Jonathan Tebes

Welcome to my homepage!

I am an Assistant Research Professor in the Economics Department at the University of Notre Dame and the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO). I work primarily on topics in labor economics related to criminal justice, education, economic mobility, and racial inequality. 

I have studied how reforming "stop and frisk" affected neighborhood crime rates, whether racial differences in officer stopping decisions reflect racial bias, and how voters respond to police violence. 

Currently, I'm working on several quasi-experimental and randomized evaluations that explore the following questions:

• How does policing minor arrests affect the early-life trajectory of young men? We are combining administrative tax, court, and education records to answer this question.

• Can emergency financial assistance prevent a debt-based poverty trap for low-income Chicago residents?

• Can intensive mentorship improve educational and other early-life outcomes for students at risk of dropping out of high school (i.e. <10% HS graduation rate)?  See our research partner's website for more information.

• Can behaviorally-minded supports help adults overcome psychological barriers to taking up services? We are conducting a randomized evaluation of behavioral supports for adults who apply to an evidence-based high school diploma program.

• Can goal-oriented case management coupled with small financial incentives help public housing residents achieve economic self-sufficiency?  See our research partner's website for more information. 

• How about their kids?  We are implementing a separate randomized evaluation of a similar model that aims to understand "2-gen" impacts of goal-oriented case management. 

• Can incentivized case management and savings accounts improve early-life outcomes for youth aging out of foster care?

I was fortunate to have been selected as a NSF Graduate Research Fellow, a Stone Scholar in Harvard's Inequality & Social Policy Program, and a Horowitz Foundation Awardee. 

If you'd like to learn more about me, you check out my CV here. 

If you'd like to connect, shoot me an email at jtebes at nd.edu or find me on X @jonathan_tebes.