Scott Carrell

Scott Carrell serves as Professor and Associate Dean at the University of Texas at Austin's School of Civic Leadership, with a dual appointment in the Department of Economics. His research bridges public economics, labor economics, and education policy, focusing on empirical analyses of educational systems and labor market dynamics.

Education:

• BA from the U.S. Air Force Academy
• M.A. in Economics and M.S. in Management from the University of Florida
• Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Florida

Research Interests:

Carrell's work examines how institutional structures and incentives shape educational outcomes and labor market behavior. His early research analyzed military retention through local labor market forces, while recent work investigates classroom dynamics, college enrollment persistence, and school quality impacts. He employs randomized experiments and natural experiments to isolate causal effects, with significant contributions to understanding phone use in classrooms, financial incentive structures, and faculty-student engagement mechanisms. His methodological rigor extends to addressing publication bias and working paper inefficiencies in economics research.

Article Trends:

His 2023-2025 publications reveal a concentrated focus on education economics, particularly classroom technology interventions (phone use reduction), community college policy (federal aid impacts, full-time enrollment incentives), and educational production functions (professor quality effects). A secondary stream examines methodological challenges in economics research, including working paper congestion and publication bias. The work consistently applies causal inference techniques to policy-relevant questions, with strong emphasis on California's education system and postsecondary pathways.

Professional Affiliations:

• Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
• Research Fellow, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• Co-Faculty Director, California Education Lab