@article {636374, title = {Charter Schools and Labor Market Outcomes}, journal = {Journal of Labor Economics}, year = {Forthcoming}, abstract = {We estimate the impact of charter schools on early-life labor market outcomes using admin- istrative data from Texas. We find that, at the mean, charter schools have no impact on test scores and a negative impact on earnings. No Excuses charter schools increase test scores and four-year college enrollment, but, due to imprecision, have a statistically insignificant impact on earnings {\textendash} though the coefficient is almost identical to what one would expect given the correla- tion between test scores and wages. Other types of charter schools decrease test scores, four-year college enrollment, and earnings, and, surprisingly, the decrease in wages is more negative than one would anticipate. Using school-level estimates, we find that charter schools that decrease average test scores also tend to decrease earnings, while charter schools that increase average test scores have no discernible impact on earnings. In contrast, high school graduation effects and four-year college enrollment are predictive of earnings effects throughout the distribution of school quality. The paper concludes with a speculative discussion of what might explain our set of facts. }, author = {Will Dobbie and Roland G. Fryer} } @article {612377, title = {High-Dosage Tutoring and Reading Achievement: Evidence from New York City*}, journal = {Journal of Labor Economics}, year = {Forthcoming}, abstract = {This study examines the impact on student achievement of high-dosage reading tutoring for middle school students in New York City public schools, using a school-level randomized field experiment. Across three years, schools offered at least 130 hours of 4-on-1 tutoring based on a guided reading model. We demonstrate that, at the mean, tutoring has a positive and significant effect on school attendance, a positive, but insignificant, effect on English Language Arts (ELA) state test scores and no effect on math state test scores. There is important heterogeneity by race. For black students, our treatment increased attendance by 2.0 percentage points (control mean 92.4 percent) and ELA scores by 0.09 standard deviations per year {\textendash} two times larger than the effect of KIPP Charter Middle Schools on reading achievement. We argue that the increased effectiveness of tutoring for black students is best explained by the average tutor characteristics at the schools they attend.}, author = {Roland G. Fryer, Jr. and Meghan Howard-Noveck} } @article {605009, title = {Updating Beliefs when Evidence is Open to Interpretation: Implications for Bias and Polarization}, journal = {Journal of the European Economic Association}, year = {Forthcoming}, abstract = {We introduce a model in which agents observe signals about the state of the world, some of which are open to interpretation. Our decision makers first interpret each signal and then form a posterior on the sequence of interpreted signals. This {\textquoteleft}double updating{\textquoteright} leads to confirmation bias and can lead agents who observe the same information to polarize. We explore the model{\textquoteright}s predictions in an on-line experiment in which individuals interpret research summaries about climate change and the death penalty. Consistent with the model, there is a significant relationship between an individual{\textquoteright}s prior and their interpretation of the summaries; and - even more striking - over half of the subjects exhibit polarizing behavior.}, author = {Roland G. Fryer, Jr and Philipp Harms and Matthew O. Jackson} } @article {602675, title = {Reconciling Results on Racial Differences in Police Shootings}, journal = {American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings)}, year = {Forthcoming}, author = {Roland G Fryer, Jr} } @article {557126, title = {The {\textquoteleft}Pupil{\textquoteright} Factory: Specialization and the Production of Human Capital in Schools.