Steven W. Hemelt

Economics of Education

Steven Hemelt’s current research falls into two strands. The first explores the effects of interventions intended to boost student success in college on measures of postsecondary performance, progress, and completion – with particular attention to implications for reducing inequality in collegiate attainment and success after college. The second examines the responsiveness of postsecondary educational investment in the United States to local changes in skill demand, with attention to heterogeneity by field of study. This second strand of research involves the development of a new measure of college-specific labor markets for graduates, systematic characterization of the skills reflected by college majors via job ads, and an exploration of responses by institutions and students to changes in skill demand. While at CESifo, Mr. Hemelt will advance projects within these two strands of research.

Steven Hemelt’s fields of interest are the Economics of Education, Education Policy, and Labor Economics. His work crosses disciplinary boundaries and has appeared in public policy, economics, and education journals including the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Journal of Labor Economics, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, and Economics of Education Review. Mr. Hemelt’s research has been supported by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Spencer, Smith Richardson, William T. Grant, and Russell Sage foundations.

Steven Hemelt is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is an IZA Research Fellow and a Senior Researcher at the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER). He serves as an Associate Editor of Education Finance and Policy and a member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP). Mr. Hemelt holds bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Spanish, a master’s degree in Economic Policy Analysis, and a PhD in Public Policy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).