David Figlio

Orrington Lunt Professor of Education and Social Policy Professor of Human Development and Social Policy and Economics
Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research
Northwestern University
PhD, Economics, University of Wisconsin, 1995
figlio@northwestern.edu
Curriculum Vitae

David Figlio conducts research on a wide range of educational and tax issues from school accountability and standards to welfare policy and policy design. His current research projects involve evaluating the Florida Corporate Tax Credit Scholarships Program, the largest school-voucher program in the United States; conducting a large-scale study of school accountability in Florida, using a state census of public school principals; and following children from birth through their school career to study key questions regarding early childhood policy and inequality.

Figlio's work has been published in numerous leading journals, including the American Economic Review, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Law and Economics, and Journal of Human Resources. Organizations supporting his research include the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Education, and Health and Human Services, as well as the Annie E. Casey and Spencer foundations, among others.

Figlio is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a member of the executive board of the National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research. He serves as the inaugural editor of the American Education Finance Association 's journal, Education Finance and Policy (MIT Press). He has been part of many national education task forces and panels, such as the National Research Council's Panel on K-12 Science Assessment, and advised several U.S. states and foreign nations on the design, implementation, and evaluation of educational policies.

Figlio joined Northwestern in 2008 from the University of Florida, where he was the Knight-Ridder Professor of Economics.

Current Research

School Vouchers in Florida. Figlio is evaluating Florida's Corporate Tax Credit Scholarships Program, the largest school voucher program in the United States. He is currently following the performance of more than 20,000 voucher recipients statewide, which involves the collection of original source data from all participating private schools in the state. Using quasi-experimental research tools, Figlio will examine: (1) the effect of voucher receipt on student performance and family satisfaction, (2) the effect of private school competition on public school performance, and (3) how a large statewide voucher program changes the market for private education.

School Accountability and School Practice. Studying the effects of school accountability design on student achievement and school behaviors is another part of Figlio's active research agenda. Early work on this topic has been published in the American Economic Review and Journal of Public Economics. Together with Cecilia Rouse of Princeton University and Urban Institute colleagues Dan Goldhaber and Jane Hannaway, Figlio is currently analyzing original survey data collected from a three-wave census of public school principals in Florida and a two-wave survey of teachers in a state-representative sample of Florida schools. The researchers hope to measure the degrees to which accountability is changing school policies and practices in an attempt to get "inside the black box" of the performance effects of accountability. (See a related paper.) With Tim Sass and Li Feng of Florida State University, he is also studying how school accountability has influenced the teacher labor market.

Intergenerational Issues in Health and Education. Using matched birth records and school records, Figlio is currently studying the degree to which public policies might influence the outcomes of children from different backgrounds. Early work on this topic has been published in the Journal of Public Economics and a University of Chicago Press volume. With Jeffrey Roth and Sarah Hamersma at the University of Florida, he is studying the role of information in determining WIC Program participation and later school outcomes. Also, with Damon Clark of the University of Florida, Heather Royer of Case Western Reserve University, and Paco Martorell of the RAND Corporation, he is investigating the pathways through which the intergenerational transmission of human capital operates.

Selected Publications

Journal Articles and Chapters

Figlio, D., with S. Hamersma and J. Roth. Forthcoming. Does prenatal WIC participation improve birth outcomes? New evidence from Florida. Journal of Public Economics.

Figlio, D. Forthcoming. School reforms and low-income families. In Pathways to Self-Sufficiency: Getting Ahead in an Era Beyond Welfare Reform, ed. T. Kaplan, C. Heinrich, and J. Scholz. Russell Sage Foundation.

Figlio, D., with J. Roth. Forthcoming. The behavioral consequences of pre-kindergarten participation for disadvantaged youth. In An Economics Perspective on the Problems of Disadvantaged Youth , ed. J. Gruber. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Figlio, D., with L. Kenny. 2007. Individual teacher incentives and student performance. Journal of Public Economics 91(5-6): 901-14.

Figlio, D., 2007. Boys named Sue: Disruptive children and their peers. Education Finance and Policy 2(4): 376-94.

Figlio, D. and with Lawrence Getzler. 2006. Accountability, ability and disability: Gaming the system? In Advances in Microeconomics, Vol. 14: Improving School Accountability - Check-ups or Choice?, ed. T. Gronberg and D. Jansen, 35-49. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Figlio, D. 2006. Testing, crime, and punishment. Journal of Public Economics 90(4-5): 837-51.

Figlio, D., and C. Rouse. 2006. Do accountability and voucher threats improve low-performing schools? Journal of Public Economics 90(1-2): 239-55.

Figlio, D., with J. Winicki. 2005. Food for thought? The effects of school accountability plans on school nutrition. Journal of Public Economics 89(2-3): 381-94.

Figlio, D., with M. Lucas. 2004. What’s in a grade? School report cards and the housing market. American Economic Review 94(3): 591-604.