Will Dobbie

Harvard Kennedy School


Home Bio/CV Papers Teaching

Working Papers 

Algorithmic Recommendations and Human Discretion 

with Victoria Angelova and Crystal Yang

revise and resubmit at Review of Economic Studies


Changing Opportunity: Sociological Mechanisms Underlying Growing Class Gaps and Shrinking Race Gaps in Economic Mobility

with Raj Chetty, Benjamin Goldman, Sonya Porter, and Crystal Yang

revise and resubmit at Quarterly Journal of Economics

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Building Non-Discriminatory Algorithms in Selected Data 

with David Arnold  and Peter Hull

Forthcoming at American Economic Review: Insights

See also: pre-publication version

Increasing the Demand for Workers with a Criminal Record 

with Zoë Cullen and Mitchell Hoffman

Quarterly Journal of Economics, 138(1): 103-150, 2023.

See also: pre-publication version, online appendix

Measuring Racial Discrimination in Bail Decisions 

with David Arnold  and Peter Hull

American Economic Review, 112(9): 2992-3038, 2022.

See also: pre-publication version

Measuring Bias in Consumer Lending 

with Andres Liberman, Daniel Paravisini, and Vikram Pathania

Review of Economic Studies, 88(6): 2799-2832, 2021

See also: pre-publication version, online appendix

Bad Credit, No Problem? Credit and Labor Market Consequences of Bad Credit Reports

with Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, Neale Mahoney, and Jae Song

Journal of Finance, 75(5): 2377-2419, 2020.

See also: pre-publication version, online appendix

Charter Schools and Labor Market Outcomes

with Roland Fryer

Journal of Labor Economics, 38(4): 915-957, 2020

See also: pre-publication version, online appendix

Targeted Debt Relief and the Origins of Financial Distress: Experimental Evidence from Distressed Credit Card Borrowers 

with Jae Song

American Economic Review, 110(4): 984-1018, 2020. 

See also: pre-publication version, online appendix

The Causes and Consequences of Test Score Manipulation: Evidence from the New York Regents Examinations

with Thomas Dee, Brian Jacob, and Jonah Rockoff

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 11(3): 382-423, 2019.

See also: pre-publication version, online appendix

Racial Bias in Bail Decisions 

with David Arnold and Crystal Yang

Quarterly Journal of Economics, 133(4): 1885-1932, 2018.

See also:  pre-publication version, online appendix, correction appendix

The Effects of Pre-Trial Detention on Conviction, Future Crime, and Employment: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Judges

with Jacob Goldin and Crystal Yang

American Economic Review, 108(2): 201-240, 2018. 

See also: pre-publication version, online appendix

Consumer Bankruptcy and Financial Health

with Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham and Crystal Yang

Review of Economics and Statistics, 99(5): 853-869, 2017. 

See also: pre-publication version, online appendix

The Medium-Term Impacts of High-Achieving Charter Schools

with Roland Fryer

Journal of Political Economy, 123(5): 985-1037, 2015. 

See also: pre-publication version, online appendix

Debt Relief and Debtor Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Consumer Bankruptcy Protection

with Jae Song

American Economic Review, 105(3): 1272-1311, 2015. 

See also: pre-publication version, online appendix

The Impact of Voluntary Youth Service on Future Outcomes: Evidence from Teach For America

with Roland Fryer

The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, 15(3): 1031-1066, 2015.  

See also:  pre-publication version, online appendix

The Impact of Attending a School with High-Achieving Peers: Evidence from the New York City Exam Schools

with Roland Fryer

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 6(3): 58-75, 2014. 

See also: pre-publication version, online appendix

Getting Beneath the Veil of Effective Schools: Evidence From New York City

with Roland Fryer

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 5(4): 28-60, 2013.  

See also: pre-publication version, online appendix

Information Asymmetries in Consumer Credit Markets: Evidence from Payday Lending 

with Paige Marta Skiba

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 5(4): 256-258, 2013.  

See also: pre-publication version, online appendix

Are High-Quality Schools Enough to Increase Achievement Among the Poor? Evidence from the Harlem Children's Zone

with Roland Fryer

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 3(3): 158-187, 2011.  

See also: pre-publication version

Other Publications


Algorithmic Recommendations When the Stakes are High: Evidence from Judicial Elections

with Victoria Angelova and Crystal Yang

American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings, 114: 633-637, 2024.

The Economic Costs of Pretrial Detention

with Crystal Yang

Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2021.

The U.S. Pretrial System: Balancing Individual Rights and Public Interests

with Crystal Yang

Journal of Economic Perspectives, 35(4): 49-70, 2021.

Measuring Racial Discrimination in Algorithms

with David Arnold  and Peter Hull

American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings, 111: 49-54, 2021


Equal Protection Under Algorithms: A New Statistical and Legal Framework

with Crystal Yang

Michigan Law Review, 119(2): 291-396, 2020.


Proposals for Improving the U.S. Pretrial System

with Crystal Yang

The Hamilton Project, 2019