Abstract This paper explores labor market outcomes of undergraduate economics majors in the United States. Using 2014–2023 American Community Survey data on over four million individuals aged between 25 and 65 across all 50 states, we estimate the marginal effects of having three separate baccalaureate economics degrees—general, agricultural, and business—on wages and weeks worked per year. We find a positive and statistically significant effect of having an economics degree on earnings controlling for a large number of socioeconomic, individual, and state-level covariates. The evidence is most robust for general (non-business and non-agricultural) economics majors. We find little evidence that majoring in economics strongly affects the number of weeks worked per year or that occupational choice drives increased earnings, suggesting the estimated premium is driven primarily through wages rather than quantity supplied of labor or occupation type.

Abstract The discourse on undocumented immigration to the United States often centers on place-based policies, such as those that create “sanctuary” on the one hand, or that promote "self-deportation" on the other. How much do these policies actually affect migration patterns? This paper uses administrative data on likely undocumented Mexican immigrants to estimate the impact of state-level immigration policy on location decisions and compare this to the role of labor market characteristics and violence. Using a fixed effects model that accounts for Mexican state to US state networks, I do not find evidence that state-level policy drives immigration patterns and instead labor market conditions and violent crime explain Mexican migration across US states.

Abstract This paper investigates the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and U.S. presidential election outcomes. Using elections from 2000 to 2016, this paper makes two contributions to the existing literature. First, it expands the emotional cue literature following Card and Dahl (Q J Econ 126:103–143, 2011) by examining a novel emotional trigger: election outcomes. Second, it provides an economic investigation of election stresses found in the psychology and political science literature. By interacting with the margin of victory for each state, I find large and significant decreases in IPV in states that vote for the winning candidate.

Abstract This paper examines the association between political corruption and the informal-formal sector income gap. We focus on a sample of 476 randomly selected municipalities in Brazil, and combine individual level Census data with measures of municipal corruption. We first document that higher levels of corruption are correlated with a wider informal-formal income gap. To address potential endogeneity, we employ a measure of mismanagement by governmental officials as an instrument for corruption, providing evidence that the observed relationship is consistent under alternative identification strategies. When we disaggregate by industry, the results suggest that the association between corruption and the income gap varies across sectors, appearing strongest in construction.