Welcome!

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, currently on the job market. I am advised by Professor Donna Gilleskie.

My research lies at the intersection of family economics, labor economics, and health economics. A unifying theme runs across my work: understanding how the circumstances into which children are born, and the decisions of the adults who raise them, shape life outcomes in education, health, and economic well-being. I use a range of methods — dynamic structural modeling, quasi-experimental methods, and other reduced-form causal designs — to generate credible evidence that can guide policy in the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa.

My job market paper, From Cradle to Consequence: The Dynamic Impact of Parental Behaviors on Teenage Outcomes Among Fragile Families, develops and jointly estimates a dynamic model of parental behaviors and child development using the Discrete Factor Random Effects (DFRE) methodology and the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS).

I also serve as a consultant with the World Bank’s Enterprise Analysis Unit, supporting the World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES) program. With colleagues at UNC Charlotte and Lancaster University, I co-founded QuantBridge, an applied quantitative webinar series for early-career researchers.

Here is my Curriculum Vitae. You can contact me via dturkson@unc.edu.

Research Interests

• Parental behavior, family structure, and child development in fragile families
• Dynamic structural modeling of household and lifecycle decisions
• Intergenerational transmission of health, human capital, and economic status
• Causal effects of cash transfers, social programs, and public policy on family outcomes
• Maternal and child health; substance use; incarceration and its spillovers