Caroline Hoxby facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Caroline Hoxby
Born	1966 (age 58–59)
Nationality	American
Institution	Stanford University
Field	Labor economics Public economics
Doctoral advisor	James M. Poterba
Doctoral students	Jennifer Doleac
Information at IDEAS / RePEc

Caroline Minter Hoxby (born 1966) is an American economist. She studies how schools and colleges work. Her research helps us understand how people choose schools and how education affects their lives. She is a professor at Stanford University. She also leads a program about the economics of education for the National Bureau of Economic Research.

About Caroline Hoxby

Caroline Hoxby grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. She went to Shaker Heights High School. Her father, Steven Minter, was an important leader in the U.S. Department of Education. He was the second-highest person in charge during President Jimmy Carter's time.

Caroline Hoxby went to Harvard University and graduated with top honors in 1988. She then studied at Magdalen College, Oxford in England. She earned her advanced degree in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994.

From 1994 to 2007, she taught at Harvard University. She became a full professor there in 2001. She was the only tenured African-American economics professor at Harvard at that time. In 2007, she moved to Stanford University. She is now the Scott and Donya Bommer Professor of Economics at Stanford.

She is married to Blair Hoxby. He is also a professor at Stanford University. He teaches English and studies old English literature.

Caroline Hoxby's Research

Caroline Hoxby's research often looks at how higher education works. She studies colleges and universities, especially top schools.

Helping Students Go to College

One of her big projects is called "Expanding College Opportunities." This project helps smart students from lower-income families. These students often don't apply to selective colleges. This happens even though they could get in and receive lots of financial aid. In fact, they might pay less at a top college than at a less selective one.

Hoxby's research showed that giving these students simple information can make a big difference. It helps them apply to and attend better colleges. This work earned her an award from The Smithsonian Institution.

School Choice and Quality

Hoxby also studies how competition among public schools affects students. Her research suggests that when schools compete, it can make education better for everyone. It can also be good for taxpayers.

There was a discussion about her research methods on this topic. Another economist, Jesse Rothstein, had a different view on how to measure some of the information. Hoxby later explained her original work in more detail.

Understanding College Costs

Hoxby has looked into why college tuition keeps going up. She believes it's partly because colleges compete to offer the best education. This competition, along with more students wanting high-quality education, can drive up costs.

She also studied how American universities are run. She found that their freedom to make decisions about hiring teachers and managing money might help them do more research. This is compared to universities in Europe.

Online Learning and Its Future

Hoxby has also researched online education, like MOOCs. These are large online courses open to many people. She thinks MOOCs might work well for some schools. However, she suggests they could change how research universities are funded.

K–12 Education Studies

In K–12 education, Hoxby has studied the effects of teachers' unions. She found that while unions might lead to higher spending and salaries, they might not always improve student results. This topic has led to public discussions.

Her work also supports the idea that school choice can improve how students perform. She has studied how vouchers and charter schools affect education in different cities. She also looked at the costs of education reforms. She found that holding schools accountable is less expensive than reducing class sizes. Her analysis suggests that smaller class sizes might not always have strong benefits.

Another study she did looked at "peer effects" in classrooms. This means how much classmates' academic success influences an individual student's performance. She found that students can be influenced by their peers, especially within certain groups or classroom setups.

Selected Books

Caroline Hoxby has edited or co-authored several books:

• Caroline M. Hoxby (editor). 2003. The Economics of School Choice.
• Caroline M. Hoxby (editor). 2004. College Choices: The Economics of Where to Go, When to Go, and How to Pay for It.
• Jeffrey R. Brown and Caroline M. Hoxby (editors). 2015. How the Financial Crisis and Great Recession Affected Higher Education.
• Caroline M. Hoxby (editor). 2008. Higher Aspirations: An Agenda for Reforming European Universities.
• Caroline M. Hoxby (author). 2006. The Three Essential Elements and Several Policy Options.
• Caroline M. Hoxby (multi-author). 2010. American Education in 2030.
• Caroline M. Hoxby (multi-author). 2012. Choice and Federalism: Defining the Federal Role in Education.

Awards and Honors

Caroline Hoxby has received many awards for her work:

• Carnegie Fellowship from Carnegie Corporation of New York
• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, 1999
• National Tax Association Award for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in Government Finance and Taxation, 1994
• Global Leader of Tomorrow from the World Economic Forum
• Thomas B. Fordham Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in Education, 2006
• Stanford University Economics Department Teacher of the Year Award, 2013
• Smithsonian magazine's American Ingenuity Award in Education, 2013
• Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences