Danielle Graves Williamson
Econ PhD Candidate at Boston University
Econ History | Education | Labor | Social Insurance
2025 Spencer/NAED Dissertation Fellow
Council of Economics Advisers alum 2024
Raised in Alabama
daniellecgw.github.io
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonMy column from Monday. Alabama politicians give voters little but paranoia and niche right-wing issues, which may be why just 37% of voters turned up for the last midterm in 2022. Those politicians who truly want to make a government for Alabama have to restore Alabamians’ faith in the process.
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonApplications for the Economic History Association Graduate Dissertation Fellowships are due in two days (January 14) eh.net/graduate-dis...
- Reposted by Danielle Graves Williamson🚨 the best state policy & public opinion database is now online. ~200 (!!!) state policies and 80 public opinion series on abortion, labor, taxes, environment, guns, education… dynamicdemocracy.shinyapps.io Massive public goods provision from @devincaughey.bsky.social & @chriswarshaw.bsky.social
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonWe @wheelockpolicybu.bsky.social are hiring a director for our Policy-Aligned Research Agenda Buildling Lab (PARABL), to help education system leaders build research roadmaps to effect change in a particular area. More info here: wheelockpolicycenter.org/wp-content/u...
- I was gently informing my seat mate that unfortunately there are no outlets on the new Acela, yes, yes, a shame, really, and giving him the insider tip that he could go to the cafe car to plug in his computer when a very nice woman turned around and pointed them out to us. Thanks again Sue!
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonPutting together the list of papers and posters that I want to see at the ASSA Annual Meeting, and this poster session project (by @michaelbriskin.bsky.social) looks interesting Paper is here: mbbriskin.github.io/files/Briski...
- Joining the throng of economists taking a delayed Amtrak to PHL today to present my JMP at #ASSA2026! 📍 Philadelphia Convention Center, 204-A (Elementary & Secondary Education) ⏰ Sunday, 1/4, 10:15-12:15 #EconConf
- 👋 I'm Danielle, and I'm on the #econjobmarket this year! Let's start with a student describing her segregated school: "The school felt temporary. Built like a warehouse with aluminum siding . . . I had a slipshod education" The twist? The student is white, and her school is private. A JMP 🧵 -->
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonThere has not been a grocery store in the small Mississippi Delta town of Drew in 11 years. The nearest grocery store is a 20-minute drive to Cleveland, forcing residents like Melinda Davis to make a 40-minute commute to access fresh food. buff.ly/g1gSdiz
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonWow, the estimated effects of the orientation of elected school board members are enormous! Identity and Ideology in the School Boardroom www.nber.org/papers/w34590
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonICYMI: Do workers actually learn from collaboration, or just benefit from the help? New paper uses teacher co-teaching to answer this question. Spoiler: genuine skill transfer is real, but partner experience matters a lot. john-fallon-econ.com/Files/LBDT.pdf #ASSA2026 #EconSky
- 🚨🚨🚨New working paper! 🚨🚨🚨 "Learning by Doing (Together): Collaboration and Teacher Skill Formation" Do workers genuinely learn from collaboration, or just benefit while working together? I study teacher partnerships to find out. Paper: john-fallon-econ.com Presenting at #ASSA2026 #EconSky 1/10
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonPretty cool to have one of my papers listed as most cited in the Economic Reports of the President from the past 15 years. See the recent NBER working paper for the source on this: www.nber.org/papers/w34597
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonA short piece on the tragedy at Brown University—and why we must refuse to accept mass school shootings as normal. matthewakraft.substack.com/p/the-insani...
- Reposted by Danielle Graves Williamson"Our analysis shows that in the aftermath of extreme weather events, lower-income neighbourhoods are less likely to rebuild and do not return to their pre-disaster state, whereas higher-income areas rebuild and tend to improve...highlighting increasing disparities in their built environments."
- Nature research paper: Built environment disparities are amplified during extreme weather recovery go.nature.com/3YcD2ZS
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonI don't just work at @propublica, I'm also a donor. And today your donation is doubled PLUS free swag. give.propublica.org/campaign/748....
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonEven $5 would be enough. (A $5 monthly recurring donation would be awesome.)
- It's Giving Tuesday! We're grateful for the support you've shown Alabama Reflector this year. Help us reach our fundraising goal of $5,000 to continue delivering independent, nonpartisan, ad-free journalism in 2026. alabamareflector.com/donate/
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonI'm on the #EconJobMarket! I study how policies and childhood environments shape outcomes of low-income & vulnerable kids. In my JMP, I study the effects of allowing youth who would have aged out of foster care at 18 to stay until 21—offering support their peers not in foster care get from parents.
