School finance · QJE 2016
The Effects of School Spending on Educational and Economic Outcomes
Uses court-mandated school finance reforms to identify the long-run effects of sustained increases in K–12 spending.
Abraham Harris Professor · Northwestern University
Economist studying investments in children, human capital, and economic opportunity.
C. Kirabo Jackson studies how schools, teachers, and public investments shape human capital, inequality, and economic outcomes. His work spans labor economics, public finance, education policy, and applied microeconomics.
Professor of Economics · Editor-in-Chief, AEJ: Economic Policy · Former Member, Council of Economic Advisers
Watson Institute, Brown University
School FinanceTeachersSchool Quality
2023–24White House Council of Economic Advisers
2025–Editor-in-Chief, AEJ: Economic Policy
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Featured research
Teacher quality · JPE 2018
What Do Test Scores Miss?
Shows that teachers affect important student outcomes that conventional test-score measures of teacher quality do not capture.
School quality · ReStud 2023
What Is a Good School, and Can Parents Tell?
Examines the multidimensional effects of schools and whether parent demand tracks the outcomes schools actually produce.
Selected findings
What the research shows
+7%
Higher adult wages
A sustained 10% increase in per-pupil K–12 spending raises completed education and adult wages, with larger effects for children from low-income families.
View the papers →Beyond tests
Teacher effects are multidimensional
Attendance, suspensions, grades, and progression reveal teacher effects that matter for later outcomes even when test scores do not move.
View the papers →More than scores
Parents value broader school impacts
School quality includes effects on attainment and risky behavior as well as academic achievement, and parent demand reflects several of these dimensions.
View the papers →Incentives
Behavior responds to institutions
Work on taxis, public transit, and worker monitoring uses natural and field experiments to study moral hazard, social monitoring, and incentive design.
View the papers →About
Jackson earned his B.A. in Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University in 2002 and his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 2007. He began his academic career at Cornell University and joined Northwestern in 2010.
His research uses quasi-experimental and experimental methods to study how public institutions shape education, labor-market outcomes, and economic opportunity.
“School spending really can affect a child's future. It's no panacea, but investing in children early and often pays off during adulthood, especially for kids from low-income families.”
In 2023–24 he served on the President's Council of Economic Advisers. He is Editor-in-Chief of the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education.
In the field
Media & talks →
Watson Institute, Brown University“The Economic Benefits of Public Investments in Children”
The White HousePanel discussion, Council of Economic Advisers
In the press & on record
See all media →The Education Department Is Dismantling
On federal education policy, school funding, and civil-rights enforcement.
The Study That Helped This Reporter Understand Student Success
Paul Tough on the research that changed how he thought about student success.
It Turns Out Spending More Probably Does Improve Education
Coverage of the evidence on school spending and long-run outcomes.