Research

My research focuses on understanding policies that aim to reduce poverty and improve economic opportunity, including SNAP and other income support programs, and education policy.

WORKING PAPERS

• “Food Insecurity as an Economic Indicator: Evidence from the Great Recession,” with Patricia Anderson, Kristin Butcher and Hilary Hoynes.

• “The Impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit on Food Consumption Patterns,” with Emma LaGuardia and Leslie McGranahan.

• “Expanding the School Breakfast Program: Impacts on Children’s Consumption, Nutrition and Health,” with Mary Zaki, NBER Working Paper #20308. Current version.

• “The Effect of Court-Ordered Hiring Guidelines on Teacher Composition and Student Achievement,” with Cynthia DuBois, NBER Working Paper #24111. Brookings blog post. 

PUBLISHED PAPERS

• Lauren Bauer, Krista Ruffini, & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. The Effects of Lump-Sum Food Vouchers During the COVID-19 Pandemic on Spending, Hardship and Health. Forthcoming, Journal of Public Economics. Working Paper.

• Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, Julia A. Turner, & Sarah Turner. Raising State Minimum Wages, Lowering Community College Enrollment. Forthcoming, Review of Economics and Statistics. Working Paper.

• Kathryn Gonzalez, Terri J. Sabol, & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. Impact of the Chicago Universal Pre-Kindergarten Expansion: Effects on Pre-kindergarten Capacity and Enrollment and Implications for Quality. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Special Issue “Equitable Access to Early Care and Education in the United States,” 154-165, 4th Quarter 2024.

• Therese Bonomo & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. Recent Trends in the School Lunch Program: Selection, Nutrition, Health and Achievement. Food Policy 124: 102608, April 2024. Working Paper.

• Lisa Barrow, Diane Schanzenbach, & Bea Rivera. Work and Poverty Over the Past Quarter Century. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences 711(1): 100-120, January 2024.

• Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Michael R. Strain. Employment and Labor Supply Responses to the Child Tax Expansion: Theory and Evidence. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences 710(1): 141-156, November 2023.

• Marianne Bitler, Hilary Haynes & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. Suffering, the Safety Net and Disparities during COVID-19. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 9(3): 32-59, May 2023.

• Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. Understanding SNAP: An Overview of Recent Research. Food Policy 114(January 2023): 102397. Editor’s introduction to special issue on “The Economics of the U.S. Food Stamp/SNAP Program.”

• Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Sarah Turner. Limited Supply and Lagging Enrollment: Production Technologies and Enrollment Changes at Community Colleges during the Pandemic. Journal of Public Economics 212 (2022): 104703. Working paper.

• Jesse Rothstein & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. Does Money Still Matter? Attainment and Earnings Effects of Post-1990 School Finance Reforms. Journal of Labor Economics, 40(S1): S141-S178. Working paper.

• Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Michael R. Strain. Employment Effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit: Taking the Long View. Tax Policy and the Economy, 35 (2020), pp. 87-129. Working paper.

• Marianne Bitler, Hilary Hoynes & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. The Social Safety Net in the Wake of COVID-19. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Summer 2020. Working paper. Policy Brief UC Davis Center for Poverty & Inequality Research.

• Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Betsy Thorn. 2020. Supporting Development through Child Nutrition. The Future of Children 30(2).

• Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2019. Exploring Options to Improve the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 686(1): 204-228.

• Patricia Anderson, Kristin Butcher & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2019. Understanding Recent Trends in Childhood Obesity in the United States. Economics and Human Biology 34:16-25.

• Hilary Hoynes & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2018. Safety Net Investments in Children. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Spring: 89-132.

• Julien Lafortune, Jesse Rothstein & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2018. School Finance Reform and the Distribution of Student Achievement. American Economic Journal – Applied Economics. 10(2): 1-26. Policy brief WCEG.

• Patricia Anderson, Kristin Butcher & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2017. Adequate (or Adipose?) Yearly Progress: Assessing the Effect of “No Child Left Behind” on Children’s Obesity. Education Finance and Policy. 12(1): 54-76. Winter 2017.

• Hilary Hoynes, Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Douglas Almond. 2016. Long-run Impacts of Childhood Access to the Safety Net. American Economic Review 106(4): 903-934.

• Hilary Hoynes & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2016. U.S. Food and Nutrition Programs. In Robert Moffitt, ed., Means Tested Transfer Programs, Volume II. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016. 

• Elizabeth U. Cascio & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2016. First in the Class? Age and the Education Production Function. Education Finance and Policy. 11(3): 225-250. 

• Patricia Anderson, Kristin Butcher, Hilary Hoynes & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2016. Beyond Income: What Else Predicts Very Low Food Security Among Children? Southern Economic Journal 82(4): 1078-1105.

• Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2016. Long-term Impacts of Class Size Reduction. In Peter Blatchford, et al., eds., International Perspectives on Class Size. London: Routledge, 2016.

• Hilary Hoynes, Leslie McGranahan & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2015. SNAP and Food Consumption. In eds. Judith Bartfeld, Craig Gundersen, Timothy M. Smeeding, and James P. Ziliak, SNAP Matters: How Food Stamps Affect Health and Well Being, Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2015.

