Caroline M. Hoxby

Caroline M. Hoxby is the Scott and Donya Bommer Professor of Economics at Stanford University, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and Director of the Economics of Education Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the National Board for Education Sciences. Her academic credentials include a BA from Harvard University (1988), an MA from the University of Oxford (1990, as a Rhodes Scholar), and a PhD from MIT (1994).

Hoxby's research focuses on the economics of education, with emphasis on K-12 reform, school choice mechanisms, higher education access, and labor market impacts of education policies. Her work examines how competition among schools affects student outcomes, the economics of charter schools, financial aid systems, and interventions for high-achieving low-income students. She has pioneered research on geographic disparities in educational opportunities and market dynamics in higher education.

Her publications demonstrate consistent focus on education policy effectiveness, with recent work analyzing opportunity gaps in higher education, cognitive skill development disparities, and labor market adjustments during economic transitions. Methodologically, she employs rigorous empirical analyses including randomized lotteries and revealed preference studies.

Major honors include:

• Carnegie Fellowship
• Rhodes Scholarship (1990)
• John M. Olin Fellowship
• National Tax Association Award
• Thomas J. Fordham Prize for Distinguished Scholarship (2006)
• Major grant from NICHD

As director of NBER's Economics of Education Program, she leads collaborative research initiatives involving multiple institutions. She has advised on national education policy and been featured in major media including The New Yorker.