Research

The Effects of Educational Transitions on Adolescent Behavior and Mental Health

South Korean students transitioning from middle school to high school face longer school hours, increased academic pressure, and an older peer group. All of these have the potential to cause mental health problems. I estimate the effects of transitioning to high school from middle school on sleep patterns, risky behaviors, and mental health using a regression discontinuity design on date of birth. I find that students lose 40 minutes of sleep as they advance from middle school to high school, and their probability of trying alcohol or cigarettes goes up by 3.7 and 2.2 percentage points, respectively. Despite the reduction in sleep and the increase in risky behaviors, I find little evidence of statistically significant effects on various mental health measures, including stress, depression, and suicidal ideations or attempts. In fact, some measures of mental health improve with the transition to high school, which is surprising as there is substantial literature linking reduced sleep and substance abuse to worse mental health outcomes.

God is in the Rain: The Impact of Rainfall-Induced Early Social Distancing on COVID-19 Outbreaks (with Rolly Kapoor, Kinpritma Sangha, Bhavyaa Sharma, and Guanghong Xu)

Journal of Health Economics 

January 2022, 81: 102575

The Impact of Delayed School Start Times on Sleep and Mental Health: Evidence from South Korea

I exploit a policy that delayed school start times in a large province in South Korea to examine the effect of the policy on students’ sleep and mental health outcomes. Using a difference-in-differences design, I find that students gain significant sleep due to the policy implementation. Students in the treated region delay their bed time, but a later wake-up time results in a longer sleep duration. However, delayed school start times do not result in better mental health outcomes. I estimate the effect of hours of sleep on mental health outcomes using the policy as an instrument. The effects are not statistically significant and much smaller than the large effects documented in the literature on sleep and mental health.

The Impact of Mental Shock on Birth Outcomes: Evidence from the US Presidential Election in 2016