Caroline Hoxby

Research Statement

A public and labor economist, Caroline Hoxby, is a leading scholar in the economics of education. Some of her research areas include the outcomes of graduates from different colleges, public school finance, school choice, and the effect of education on economic growth and income inequality. She is currently completing studies on how education affects economic growth; globalization in higher education; peer effects in education; and the effects of charter schools on student achievement. Hoxby's research has received numerous awards, including the Smithsonian's Ingenuity Award; Sloan, Carnegie and John M. Olin Fellowships; a National Tax Association Award, and the Thomas J. Fordham Prize for Distinguished Scholarship.

Bio

Caroline M. Hoxby is the Scott and Donya Bommer Professor of Economics at Stanford University in the department of economics and professor by courtesy at the Graduate School of Business.  She is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a member of the Institution’s Koret Task Force on K–12 Education, the director of the Economics of Education Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a presidential appointee to the National Board of Education Sciences.

She has written extensively on educational choice and related issues. She is the editor of The Economic Analysis of School Choice (University of Chicago Press, 2002) and College Choices (University of Chicago Press, 2004). Some of her published articles include “Does Competition among Public Schools Benefit Students and Taxpayers?” (American Economic Review, 2000), “Not All School Finance Equalizations Are Created Equal” (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2001), and “How Teachers’ Unions Affect Education Production” (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1996).

Other articles written by Hoxby include “The Effects of School Choice on Curriculum and Atmosphere” (in Earning and Learning: How Schools Matter), “The Effects of Class Size on Student Achievement” (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1999), and “Evidence on Private School Vouchers: Effects on Schools and Students” (in Performance Based Approaches to School Reform).

Hoxby, who was the subject of a feature article in The New Yorker, has an undergraduate degree, a master’s degree, and a doctorate in economics. She earned her master’s degree in 1990 from the University of Oxford, which she attended on a Rhodes Scholarship, and her doctorate in 1994 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Academic Degrees

• Ph.D. in Economics, MIT, 1994
• M.Phil. in Economics, University of Oxford (UK), 1990
• A.B. in Economics (Summa Cum Laude), Harvard University, 1988

Academic Appointments

• Scott and Donya Bommer Professor of Economics, Stanford University, 2007-present
• Allie S. Fried Professor of Economics, Harvard University, 2001-2007
• Morris Klein Associate Professor of Economics and (previously) Assistant Professor of Economics, Harvard University, 1994-2000

Professional Experience

• Director, Economics of Education Program, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2001-present

Insights by Stanford Business

writtenCaroline Hoxby: New Tools Help Smart Low-Income Kids Realize Great College Opportunities

April 9, 2013

New study finds that low-income, high-achieving students with information about their full range of college opportunities, will apply to selective colleges in larger numbers, attend and graduate.