}, journal = {American Economic Review}, year = {Forthcoming}, abstract = {Starting in the 2013-2014 school year, I conducted a randomized field experiment in fortysix traditional public elementary schools in Houston, Texas designed to test the potential productivity benefits of teacher specialization in schools. Treatment schools altered their schedules to have teachers specialize in a subset of subjects in which they have demonstrated relative strength (based on value-add measures and principal observations). The average impact of encouraging schools to specialize their teachers on student achievement is -0.11 standard deviations per year on a combined index of math and reading test scores. Students enrolled in special education and those with less experienced teachers demonstrated marked negative results. I argue that the results are consistent with a model in which the benefits of specialization driven by sorting teachers into a subset of subjects based on comparative advantage is outweighed by inefficient pedagogy due to having fewer interactions with each student, though other mechanisms are possible.}, author = {Roland G. Fryer, Jr.} } @article {416406, title = {An Empirical Analysis of Racial Differences in Police Use of Force}, journal = {Journal of Political Economy}, year = {Forthcoming}, month = {2016}, abstract = {This paper explores racial differences in police use of force. On non-lethal uses of force, blacks and Hispanics are more than fifty percent more likely to experience some form of force in interactions with police. Adding controls that account for important context and civilian behavior reduces, but cannot fully explain, these disparities. On the most extreme use of force {\textendash}officer-involved shootings {\textendash} we find no racial differences in either the raw data or when contextual factors are taken into account. We argue that the patterns in the data are consistent with a model in which police officers are utility maximizers, a fraction of which have a preference for discrimination, who incur relatively high expected costs of officer-involved shootings.}, author = {Roland G. Fryer, Jr} } @article {371296, title = {Self-Selection and Comparative Advantage in Social Interactions}, journal = {Journal of the European Economic Association}, year = {Forthcoming}, abstract = {We propose a theory of social interactions based on self-selection and comparative advantage. In our model, students choose peer groups based on their comparative advantage within a social environment. The effect of moving a student into a different environment with higher-achieving peers depends on where in the ability distribution she falls and the shadow prices that clear the social market. We show that the model{\textquoteright}s key prediction{\textemdash}an individual{\textquoteright}s ordinal rank predicts her behavior and test scores{\textemdash}is borne out in one randomized controlled trial in Kenya as well as administrative data from the U.S. To test whether our selection mechanism can explain the effect of rank on outcomes, we conduct an experiment with nearly 600 public school students in Houston. The experimental results suggest that social interactions are mediated by self-selection based on comparative advantage.}, author = {Steve Cicala and Roland G. Fryer, Jr and Jorg L. Spenkuch} } @article {68001, title = {Two-Armed Restless Bandits with Imperfect Information: Stochastic Control and Indexability}, journal = {Mathematics of Operations Research}, year = {Forthcoming}, abstract = {\ We present a two-armed bandit model of decision making under uncertainty where the expected return to investing in the "risky arm" increases when choosing that arm and decreases when choosing the "safe" arm. These dynamics are natural in applications such as human capital development, job search, and occupational choice. Using new insights from stochastic control, along with a monotonicity condition on the payo dynamics, we show that optimal strategies in our model are stopping rules that can be characterized by an index which formally coincides with Gittins{\textquoteright} index. Our result implies the indexability of a new class of restless bandit models\ }, author = {Roland Fryer and Philipp Harms} } @inbook {382061, title = {The Production of Human Capital in Developed Countries: Evidence from 196 Randomized Field Experiments}, booktitle = {Handbook of Field Experiments}, volume = {2}, year = {2017}, pages = {95-322}, publisher = {North-Holland}, organization = {North-Holland}, address = {Amsterdam}, abstract = {Randomized field experiments designed to better understand the production of human capital have increased exponentially over the past several decades. This chapter summarizes what we have learned about various partial derivatives of the human capital production function, what important partial derivatives are left to be estimated, and what {\textendash} together {\textendash} our collective efforts have taught us about how to produce human capital in developed countries. The chapter concludes with a back of the envelope simulation of how much of the racial wage gap in America might be accounted for if human capital policy focused on best practices gleaned from randomized field experiments.