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Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach

Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach

Faculty Profile

Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach

Margaret Walker Alexander Professor of Human Development and Social Policy

Director and Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research

dws@northwestern.edu

2040 Sheridan Road

Evanston, IL 60208-4100
Phone: (847) 491-8704

VIEW DIANE SCHANZENBACH’S CURRICULUM VITAE

Biography

Northwestern Univeristy’s Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach is director of the Institute for Policy Research and the Margaret Walker Alexander Professor in the School of Education and Social Policy. She is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. 

Schanzenbach, who was elected to the National Academy of Education in 2019, is a labor economist who studies policies aimed at improving the lives of children in poverty, including education, health, and income support policies. Her recent work has focused on tracing the impact of major public policies such as SNAP (formerly the Food Stamp Program) and early childhood education on children’s long-term outcomes. 

Schanzenbach was formerly director of the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution, an economic policy initiative that promotes policies to enhance broad-based economic growth. She has testified before both the Senate and the House of Representatives on her research.

Her research has received financial support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Education, the Spencer Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Smith-Richardson Foundation. Her research has been published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Economic Review, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, and the Review of Economics and Statistics, among other outlets. 
 
She graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a BA in economics and religion, and received a PhD in economics from Princeton University.

Research Interests

Early childhood education; accountability policy; economics of education; obesity; anti-poverty policy; education and health.

Awards/Honors

  • 2019 – Elected to the National Academy of Education
  • 2013 – Raymond Vernon Memorial Prize for the Best Research Article Published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management
  • 2012 – Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2012, present
  • 2009 – Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research
  • 2005 – Visiting Scholar, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, 2005 – present
  • 2002 – Scholar in Health Policy Research, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, University of California-Berkeley, August 2002-July 2004
  • 2001 – Peggy Howard Fellowship, Wellesley College
  • 2000 – Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, Princeton University, 2000-2002
  • 1997 – National Science Foundation Traineeship in the Economics of Education, 1997-2000

Education

Year Degree Institution
2002 PhD, Economics Princeton University
1999 MA, Economics Princeton University
1995 AB, Economics and Religion Wellesley College

Selected Publications

Schanzenbach, Diane Whitmore, Gene Amromin, and Leslie McGranahan (Working Paper/In Press/Under Review). Consumer Credit Trends by Income and Geography 2001-�2012. Chicago Fed Letter: Forthcoming.

Anderson, Patricia M., K. F. Butcher, and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (Working Paper/In Press/Under Review). The effect of school accountability policies on children�s health. NBER Working Paper #16873. Education Finance and Policy: conditionally accepted.

Anderson, Patricia, Kristin Butcher, Hilary Hoynes, and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (Working Paper/In Press/Under Review). Understanding Food Insecurity during the Great Recession. Mimeo.

Hoynes, Hilary W., Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, and Douglas Almond (Working Paper/In Press/Under Review). Childhood Exposure to the Food Stamp Program: Long-run Health and Economic Outcomes. American Economic Review: Forthcoming.

Cascio, Elizabeth, and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (Working Paper/In Press/Under Review). First in the class? Age and the education production function. NBER Working Paper #13663. Education Finance and Policy: Forthcoming.
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Schanzenbach, Diane Whitmore, and Mary Zaki (Working Paper/In Press/Under Review). Expanding the School Breakfast Program: Impacts on Children’s Consumption, Nutrition and Health. NBER Working Paper (No. w20308). Journal of Policy Analysis and Management: revise and resubmit.
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Anderson, Patricia, Kristin Butcher, and Diane Whitemore Schanzenbach (May, 2015). Changes in Safety Net Use During the Great Recession. American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings: 105(2): 161�‐165.
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Barrow, Lisa, Amy Claessens, and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (May, 2015). The impact of Chicago�s small high school initiative. Journal of Urban Economics: 87: 100-113..
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Schanzenbach, Diane Whitmore (2015). Class Size in James Wright, International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences London: Elsevier.

