Research

Hiring Strategies and Diversity Outcomes

Many firms are looking to attract and hire diverse job candidates, from entry-level to top-management positions. How companies hire could affect whom they hire. In my dissertation, I aim to test whether understudied dimensions of the hiring process — the gender composition of the applicant pool, the depth of a candidate search, the use of anonymous screening, and more — affect the gender, racial, and class diversity of hired job candidates.

Hiring the "Ideal Remote Worker"

Companies are increasingly announcing plans to offer remote or hybrid positions to current or future employees. But will these opportunities be equally accessible to all? This study examines employers' beliefs about how the "ideal remote worker" compares to ideal workers in traditional, in-person settings. Specifically, we explore employers' preferences for candidates who vary by gender and parental status using online survey experiments. This work is done collaboratively with Emma Williams-Baron (Stanford) and Erin Macke (Stanford).

Gender and Employer Learning

How do employers’ direct experiences with women or men shape their gender preferences in hiring decisions? In this study, we examine whether employers update their gender preferences based on an accumulation of experiences with women or men, drawing on data from an online labor marketplace. Further, using simulations, we extrapolate these findings to broader patterns of the distribution of women and men into occupations, demonstrating how employer learning can be a momentum-sustaining force behind occupational gender segregation. This work is done collaboratively with Ming D. Leung (UC Irvine).

The Contextual Effects of Unemployment

Unemployment has immense consequences for individuals’ health. But how unemployment affects health may depend on normative context — the extent to which unemployment is common (or rare) in individuals’ areas. In this study, done in collaboration with Florencia Torche (Stanford), we study how the negative effects of unemployment vary depending on state-level unemployment rates.