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonI'm John Fallon, a labor economist on the job market. My JMP uncovers something wild: when chiropractors got licensed in the early 1900s, medical boards responded by making it HARDER to become a doctor. Why would competition lead to stricter regulations? 🧵 john-fallon-econ.com (1/9)
- Hi #SEA2025! I’m presenting my JMP on segregation academies at SEA today alongside some other great papers on labor and education in US history! 📍Edison (3rd floor JW marriot) ⏰ 1pm
- 👋 I'm Danielle, and I'm on the #econjobmarket this year! Let's start with a student describing her segregated school: "The school felt temporary. Built like a warehouse with aluminum siding . . . I had a slipshod education" The twist? The student is white, and her school is private. A JMP 🧵 -->
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonMississippi has long failed to count and report all deaths in local jails that serve the state’s 82 counties, despite a federal requirement to do so. These often dangerous facilities operate virtually free of any state oversight.
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonDeeply concerned about the trauma and developmental harm this admin is inflicting on students. Local news reporting absenteeism rate post ICE raid doubled relative to its rate from prior year in Charlotte. What @tomdee.bsky.social found in Central Valley, CA occurring in many cities throughout US.
- Over 20,000 students stayed home from school Monday in Charlotte amid ICE raids, representing 15% of enrollment The district is nearly one-third Hispanic, per WBTV www.wbtv.com/2025/11/18/n...
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonGirls’ test scores dropped more than boys’ post pandemic—but not everywhere. We use 15 years of data from 7k+ districts to understand why, and what this might teach us about how societal shocks impact gender disparities in ed outcomes. Hear sean present our findings tomorrow: lnkd.in/eEe-DTND
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonI remember when this was a thing in my town. All of a sudden, a new private school opened… it was just several rooms in an office building. And I remember my parents conversation at the dinner table saying that other parents had taken their kids out of public school
- Reposted by Danielle Graves Williamson💰 Childcare in the U.S. is expensive: in 2022, annual costs ranged from 5% to 35% of median income. Prices are highest in the Northeast and West Coast, but many counties elsewhere still fact childcare costs >20% of median household income.
- Reposted by Danielle Graves Williamson👋 I'm a health and labour economist on the #EconJobMarket! My JMP explores a factor that often comes up when talking to people about having children - childcare costs 🗣️ “It’s frustrating to read articles asking why people aren’t having kids - have they looked at the cost of childcare?” 🧵…
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonThe Alabama Reflector is launching its end-of-year fundraiser today! We’re trying to raise $5,000 to support our independent, nonprofit journalism. Every donation is tax-deductible. If you like what you’ve seen from us in 2025, consider a small donation at the link below.
- Hi #APPAM2025! I'm presenting my JMP on segregation academies this morning with some other great work on school stratification by income and race -- would love to see folks there! 📍Grand Hyatt, Leonesa 3 ⏰ 10:15 - 11:45 AM
- Michael is a dear friend, an excellent writer and presenter (communicator of research), and pretty funny. My work is better because I share an office with him. Everyone should check out his JMP 👇
- Hi #EconSky, I'm on the #EconJobMarket! My JMP provides the first evidence on how teacher labor market shocks affect long-run student outcomes. I study one of the largest teacher supply shocks in US history, larger even than Covid or the Great Recession. Let’s talk about WWII… 🧵
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonTLDR APPAM Ed Policy folks informal happy hour tonight starting at 6, at Seattle Beer Co. #2025Appam #Appam2025 All welcome, hope to see you there!
- Hi folks attending #2025APPAM #APPAM2025! Excited to see many of you in Seattle this week. As usual, I am organizing a very informal happy hour for education policy folks at the conference to get together: Fri 11/14 starting at 6pm at Seattle Beer Co on Western Ave (~15 min walk from conference).
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonExposure to a field-specific faculty sexual misconduct incident decreases degree completion in that field by 3.4 percent four years after the incident, from Sarah R. Cohodes and Katherine B. Leu www.nber.org/papers/w34456
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonThis is such interesting and impt work--and especially so in light of today's voucher push and the fact that, per @douglasharris9.bsky.social, the average private school in the US is a low-tuition school serving 30 kids. It'd be pretty cheap to create new, low-quality, segregative private schools.
- 👋 I'm Danielle, and I'm on the #econjobmarket this year! Let's start with a student describing her segregated school: "The school felt temporary. Built like a warehouse with aluminum siding . . . I had a slipshod education" The twist? The student is white, and her school is private. A JMP 🧵 -->
- The student attended a "segregation academy," an all-white private school established in the 1950s, 60s, or 70s to maintain school segregation. We know little about how these schools, called "the most important form of local resistance", affected public schools and students. 2/12
- My JMP, coauthored with @withrowjenny.bsky.social, asks: 1️⃣ Where and why did these schools open? 2️⃣ How did they affect the provision of public schooling? 3️⃣ What were the long-run effects on kids who grew up near them? 3/12
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- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonAt 15 of the 20 academies benefiting from the tax credit program, student bodies were at least 85% white…And among the 20, enrollments at five were more than 60 percentage points whiter than their communities.” www.propublica.org/article/miss...
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonMississippi
- BREAKING: Democrat Johnny DuPree has flipped a Republican-held Mississippi Senate district in a special election. DuPree was previously the mayor of Hattiesburg. His win imperils the Mississippi Senate GOP's narrow supermajority. www.mississippifreepress.org/democrat-joh...