Schanzenbach, Diane Whitmore, Hilary Hoynes, and Leslie McGranahan (2015). SNAP and Food Consumption in eds. Judith Bartfeld, Craig Gundersen, Timothy M. Smeeding, and James P. Ziliak, SNAP Matters: How Food Stamps Affect Health and Well Being Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.
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Schanzenbach, Diane Whitmore (2015). Current Themes in Education Policy in the United States in eds. John Karl Scholz, Hyungpyo Moon, and Sang‐Hyop Lee, Social Policies in an Age of Austerity: A Comparative Analysis of the U.S. and Korea. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Schanzenbach, Diane Whitmore, and Elizabeth Cascio (2014). Expanding Preschool Access for Disadvantaged Children in Melissa S. Kearney and Benjamin H. Harris, Policies to Address Poverty in America (pp. 19-28). Washington, D.C.: The Hamilton Project.
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Anderson, Patricia, Kristin Butcher, Hilary Hoynes, and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (2014). Beyond Income: What Else Predicts Very Low Food Security among Children?. Southern Economic Journal: forthcoming.
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Dynarski, Susan, Joshua Hyman, and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (2013). Experimental Evidence on the Effect of Childhood Investments on Postsecondary Attainment and Degree Completion. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 32(4): 692-717.
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Cascio, Elizabeth U., and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (2013). The Impacts of Expanding Access to High-Quality Preschool Education. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity: 127-192.
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McGranahan, Leslie, and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (2013). The Earned Income Tax Credit and Food Consumption Patterns. FRB of Chicago Working Paper No. 2013-14 .
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Hoynes, Hilary, and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (2012). Work incentives and the Food Stamp Program. Journal of Public Economics 96(1-2): 151�62.
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Schanzenbach, Diane Whitmore (2012). Limitations of Experiments in Education Research. Education 7(2): 219-232.
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Schanzenbach, Diane Whitmore, and Lisa Barrow (2012). Education and the Poor in Philip N. Jefferson, Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Poverty Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Almond, Douglas, Hilary Hoynes, and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (2011). Inside the war on poverty: The impact of food stamps on birth outcomes. Review of Economics and Statistics 93(2): 387�403.
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Anderson, Patricia, Kristin Butcher, Elizabeth Cascio, and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (2011). Is being in school better? The impact of school on children�s BMI when starting age is endogenous. Journal of Health Economics 30(5): 977-986.
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Chetty, Raj, John Friedman, Nathaniel Hilger, Emmanuel Saez, Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, and Danny Yagan (2011). How does your kindergarten classroom affect your earnings? Evidence from Project STAR. Quarterly Journal of Economics 126(4): 1593�1660.
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Neal, Derek, and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (2010). Left behind by design: Proficiency counts and test-based accountability. The Review of Economics and Statistics 92(2): 263-283.
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Leininger, Lindsey, Helen Levy, and Diane Schanzenbach (2010). Consequences of SCHIP expansions for household well-being. Forum for Health Economics & Policy 13(1).
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Bertrand, Marianne, and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach (May, 2009). Time Use and Food Consumption. American Economic Review 99(2): 170-176.
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Schanzenbach, Diane (2009). Do School Lunches Contribute to Childhood Obesity?. Journal of Human Resources: 44(3): 684-709.
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Schanzenbach, Diane with Phillip B. Levine (2009). The Impact of Children�s Health Insurance Expansions on Educational Outcomes. Forum for Health Economics & Policy: 12(1): Article 1.
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Schanzenbach, Diane with Melissa Clark and Jesse Rothstein (2009). Selection Bias in College Admissions Test Scores. Economics of Education Review: 28: 295-307.
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Schanzenbach, Diane with Hilary Hoynes (2009). Consumption responses to in-kind transfers: Evidence from the introduction of the food stamp program. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 1(4): 109-39.
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Holzer, Harry J., Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, Greg J. Duncan, and Jens Ludwig (2008). The economic costs of childhood poverty in the United States. Journal of Children and Poverty 14(1): 41-61.
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Schanzenbach, Diane Whitmore (2007). What Have Researchers Learned from Project STAR?. Brookings papers on education policy: 205-228.
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