}, author = {Roland G. Fryer, Jr.} } @article {84061, title = {Information, Non-Financial Incentives, and Student Achievement: Evidence from a Text Messaging Experiment}, journal = {Journal of Public Economics}, volume = {144}, year = {2016}, pages = {109-121}, abstract = {This paper describes a field experiment in Oklahoma City Public Schools in which students were provided with free cellular phones and daily information about the link between human capital and future outcomes via text message in one treatment and minutes to talk and text as an incentive in a second treatment. Students{\textquoteright} reported beliefs about the relationship between education and outcomes were influenced by the information treatment.\  However, there were no measurable changes in student effort, attendance, suspensions, or state test scores, though there is evidence that scores on college entrance exams four years later increased. The patterns in the data appear most consistent with a model in which students have present-bias or lack knowledge of the educational production function, though other explanations are possible.}, author = {Roland G. Fryer, Jr.} } @article {246286, title = {The Impact of Voluntary Youth Service on Future Outcomes: Evidence from Teach For America}, journal = {B. E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, Advances Tier}, volume = {15}, number = {3}, year = {2015}, month = {2015}, pages = {1031}, author = {Roland G Fryer, Jr and Will Dobbie} } @article {226596, title = {The Medium-Term Impacts of High-Achieving Charter Schools}, journal = {Journal of Political Economy}, volume = {123}, number = {5}, year = {2015}, month = {2015}, pages = {985-1037}, author = {Roland G Fryer, Jr. and Will Dobbie} } @article {160041, title = {Injecting Charter School Best Practices into Traditional PublicSchools:Evidence From Field Experiments*}, journal = {Quarterly Journal of Economics (2014)}, volume = {129}, number = {3}, year = {2014}, pages = {1355-1407}, author = {Roland G. Fryer, Jr.} } @article {34772, title = {The Potential of Urban Boarding Schools for the Poor: Evidence from SEED}, journal = {Journal of Labor Economics (2014)}, volume = {32}, number = {1}, year = {2014}, pages = {65-93}, abstract = {The SEED schools, which combine a {\textquotedblleft}No Excuses{\textquotedblright} charter model with a five-day-a-week boarding program, are America{\textquoteright}s only urban public boarding schools for the poor. We provide the first causal estimate of the impact of attending SEED schools on academic achievement, with the goal of understanding whether changing both a student{\textquoteright}s social and educational en- vironment through boarding is an effective strategy to increase achievement among the poor. Using admission lotteries, we show that attending a SEED school increases achievement by 0.211 standard deviations in reading and 0.229 standard deviations in math, per year of attendance. We argue that the large impacts on reading are consistent with dialectical theories of language development.}, author = {Roland G. Fryer and Vilsa E. Curto} } @article {28260, title = {The Impact of Attending a School with High-Achieving Peers: Evidence from New York City Exam Schools}, journal = {American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (July 2014)}, volume = {6}, number = {3}, year = {2014}, pages = {58-75}, author = {Will Dobbie and Roland G. Fryer, Jr.} } @article {67456, title = {Achieving Escape Velocity: Neighborhood and School Interventions to Reduce Persistent Inequality}, journal = {American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings) }, volume = {103}, number = {3}, year = {2013}, pages = {232-237}, author = {Roland Fryer and Lawrence Katz} } @article {48801, title = {Valuing Diversity}, journal = {Journal of Political Economy}, volume = {121}, number = {4}, year = {2013}, pages = {747-774}, author = {R. Fryer and G. Loury} } @article {28258, title = {Racial Disparities in Job Finding and Offered Wages}, journal = {Journal of Law and Economics}, volume = {56}, number = {August}, year = {2013}, pages = {633-689}, author = {Roland G. Fryer, Jr. and Pager, Devah and Jorg L. Spenkuch} } @article {28255, title = {Getting Beneath the Veil of Effective Schools: Evidence from New York City}, journal = {American Economic Journal: Applied Economics}, volume = {5}, number = {4}, year = {2013}, pages = {28-60}, author = {Roland Fryer and W. Dobbie} } @article {28238, title = {Testing for Racial Differences in the Mental Ability of Young Children}, journal = {American Economic Review }, volume = {103}, number = {2}, year = {2013}, pages = {981-1005}, author = {Roland Fryer and S. Levitt} } @article {28226, title = {Measuring Crack Cocaine and Its Impact}, journal = {Economic Inquiry}, volume = {51}, number = {3}, year = {2013}, note = {Crack Indices reported in the paper for Cities and States are attached. Crack Indices adjusted for racial composition for Cities and States are attached.}, pages = {1651-1681}, author = {Roland G. Fryer and Paul S. Heaton and Steven D. Levitt and Kevin M. Murphy} } @article {28256, title = {Teacher Incentives and Student Achievement: Evidence from New York City Public Schools}, journal = {Journal of Labor Economics}, volume = {31}, number = {2}, year = {2013}, month = {2013}, pages = {373-427}, author = {Roland Fryer} } @conference {69186, title = {Learning from the Successes and Failures of Charter Schools}, booktitle = {The Hamilton Project}, year = {2012}, month = {September}, address = {Washington, D.C.}, author = {Roland G Fryer, Jr} } @article {28262, title = {Hatred and Profits: Under the Hood of the Ku Klux Klan}, journal = {Quarterly Journal of Economics}, volume = {127}, number = {4}, year = {2012}, pages = {1883-1925}, author = {Roland Fryer and Steven Levitt} } @article {28222, title = {The Plight of Mixed Race Kids}, journal = {Review of Economics and Statistics}, volume = {94}, number = {3}, year = {2012}, pages = {621-634}, author = {Roland Fryer and L. Kahn and S. Levitt and J. Spenkuch} } @conference {69231, title = {The Powers and Pitfalls of Education Incentives}, booktitle = {The Hamilton Project}, year = {2011}, month = {September}, address = {Washington, D.C.}, author = {Roland G Fryer, Jr. and Bradley M. Allan} } @article {33518, title = {Are High-Quality Schools Enough to Increase Achievement Among the Poor? Evidence from the Harlem Children{\textquoteright}s Zone}, journal = {American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. }, volume = {3}, number = {3}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Harlem Children{\textquoteright}s Zone (HCZ), an ambitious social experiment, combines community programs with charter schools. We provide the first empirical test of the causal impact of HCZ charters on educational outcomes. Both lottery and instrumental variable identification strategies suggest that the effects of attending an HCZ middle school are enough to close the black-white achievement gap in mathematics. The effects in elementary school are large enough to close the racial achievement gap in both mathematics and ELA. We conclude with evidence that suggests high-quality schools are enough to significantly increase academic achievement among the poor. Community programs appear neither necessary nor sufficient. }, author = {Roland Fryer and Will Dobbie} } @article {28231, title = {Measuring the Compactness of Political Districting Plans}, journal = {Journal of Law and Economics}, year = {2011}, author = {Roland Fryer and R Holden} } @article {28223, title = {It May Not Take a Village: Increasing Achievement Among the Poor}, journal = {Social Inequality and Educational Disadvantage}, year = {2011}, author = {Roland Fryer} } @article {28221, title = {Financial Incentives and Student Achievement: Evidence from Randomized Trials}, journal = {Quarterly Journal of Economics}, volume = {126 }, number = {4}, year = {2011}, pages = {1755-1798}, author = {Roland Fryer} } @article {28236, title = {The Causes and Consequences of Attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities}, journal = {American Economic Journal: Applied Economics}, volume = {2}, number = {1}, year = {2010}, author = {Roland Fryer and M. Greenstone} } @article {28230, title = {An Empirical Analysis of {\textquoteright}Acting White{\textquoteright}}, journal = {Journal of Public Economics}, volume = {94}, number = {5-6}, year = {2010}, pages = {380-396}, author = {Roland Fryer} } @article {28229, title = {An Empirical Analysis of the Gender Gap in Mathematics}, journal = {American Economic Journal: Applied Economics}, volume = {2}, number = {2}, year = {2010}, author = {Roland Fryer and S. Levitt} } @article {28228, title = {The Importance of Segregation, Discrimination, Peer