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonThe aggressive immigration raids we now see across the nation began 10 months ago in California's Central Valley. Their impact on children, families, and communities is an important & active area of research I'm pleased my study of the initial raid's early impact on students is now out in @pnas.org
- a small thing you can do today if you’re mad about the government shutdown: I just donated to my hometown food bank (www.feedingthegulfcoast.org) and you can too! also vote if you are able, etc, etc
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonThrough segregation, violence, redlining, and sundown towns, Black families traveled. How did they know where to go? What places were safe? What places were welcoming? Search the data on this important part of American history: greenbookproject.osu.edu #GreenBookProject #CommunityMap #EconSky
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonFor The Conversation, I wrote about how White Southerners are making sense of what it means to be White in these times. In a nutshell, it’s complicated. I hope you’ll read and share widely. theconversation.com/its-a-compli...
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonHow segregated are your local private schools? With our database, look up the demographics of private schools across the country and see how they compare to the public schools nearby. By @cerealcommas.bsky.social @natlash.bsky.social @bxroberts.org
- Reposted by Danielle Graves Williamson[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonSometimes good research just finally provides well-designed evidence for an assumption many hold: supply in sex work is driven by economic slumps. doi.org/10.1016/j.jp...
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonExcited to see my first paper out!
- Just published in @jpube.bsky.social: "Fallen women: Recessions and the supply of sex work" By @grant-goehring.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #econsky #publiceconomics
- This has happened before: as late as 1982, Goldsboro Christian School in North Carolina did not admit Black students because “We believe that God in his plan and purpose and wisdom separated men into . . . races and that those races should be preserved” (source: www.nytimes.com/1982/01/18/u...)
- (and, of course, see Bob Jones v. US). Many segregation academies and racially discriminatory schools only started admitting Black students once their tax exempt status was threatened by the IRS (and even then, enforcement was spotty at best) (www.oyez.org/cases/1982/8...)
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonProPublica identified 20 segregation academies in Mississippi that received almost $10 million over the course of six years through a state-funded program. At least eight opened with an early boost from state-funded vouchers in the 1960s. (Published Nov. 2024)
- Thank you Josh and thank you NAED/Spencer--I never expected to get this fellowship and am incredibly honored to be part of this community. Congratulations to the other fellows, and I look forward to meeting y'all in the fall!
- I'm thrilled that BU Economics' very own @daniellecgw.bsky.social is one of this year's NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellows! Danielle does fascinating historical / labor / education work on "segregation academies" in the US South. Read more about her work here 👇 naeducation.org/awardee/dani...
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonFriday night of an insane news week is the optimal timing for this right?
Recently accepted by #QJE, “‘Descended from Immigrants and Revolutionists:’ How Family History Shapes Immigration Policymaking,” by Feigenbaum (@jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social), Palmer (@maxwellpalmer.com), and Schneer: doi.org/10.1093/qje/...
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonFor weeks, as contracts were halted, workers fired, and a center created in 1867 essentially dismantled overnight, workers scrambled to save data used to inform educational policy and practice. Here’s how it looked from inside. www.chronicle.com/article/brea...
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonI’ve been saying for years that allowing racial segregation in public accommodations was a goal of the right-wing conservative movement. It’s one reason I study this type of segregation. We are closer to a reality of legal racial segregation than anytime since 1964. www.npr.org/sections/sho...
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonEditor @brianlyman.bsky.social writes that the U.S. Department of Education is one of the few forces pushing against Alabama's centuries-old efforts to deny poor and disadvantaged children a proper education. And a reminder of the racist origins of the state's system of funding public schools.
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonHappy 5th Birthday to us! We couldn’t have done it without YOU. Celebrate this milestone with exclusive swag. Donate $105 to get our birthday socks. Donate $155 and show your support with an MFP tote. Your generosity keeps us going strong—thank you for five amazing years! buff.ly/mz3ggR6
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonJust saw a great paper by @michaelbriskin.bsky.social ! He shows that WWII led to a massive teacher shortage that led to lower wages and lower educational attainment for affected students #AEFP2025 #Econsky
- Reposted by Danielle Graves WilliamsonNew WP with @trevondlogan.bsky.social, David Rosé, and @drlisadcook.bsky.social ⬇️ We study how the intersection of consumer discrimination and market power shapes firm behavior, including pricing decisions using new data on the prices of firms by discriminatory status from 1940-1960.
- Evidence from over 25,000 prices shows that monopoly power blunted consumer preferences for discrimination, and Black consumers paid higher prices in the non-discriminatory market, from Maggie E.C. Jones, Trevon D. Logan, David Rosé, and Lisa D. Cook nber.org/papers/w33547
- I'll be at AEFP presenting my work on segregation academies: all-white private schools established during the 1960s-70s to circumvent public school integration. Bring your coffee (and your feedback!) to Soc Dynamics of School Choice at 8:15 Thursday: virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/event/42278/...
- Our BU Wheelock Education Policy Center is going to be everywhere at next week's AEFP conference! Between our current faculty and PhD students and our alums, we'll be in 20+ sessions. Here's what we're presenting: wheelockpolicycenter.org/event/associ... @wheelockpolicybu.bsky.social
