky.social) from College Board (@collegeboardpress.bsky.social). doi.org/10.1002/pam.....
Congrats to our own Economics faculty member @jonisaacsmith.bsky.social for receiving the 2025 GSU Ignite Faculty Research Partnership Award for his work with Achieve Atlanta !!! Economist Jonathan Smith Receives Georgia State Ignite Research Award news.gsu.edu/2025/04/04/e...
Economist Jonathan Smith Receives Georgia State Ignite Research Award
The Faculty Research Partnership Award recognizes an individual who, in partnership with an external, non-academic entity, conducts research that makes a significant impact.
news.gsu.edu
AERA has just learned that all restricted-use NCES data licenses will be cancelled, possibly as early as March 20. We urgently request that all AERA members and others in the research community with restricted-use licenses take these two actions: www.aera.net/Research-Pol...
"International students increase schools’ funding via tuition payments, which leads to increased in-state enrollment and lower tuition prices." Link to working paper below
Jen Jennings@jenjennings.bsky.social · last yr.International students don’t take opportunities from American students. They create them. Mingyu Chen (PhD @princetonecon.bsky.social now@Amazon) built a powerful tool showing exactly how much international students contribute by state, degree type, & over time. Please share this tool far & wide!
Meet Evan Anzoo, a five-year-old boy in South Sudan who died when Elon Musk shut down USAID and the boy lost access to his HIV meds. Musk says no one has died because of the aid shutdown, but that's because he didn't look. RIP, Evan, you deserved better. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Access to public four-year colleges boosts earnings and stability. @jonisaacsmith.bsky.social, @joshua-goodman.com, and Michael Hurwitz analyze college access’s long-term effects, showing students gain greater career mobility and security. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....
NEW: Senator Marshall (R-KS) RUNS AWAY, fleeing his own town hall after being asked about DOGE firing Veterans. MAKE HIM GO VIRAL.
How are parents affected by their kid going to college? How are they affected when their kid gets a scholarship or grant? New working paper with @palaashbhargava.bsky.social @econsandy.bsky.social @odedgurantz.bsky.social and Rob Fairlie www.nber.org/papers/w33497