• Gene Amromin, Leslie McGranahan & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2015. Consumer Credit Trends by Income and Geography 2001-2012. Chicago Fed Letter 342. 

• Patricia Anderson, Kristin Butcher & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2015. Changes in Safety Net Use During the Great Recession. American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings 105(2): 161-165.

• Lisa Barrow, Amy Claessens & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2015. The Impact of Chicago’s Small High School Initiative. Journal of Urban Economics, 87: 100-113. 

• Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2015. Current Themes in Education Policy in the United States. In eds. John Karl Scholz, Hyungpyo Moon, and Sang-Hyop Lee, Social Policies in an Age of Austerity: A Comparative Analysis of the U.S. and Korea, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

• Elizabeth U. Cascio & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2013. The Impacts of Expanding Access to High-Quality Preschool Education. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 2013.2: 127-192. 

• Susan Dynarski, Joshua Hyman & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2013. Experimental Evidence on the Effect of Childhood Investments on Postsecondary Attainment and Degree Completion. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 32(4):692-717.

• Hilary Hoynes & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2012. Work Incentives and the Food Stamp Program. Journal of Public Economics 96(1-2): 151-62. 

• Lisa Barrow & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2012. Education and the Poor. In ed. Philip N. Jefferson, Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Poverty, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2012. Limitations of Experiments in Education Research. Education Finance and Policy 7(2): 219-232. 

• Raj Chetty, John N. Friedman, Nathaniel Hilger, Emmanuel Saez, Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Danny Yagan. 2011. How Does Your Kindergarten Classroom Affect Your Earnings? Evidence from Project STAR. Quarterly Journal of Economics 126(4): 1593-1660. Nontechnical write up. 

• Patricia Anderson, Kristin Butcher, Elizabeth Cascio & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2011. Is Being in School Better?  The Impact of School on Children’s BMI when Starting Age is Endogenous. Journal of Health Economics 30(5): 977-986. 

• Douglas Almond, Hilary Hoynes & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2011. Inside the War on Poverty: The Impact of the Food Stamp Program on Birth Outcomes. Review of Economics and Statistics, 93(2): 387-403. 

• Leslie McGranahan & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2011. Who would be affected by soda taxes? Chicago Fed Letter No. 284.

• Lindsey Leininger, Helen Levy & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2010. Consequences of SCHIP Expansions for Household Well-Being. Forum for Health Economics & Policy 13:1 (Frontiers in Health Policy Research), Article 3, 2010.

• Derek Neal & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2010. Left Behind by Design: Proficiency Counts and Test-Based Accountability. Review of Economics and Statistics 92(2): 263-283.

• Patricia Anderson, Kristin Butcher & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2010. School Policies and Children’s Obesity. In ed. Daniel Slottje and Rusty Tchernis, Current Issues in Health Economics (Contributions to Economic Analysis), Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

• Hilary Hoynes & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2009. Consumption Responses to In-Kind Transfers: Evidence from the Introduction of the Food Stamp Program. American Economic Journal – Applied Economics1(4): 109-139. 

• Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2009. Does the Federal School Lunch Program Contribute to Childhood Obesity? Journal of Human Resources 44(3): 684-709. 

• Melissa Clark, Jesse Rothstein & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2009. Selection Bias in College Admissions Test Scores.  Economics of Education Review 28(3): 295-307. June 2009.

• Marianne Bertrand & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2009. Time Use and Food Consumption. American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings 99(2): 170-176. 

• Phillip Levine & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2009. The Impact of Children’s Health Insurance Expansions on Educational Performance.  Forum for Health Economics & Policy 12:1 (Frontiers in Health Policy Research), Article 1.

• Patricia Anderson, Kristin Butcher & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2009. Child Disadvantage and Obesity: Is Nurture Trumping Nature? In ed. Jonathan Gruber, The Problems of Disadvantaged Youth: An Economic Perspective, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

• Harry Holzer, Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, Greg Duncan & Jens Ludwig. 2008. The Economic Costs of Childhood Poverty in the United States. Journal of Children and Poverty, 14(1): 41-51. March 2008.

• Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2007. What Have Researchers Learned from Project STAR?  Brookings Papers on Education Policy.

• Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. 2005. Resource and Peer Impacts on Girls’ Academic Achievement: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment. American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings, 95(2): 199-203.

• Alan Krueger & Diane Whitmore. 2002. Would Smaller Classes Help Close the Black-White Achievement Gap? In John E. Chubb and Tom Loveless, ed, Bridging the Achievement Gap. Washington: Brookings Institution Press.

• Alan B. Krueger & Diane Whitmore. 2001. The Effect of Attending a Small Class in the Early Grades on College-Test Taking and Middle School Test Results: Evidence from Project STAR. Economic Journal, 111(468): 1–28. 

• Phillip B. Levine & Diane Whitmore. 1997. The Impact of Welfare Reform on the AFDC Caseload. National Tax Association Proceedings – 1997. Washington, DC: National Tax Association, pp. 24–33.