Sara Heller
Associate Professor
sbheller (at) umich "dot" edu
Embedded Files
University of Michigan
Department of Economics
611 Tappan Street, Lorch Hall Room 238
Ann Arbor MI 48109
Main Office: 734.764.2355
Fax: 734.764.2769
Bio
Bio
Dr. Heller studies interventions to reduce crime and improve other life outcomes among young people. She uses large-scale experiments to isolate the causal effects of a variety of programs, including cognitive behavioral therapy-based interventions and summer jobs.
She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Chicago, a M.P.P. from Georgetown, and a B.A. in Psychology from Harvard.
Publications
Publications
Machine Learning Can Predict Shooting Victimization Well Enough to Help Prevent It (accepted)
Sara B. Heller, Benjamin Jakubowski, Zubin Jelveh & Max Kapustin
The Review of Economics and Statistics ReStat link
Formerly NBER Working Paper 30170 (posted 2022) NBER link
Ungated version (July 2024) PDF
Related podcast: Hidden Brain
Information Frictions and Skill Signaling in the Youth Labor Market (2024)
Previous version circulated as "The Effects of Letters of Recommendation in the Youth Labor Market"
Sara B. Heller & Judd B. Kessler
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 16(4), 1-33 AEJ link
Formerly NBER Working Paper 29579 (posted 2021) NBER link
Ungated version (updated March 2023) PDF
Employment and Earnings of Men at High Risk of Gun Violence (2024)
Max Kapustin, Monica P. Bhatt, Sara B. Heller, Marianne Bertrand & Christopher Blattman
American Economics Association: Papers and Proceedings, 114: 58-64 AEA link
Predicting and Preventing Gun Violence: An Experimental Evaluation of READI Chicago (2024)
Monica P. Bhatt, Sara B. Heller, Max Kapustin, Marianne Bertrand & Christopher Blattman
Quarterly Journal of Economics, 139(1): 1-56 QJE link
* Editor's Choice
Formerly NBER Working Paper 30852 (posted 2023) NBER link
Ungated version PDF
Related podcast: Probable Causation
When Scale and Replication Work: Learning from Summer Youth Employment Experiments (2022)
Sara B. Heller
Journal of Public Economics, 209 JPubE link
Accepted version PDF
Formerly NBER Working Paper 28705 NBER link
Policy Brief Replication Code (code only, no data are available for replication)
Does Administrative Burden Deter Young People? Evidence from Summer Jobs Programs (2022)
Syon Bhanot & Sara B. Heller
Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, 5(1) JBPA link
Soft Skills in the Youth Labor Market (2022)
Sara B. Heller & Judd B. Kessler
American Economic Association: Papers and Proceedings, 112(121-25) AEA link
Rethinking the Benefits of Youth Employment Programs: The Heterogeneous Effects of Summer Jobs (2020)
Jonathan M.V. Davis & Sara B. Heller
The Review of Economics and Statistics, 102(4): 664-677 ReStat link
Author's final version, accepted for publication May 2019 PDF
Please note: Due to length restrictions, there is a lot of information in the online appendix (including considerably more detail on the causal forest application, especially sections H and I.5) Appendix
Formerly NBER Working Paper 23443 (posted 2017) NBER link PDF Appendix
Related podcasts: Probable Causation, J-PAL Voices
Related writing and interviews: NYT Op-ed, PBS NewsHour
How to Allocate Slots: the Market Design of Summer Youth Employment Programs (forthcoming)
Sara B. Heller & Judd B. Kessler
In Fair by Design: Economic Design Approaches to Inequality, Eds. S.D. Kominers & A. Teytelboym. Oxford University Press Series on Inequality in the Twenty-First Century, Oxford University Press. PDF
Using Causal Forests to Predict Treatment Heterogeneity: An Application to Summer Jobs (2017)
Jonathan M.V. Davis & Sara B. Heller
American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, 107(5): 546–550. PDF AEA link
Thinking, Fast and Slow? Some Field Experiments to Reduce Crime and Dropout in Chicago (2017)
Sara B. Heller, Anuj K. Shah, Jonathan Guryan, Jens Ludwig, Sendhil Mullainathan & Harold A. Pollack
Quarterly Journal of Economics, 132(1): 1-54 QJE link
Formerly NBER Working Paper 21178 (posted 2015, updated 2016) NBER link
Related podcast: Freakonomics
Summer Jobs Reduce Violence among Disadvantaged Youth (2014)
Sara B. Heller
Science, 346(6214): 1219-1223 Link to materials
Related podcasts: Probable Causation, J-PAL Voices
Related writing and interviews: NYT Op-ed, PBS NewsHour
Family Income, Neighborhood Poverty, and Crime (2011)
Sara B. Heller, Brian A. Jacob & Jens Ludwig
In Controlling Crime: Strategies and Tradeoffs, Eds. Philip J. Cook, Jens Ludwig & Justin McCrary. National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report, University of Chicago Press.
Working Papers
Working Papers
Preventing Youth Violence and Dropout: A Randomized Field Experiment (2013)
Sara Heller, Harold Pollack, Roseanna Ander & Jens Ludwig
Permanent working paper, subsumed under NBER WP 21178 and Heller et al. 2017
NBER Working Paper 19014 NBER link
In Progress
In Progress
Bhatt, Monica, Sara B. Heller, Max Kapustin, Marianne Bertrand & Chris Blattman. "Long-term Crime and Health Impacts of a Gun Violence Prevention Program: Evidence from READI Chicago"
Funded by NIH R01MD017194
Craig, Ashley, Sara B. Heller & Nikhil Rao, “Using Network Data to Measure Social Returns and Improve Targeting of Crime-Reduction Interventions”
Funded by NSF, Russell Sage Foundation, J-PAL, and University of Michigan
Preliminary note on READI spillovers PDF
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