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Jacob L. Vigdor

Jacob L. Vigdor

Professor of Public Policy and Economics, Director of Graduate Studies, PhD Program and Duke Population Research Institute
Contact Info 
Location: 176 Rubenstein Hall
Office Phone: (919) 613-9226
Office Fax: 919.684.9940
Email Address:  send me a message
Website: http://jacob.vigdor.googlepages.com
Mailing Address: 176 Rubenstein Hall Durham, NC 27708
Teaching (Fall 2012):

  • PUBPOL 908S.01, DISSERTATION PROPOSAL SEM I Synopsis
    Sanford 224, W 03:05 PM-05:35 PM
Education:
  • PhD in Economics, Harvard University, 1999
  • BS with Distinction in Policy Analysis, Cornell University, 1994

Research Summary:
Educational achievement; teacher labor markets; racial inequality; residential segregation; housing affordability; political economy; college admissions policies; immigration and migration

Curriculum Vitae
Representative Publications   (More Publications)

  1. J.L. Vigdor, Measuring Immigrant Assimilation in the United States, Manhattan Institute Civic Report no. 53 (2008) [htm]  [abs].
  2. Cutler, D.M, E.L. Glaeser and J.L. Vigdor, The Rise and Decline of the American Ghetto, Journal of Political Economy, vol. 107 no. 3 (June, 1999), pp. 455-506 .
  3. J.L. Vigdor, Community Composition and Collective Action: Analyzing Initial Mail Response to the 2000 Census, Review of Economics and Statistics, vol. 86 no. 1 (February, 2004), pp. 303-312 .
  4. Clotfelter, C.T., H.F. Ladd, J.L. Vigdor and R.A. Aliaga, Do School Accountability Systems Make It More Difficult for Low Performing Schools to Attract and Retain High Quality Teachers?, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, vol. 23 no. 2 (Spring, 2004), pp. 251-271 (Reprinted in Modern Classics in the Economics of Education, C. Belfield, ed. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd..) .
  5. J.L. Vigdor, Other People's Taxes: Nonresident Voters and Statewide Limitation of Local Government, Journal of Law and Economics, vol. 47 no. 2 (October, 2004), pp. 453-477 .
  6. J.L. Vigdor, Liquidity Constraints and Housing Prices: Theory and Evidence from the VA Mortgage Program, Journal of Public Economics, vol. 90 no. 8-9 (2006), pp. 1579-1600 .
  7. Clotfelter, C.T., H.F. Ladd and J.L. Vigdor, Teacher-Student Matching and the Assessment of Teacher Effectiveness, Journal of Human Resources, vol. 41 no. 4 (Fall, 2006), pp. 778-820 .
  8. J.L. Vigdor, The New Promised Land: Black-White Convergence in the American South, 1960-2000 (March, 2006), National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper #12143 .
Jacob Vigdor is Professor of Public Policy and Economics at Duke University, and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research.  He received a B.S. in Policy Analysis from Cornell University in 1994 and a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 1999.

His research interests are in the broad areas of education policy, housing policy, and political economy. Within those areas, he has published numerous scholarly articles on the topics of residential segregation, immigration, housing affordability, the consequences of gentrification, the determinants of student achievement in elementary school, the causes and consequences of delinquent behavior among adolescents, teacher turnover, civic participation and voting patterns, and racial inequality in the labor market.  These articles have been published in outlets such as The Journal of Political Economy, The Review of Economics and Statistics, The Journal of Public Economics, The Journal of Human Resources, and The Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 

Vigdor's scholarly activities have been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Spencer Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the Russell Sage Foundation. Vigdor has taught at Duke since 1999.