Assistant Professor
Naval Postgraduate School
contact: sahn1 [at] nps [dot] edu
Curriculum Vitae [pdf file] [Google Scholar]
Economics Papers (Peer-Reviewed):
"Equilibrium Grade Inflation with Implications for Female Interest in STEM Majors" with Peter Arcidiacono, Amy Hopson, and James Thomas. NBER Working Paper #26556. - Forthcoming at Econometrica [pdf file - includes appendix]
"Information Transmission within Groups: Peer Influence in High-stakes, Irreversible Financial Decisions" with Jesse Cunha and Patrick Veith -Forthcoming at Review of Economics and Statistics. [pdf file - includes appendix]
"Opening the Black Box: Behavioral Responses of Teachers and Principals to Pay-for-Performance Incentive Programs" with Jacob Vigdor, Journal of Human Capital, Vol. 17, Issue 3, pp. 315-348. [pdf file, appendix, theory]
"Lethality and Deterrence in Affairs of Honor" with Jeremy Sandford and Paul Shea. (Previously circulated as: Mend it, Don’t End it: Optimal Mortality in Affairs of Honor) Rationality and Society, Vol 35, Issue 3, pp. 259–292.[pdf file]
"When Incentives Matter Too Much: Explaining Significant Responses to Irrelevant Information" with Jacob Vigdor, Journal of Human Capital, Vol.15, Issue 4, pp. 629-664. [pdf file]
"How Long Have You Been Waiting? Explaining the Role of Irrelevant Information in the Promotion of U.S. Navy Officers" with Jason Niven and Andrew Veilleux, Economics Bulletin, Vol. 41 No. 2 pp. 604-614. [pdf file]
"Strategic Matching of Schools and Teachers with (and without) Accountability Pressure" Education Finance and Policy, Vol. 12, Issue 4, pp. 516-535. [pdf file, theory appendix, table appendix]
"Peer Delinquency and Student Achievement in Middle School" with Justin Trogdon, Labour Economics, Vol. 44, pp. 192 - 217 [pdf file] [NC Network Map] [prior draft]
"A Theory of Dynamic Investment in Education in Response to Accountability Pressure" Economics Letters, Vol. 149, pp. 75–78. [pdf file, appendix]
"Matching Strategies of Teachers and Schools in General Equilibrium" IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 4: 5 [link]
"The Effect of Sharing a Mother Tongue with Peers: Evidence from North Carolina Middle Schools" with Chris Jepsen, IZA Journal of Migration, Vol. 4: 5. [link, appendix]
"The Short-Run Impacts of Connecticut’s Paid Sick Leave Legislation" with Aaron Yelowitz, Applied Economics Letters, Vol. 25, Issue 15, pp. 1267 - 1272. [pdf file, theory, appendix]
"A Regression Discontinuity Analysis of Graduation Standards and Their Impact on Students' Academic Trajectories." Economics of Education Review, Vol. 37, pp. 64 - 75. [pdf file, appendix]
"A Note on Bubbles and Worthless Assets: The Curious Case of General Motors" with Jeremy Sandford and Paul Shea. Macroeconomic Dynamics, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp 244 - 254. [pdf file , all results]
“The Missing Link: Estimating the Impact of Incentives on Teacher Effort and Instructional Effectiveness Using Teacher Accountability Legislation Data.” Journal of Human Capital, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 230 - 273. [pdf file, appendix]
“Distributional Impacts of a Local Living Wage Increase with Ability Sorting” Economics Letters, Vol. 112, Issue 3, pp. 283 - 286 [pdf file-includes proofs]
“Explaining Cross-Racial Differences in Teenage Labor Force Participation: Results from a Two-Sided Search Model”, with Peter Arcidiacono, Alvin Murphy, and Omari Swinton. Journal of Econometrics, Vol. 156, Issue 1, pp. 201 - 211 [pdf file]
“The Distributional Impacts of Minimum Wage Increases when Both Labor Supply and Labor Demand are Endogenous” with Peter Arcidiacono and Walter Wessels, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, Vol. 29, No. 1: 12 - 23. [pdf file]
"Paying to Queue: A Theory of Persistent Differences in Nonunion Wage", with Peter Arcidiacono. Journal of Urban Economics, Vol. 55, No. 3, pp. 564 - 579. [pdf file]
Other Papers (Peer-Reviewed):
