W.H. Smith Professor of Economics
Department of Economics 
Baylor University

Vitae (PDF)
Google Scholar Page 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I joined the faculty at Baylor University in 2011, and am a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. I received a BA in Economics from The University of Denver in 1987, an M.A. in Economics from The University of Michigan in 1989, and a Ph.D. in Economics from The University of Michigan in 1994 in the fields of public finance and econometrics. Previously, I was at the US Air Force Academy from 1997 – 2011 and Seattle University from 1994 – 1997. My research interests are in the fields of economics of education, social network formation, public economics, and applied econometrics.

 

Contact Information:  Department of Economics One Bear Place #98003 Waco, TX 76798 Phone: (254) 710-6126 Fax: (254) 710-6142 Email: j_west@baylor.edu

 

Teaching Graduate Econometrics (Fall 2019) Intermediate Microeconomics (Spring 2020) Public Economics (Spring 2020)

 

Publications “The Impact of Chief Diversity Officers on Diverse Faculty Hiring,” Southern Economic Journal, forthcoming, May 2022. (with S. Bradley, J. Garven, and W. Law). (DOI) “Dishonest Behavior: Sin Big or Go Home,” Economic Letters, Volume 186, January 2020. (with J. Aimone and B. Ward). (DOI) “The Impact of College Diversity on Behavior Toward Minorities” (with S. Carrell and M. Hoekstra) (Link) Vol 11, Number 4, pp 159-82, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. Featured in The Washington Post Wonkblog “From Natural Variation to Optimal Policy? The Importance of Endogenous Peer Group Formation,” Econometrica, Volume 81, Number 3, pp 855-882. (with S. Carrell and B. Sacerdote) (PDF)(Supplemental Material) The Econometric Society Web Site “A’s from Zzzz’s? The Causal Effect of School Start Time on the Academic Achievement of Adolescents,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Volume 3, Issue 3, pp 62-81, August 2011. (with S. Carrell and T. Maghakian). (PDF) “Is Poor Fitness Contagious? Evidence from Randomly Assigned Friends,” Journal of Public Economics, Volume 95, Issue 7-8, pp 657-663, August 2011. (with S. Carrell and M. Hoekstra) featured in The Wall Street Journal, November 8, 2010 and The New York Times, November 9, 2010 (PDF) “Does Drinking Impair College Performance? Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Approach,” Journal of Public Economics, Volume 95, Issue 1-2, pp 54-62, January 2011. (with S. Carrell and M. Hoekstra) featured in The Washington Post , September 7, 2010, The New York Times, September 10, 2010 (PDF) “Sex and Science: How Professor Gender Perpetuates the Gender Gap,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 125, Issue 3, pp 1101-1144, August 2010. (with S. Carrell and M. Page) featured in Slate , June 5, 2009 (PDF) “Does Professor Quality Matter? Evidence from Random Assignment of Students to Professors,” Journal of Political Economy, Volume 118, No. 3, 409-432, June 2010. (with S. Carrell) featured in The Washington Post, June 11, 2010 (PDF) “Does Your Cohort Matter? Measuring Peer Effects in College Achievement,” Journal of Labor Economics, 27(3): 439-464, July 2009. (with S. Carrell and R. Fullerton (PDF) “Peer Effects in Academic Cheating,” Journal of Human Resources. Volume XLIII, Number 1, Winter 2008, 173-207. (with S. Carrell and F. Malmstrom) (PDF) “A Sequential Equilibrium for the Army’s Targeted Selective Reenlistment Program,” Human Resource Management,, Vol 46, No 1, Spring 2007, 21-34. (with S. Carrell) (PDF)(Available at Wiley InterScience) “Optimal Compensating Wages for Military Personnel,” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol 24, No 4, Fall 2005, 803-822. (with S. Carrell) (PDF)(Available at Wiley InterScience) “Class Action Extraction?,” Public Choice, Vol 116, No 1-2, 2003, 91-108. (with J. Haymond) (PDF) “The Evolution of Fuzzy Rules as Strategies in Two-Player Games,” Southern Economic Journal, Vol 69, No 3, 2003, 705-717. (with B. Linster) “Functional Form in Regression Models of Okun’s Law,” Applied Economics Letters, Vol 3, No 9, 1996, 607-609. (with C. Weber) (PDF)

 

Working Papers  “Should We Trust Clustered Standard Errors? A Comparison with Randomization-Based Methods” (with L. Paz) (Updated PDF) NBER Working Paper 25926

Research in Progress  “Can Exports Crack the Glass Ceiling? An Examination using Administrative Data,” (with B. Araujo and L. Paz) “Macro-level Institutions and Micro-level Economic Behavior: A Surprising Meta-Meta Analysis of 1259 Experimental Studies,” (with J. Aimone, S. Ball, E. Dwibedi, and J. Jackson) “State-Level Taxes and Economic Activity: A Cross-Border Analysis,” (with G. Taylor)