Publications

“Higher Education and Local Educational Attainment: Evidence from the Establishment of U.S. Colleges” (with Lei Yu and Michael J. Andrews), Review of Economics and Statistics, Forthcoming.
[EdWorkingPaper Version]

Levine, Phillip, Jennifer Ma, and Lauren Russell. 2023. “Do College Applicants Respond to Changes in Sticker Prices Even When They Don’t Matter?” Education Finance and Policy, 18(3): 365-394.
[NBER Working Paper Version]

Odle, Taylor and Lauren Russell. 2023. “The Impact of Reverse Transfer Associate Degrees on Education and Labor Market Outcomes.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 42(3): 648-676.
[EdWorkingPaper Version]

Russell, Lauren. 2021. “Price Effects of Non-Profit College and University Mergers.” Review of Economics and Statistics, 103(1): 88-101.
[Online Appendix Materials]

Russell, Lauren and Chuxuan Sun. 2020. “The Effect of Mandatory Child Care Center Closures on Women’s Labor Market Outcomes During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” COVID Economics: Vetted and Real-Time Papers, 62: 124-154.
*This was the earliest version of the analysis. Please see research papers below for an updated version using additional months of data and new analyses.

Russell, Lauren. 2019. “Better Outcomes Without Increased Costs? Effects of Georgia’s University System Consolidations.” Economics of Education Review, 68: 122-135.
[Pre-Publication Manuscript]

Russell, Lauren. 2017. “Can learning communities boost the success of women and minorities in STEM? Evidence from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” Economics of Education Review, 61: 98-111.

Working Papers
These versions are preliminary. Comments are welcome! Please do not cite without permission.

Not the Great Equalizer: Local Economic Mobility and Inequality Effects from the Establishment of U.S. Universities (with Michael J. Andrews)

Persistent Effects of COVID-19 Child Care Center Closures on Parental Labor Market Outcomes (with Chuxuan Sun)
[Online Data Appendix – List of Policies by State: Closure States; Class Size Restriction and No Policy States]

Resting Working Papers
“Effects of the Federal Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program on School-Level Outcomes”

Research in Progress

Local Universities and Political Outcomes (with Michael J. Andrews)