"Predicting worker retention: a machine-learning approach with the Royal Australian Navy" with Stephen Cole, James Fan, and Christopher Griffin, Military Operations Research Journal, Vol. 28 Issue 2, [pdf file]
"Optimal Long-Run Talent Management of the Department of Defense Acquisition Workforce in Response to COVID-19: A Dynamic Programming Approach" with Amilcar Menichini, Defense Acquisition Research Journal, Vol. 29, Issue 1, pp. 50–77. [pdf file]
"Geo-spatial Patterns in Influenza Vaccination: Evidence from Uninsured and Publicly-Insured Children in North Carolina" with Justin Trogdon, American Journal of Infection Control, Vol. 43 (3), pp. 234-240. [pdf file]
“Geo-spatial Patterns in HPV Vaccination Uptake: Evidence from Uninsured and Publicly-Insured Children in North Carolina” with Justin Trogdon, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, Vol. 24, pp. 595-602. [pdf file, appendix]
Working Papers:
"The Importance of Matching Effects for Labor Productivity: Evidence from Teacher-Student Interactions" with Esteban Aucejo and Jon James. - Revise and Resubmit at Review of Economics and Statistics
"Cracking Under Pressure: The Information Gap and the Sub-optimal Responses of First-Generation College Students to Academic and Financial Pressures."
"The Impact of NCLB's Accountability Sanctions on School Performance: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from North Carolina” with Jacob Vigdor. NBER Working Paper # 20511.
Selected Media Exposure:
National Public Radio: All Things Considered. "No Child Left Behind: What Worked, What Didn't" (Oct. 27, 2015) [link]
National Public Radio: All Things Considered. "Forcing Schools To Hit The 'Reset' Button" (Oct. 27, 2015) [link]
fivethirtyeight.com "No Child Left Behind Worked" (Dec. 22, 2015) [link]
vox.com "The scariest lessons of No Child Left Behind" (July 27, 2015) [link]
NBER Digest (Feb 2015) [link]
Other Papers & Technical Reports (Non-Peer-Reviewed):
"Determinants of Navy Performance Evaluation Records" with L. Hartmann, 2023. Naval Research Program.
"Performance Evaluation Needs Assessment" with L. Hartmann, 2022. Naval Research Program.
“Machine Learning in AWF Talent Management: New Approaches to Prediction of Workforce Retention and Promotion” with J. Fan, 2022. Acquisition Research Program.
“USMC Mid-Career Reclassification of PMOS Personnel Policy Forecast and Analysis” with MN4106 researchers, 2021. USMC Talent Mgmt. Oversight Directorate.
“Retention Analysis Modeling for the AWF III” with A. Menichini, 2021. Acquisition Research Program.
“Multi-angle Intermittent Test Administrator Analysis” with MN4106 researchers, 2020. USMEPCOM,
“Retention Analysis Modeling for the AWF II” Acquisition Research Program, with A. Menichini, 2020. Acquisition Research Program.
“Retention Analysis Modeling for the AWF” Acquisition Research Program, with A. Menichini, 2019. Acquisition Research Program.
“Longitudinal Retention Analysis for Navy Personnel” with A. Menichini & S. Tick, 2019. Naval Research Program.
“Retention Analysis Model for Manpower and Personnel Analysis” with J. Arkes, J. Cunha, K. Doerr, & W. Gates, 2018. Naval Research Program.
“The Problem with Measuring Effects of Delinquent Peers in Education-and How to Get Around It” with Justin Trogdon, Feb. 2017. The Brookings Institution, Brown Center Chalkboard [link]
Summarized and republished in The Education Digest 82(9), 18. 2017.
"The Labor Market Impact of Paid Sick Leave" 2016. [pdf file]
"Were All Those Standardized Tests for Nothing? The Lessons of No Child Left Behind" with Jacob Vigdor, 2013. [pdf file]
"Making Teacher Incentives Work: Lessons from North Carolina’s Teacher Bonus Program" with Jacob Vigdor, 2011. [pdf file]
"Dropout Prevention: Strategies for improving high school graduation rates" with various, 2008. [pdf file]
"Minimum Wages and Job Search: What Do Employment Effects Really Measure?" with Peter Arcidiacono, 2004. [pdf file]