Dynamics, and Identity in Explaining Trends in the Racial Achievement Gap}, journal = {Handbook of Social Economics}, volume = {1B}, year = {2010}, author = {Roland Fryer} } @article {28227, title = {Racial Inequality in the 21st Century: The Declining Significance of Discrimination}, journal = {Handbook of Labor Economics}, volume = {4}, year = {2010}, author = {Roland Fryer} } @article {28232, title = {Implicit Quotas}, journal = {The Journal of Legal Studies}, volume = {38}, year = {2009}, author = {Roland Fryer} } @article {28239, title = {An Economic Analysis of Color-Blind Affirmative Action}, journal = {Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization}, volume = {24}, number = {2}, year = {2008}, pages = {319-355}, author = {Roland Fryer and G. Loury and T. Yuret} } @article {28234, title = {A Categorical Model of Cognition and Biased Decision-Making}, journal = {Contributions in Theoretical Economics}, volume = {8}, number = {1}, year = {2008}, author = {Roland Fryer and M. Jackson} } @article {28233, title = {Exploring the Impact of Financial Incentives on Stereotype Threat: Evidence from a Pilot Study}, journal = {American Economic Review}, volume = {98}, number = {2}, year = {2008}, pages = {370-375}, author = {Roland Fryer and S. Levitt and J.A. List} } @article {28237, title = {Guess Who{\textquoteright}s Been Coming to Dinner? Trends in Interracial Marriage over the 20th Century}, journal = {Journal of Economic Perspectives}, year = {2007}, abstract = {Additional\ Figures\ and\ Regressions}, author = {Roland Fryer} } @article {28235, title = {Belief Flipping in a Dynamic Model of Statistical Discrimination}, journal = {Journal of Public Economics}, year = {2007}, author = {Roland Fryer} } @article {28241, title = {A Model of Social Interactions and Endogenous Poverty Traps}, journal = {Rationality and Society}, volume = {19}, number = {3}, year = {2007}, pages = {335-366}, author = {Roland Fryer} } @article {28240, title = {A Measure of Segregation Based on Social Interactions}, journal = {Quarterly Journal of Economics}, volume = {122}, number = {2}, year = {2007}, note = {Matlab programs to calculate the Spectral index and Indices for metropolitan areas are available\ here. The relevant files follow:\ callspec.m,\ blockspectral.m,\ neighbors.m}, pages = {441-485}, author = {Roland Fryer and F. Echenique} } @article {28250, title = {The Black-White Test Score Gap Through Third Grade}, journal = {American Law and Economic Review}, year = {2006}, author = {Roland Fryer and S. Levitt} } @inbook {28246, title = {Discrimination: Experimental Evidence from Psychology and Economics}, booktitle = {Handbook on Economics of Discrimination}, year = {2006}, publisher = {Edward Elgar Publishing}, organization = {Edward Elgar Publishing}, author = {Roland Fryer and L. Anderson and C. Holt}, editor = {William Rogers} } @article {28243, title = {Acting White}, journal = {Education Next}, year = {2006}, author = {Roland Fryer} } @article {28242, title = {Is School Segregation Good or Bad?}, journal = {American Economic Review}, year = {2006}, author = {Roland Fryer and F. Echenique and A. Kaufman} } @article {28249, title = {Experience-Based Discrimination: Classroom Games}, journal = {The Journal of Economic Education}, year = {2005}, author = {Roland Fryer and J. Goeree and C. Holt} } @article {28247, title = {An Economic Analysis of {\textquoteright}Acting White{\textquoteright}}, journal = {Quarterly Journal of Economics}, year = {2005}, author = {Roland Fryer and D. Austen-Smith} } @article {28245, title = {Affirmative Action and Its Mythology}, journal = {The Journal of Economic Perspectives}, year = {2005}, author = {Roland Fryer and G. Loury} } @article {28244, title = {Affirmative Action in Winner-Take-All Markets}, journal = {Journal of Economic Inequality}, year = {2005}, author = {Roland Fryer and Glenn C. Loury} } @article {28253, title = {Understanding The Black-White Test Score Gap in the First Two Years of School}, journal = {The Review of Economics and Statistics}, year = {2004}, author = {Roland Fryer and S. Levitt} } @article {28252, title = {Falling Behind}, journal = {Education Next}, year = {2004}, url = {http://scholar.harvard.edu/rfryer/files/falling_behind.pdf}, author = {Roland Fryer and S. Levitt} } @article {28251, title = {The Causes and Consequences of Distinctively Black Names}, journal = {Quarterly Journal of Economics}, volume = {119}, number = {3}, year = {2004}, pages = {767-805}, author = {Roland Fryer and S. Levitt} }