This dissertation contains three chapters, each investigating a question in American economic history. The first chapter is co-authored with Ran Abramitzky, Santiago Perez, and Joseph Price. In this work, we conduct a large-scale digitization of historical college registers, encompassing 2.7 million students at 65 elite US universities. We use…

Chapter 1 studies how the interaction of student information with constraints dictated by market design determines higher education choices and outcomes. I study strategic application incentives in imperfect implementations of centralized assignment mechanisms in higher education. I ask whether, in markets with both a central match for public…

This dissertation is a collection of three essays in Public Economics. The first chapter studies the optimal design of student loans as a lever to foster the inclusion of poor students in private colleges in Brazil. The second chapter delves into understanding the consequences of affirmative action as a tool to increase the participation of…

The relationship between municipal government and a local, private, nonprofit institution of higher education (IHE) can be characterized as a delicate balance between conflict and cooperation. In recent years as municipal expenses have significantly increased, revenue generated from tax collection and state aid has lagged, creating an increasing…

This experimental study continued the exploration surrounding emotional intelligence (EI). Emotional intelligence was examined through past and present literature, instrumentation, didactic teaching methods employing EI concepts, and data analysis. The experiment involved participants from two sections of an undergraduate economics class at a…

Private higher education (PHE) worldwide has been a rapid development in the last several decades. The private sector will continue to grow, diversify and undoubtedly play a significant role in the political economy of higher education. Nevertheless, systematically empirical studies on the trio relationships among PHE, institutional diversity and…

Using a combined quantitative, qualitative approach, this study explores the teaching practices of outstanding faculty at a private, liberal arts institutions by posing questions that revolve around learner-centered teaching practices, characteristics of outstanding teachers, effective teaching, and pressures on the professoriate related to the…