Jonathan Tebes

Welcome to my homepage!

I am an Assistant Research Professor of Economics in the Economics Department at the University of Notre Dame and the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO). I work primarily on topics in labor economics related to policing and criminal justice, education (outside the classroom), economic mobility, and racial inequality. 

I have examined how reforms to stop-and-frisk in NYC affected crime and high school engagement, racial bias in officers' stopping decisions,  mentorship programs for urban high school students, and civic responses to police violence. 

Currently, I'm working on several quasi-experimental and randomized evaluations that explore the following questions:

• Can intensive mentorship improve educational and other early-life outcomes for students at extreme risk of dropping out of high school (i.e. <10% HS graduation rate)?  See our research partner's website for more information.

• Can emergency financial assistance prevent a debt-based poverty trap for low-income Chicago residents?

• What is the effect of low-level arrests on the early-life trajectory of urban men? We are combining administrative tax records with court records to answer this question.

• Can goal-oriented case management coupled with small financial incentives help public housing residents achieve economic self-sufficiency?  See our research partner's website for more information. 

• How about their kids?  We are implementing a separate randomized evaluation of a similar model that aims to understand "2-gen" impacts of goal-oriented case management. 

• Can behavioral support help adults overcome psychological barriers to taking up services? We are conducting a randomized evaluation of behavioral support for adults who apply to (but don't often persist in)  an evidence-based high school diploma program.

• Can incentivised case management and savings accounts improve outcomes for youth aging out of foster care?

I have also been an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, a Stone Scholar in Harvard's Inequality & Social Policy Program, and a Horowitz Foundation Awardee. 

If you'd like to learn more about me, you check out my CV here. 

If you'd like to connect, shoot me an email at jtebes at nd.edu or find me on Twitter @jonathan_tebes.