How College Mergers Impact the Faculty Labor Market [Job Market Paper]
There is growing interest in understanding the effects of employer consolidations on the labor market. This paper examines whether college and university mergers affect the faculty employment and wages of non-merging competitor institutions. I test two competing theories of how horizontal mergers can raise anticompetitive concerns—monopsony power on the one hand and efficiency gains that increase competitive pressure on non-merging rivals on the other. I first document increasing trends in faculty employment and little change in wages at combined institutions following mergers occurring between 2000 and 2022. Using a difference-in-differences research design that exploits local differences in exposure to mergers, I find that following mergers, non-merging competitors reduce faculty employment, experience no change in wages, and face an increased probability of market exit. I show that these findings are consistent with combined institutions benefiting from efficiency gains that increase student enrollment and faculty employment, thereby placing non-merging competitors at a competitive disadvantage.
2. Expanding College Access for Rural and Under-Served Georgians through eCampus (with David C. Ribar, Ross Rubenstein, Jennifer Darling-Aduana & Talia C. Kessler)
1. The Effects of Early Access and Exposure to Gifted Education
2. Expanding Access to Secondary Education & Capacity Constraints: Evidence from Ghana’s Double Track System
3. The Local Economic Impacts of College Closures (with Debbie Amewu)
Risk Attitudes and Sources of Finance: Evidence from Non-Farm Household Enterprises in Ghana (2024) with Patrick Asuming; published in the Journal of African Business [Download here]
Impact of Covid-19 on Maternal Health Seeking in Ghana (2022) with Patrick Asuming, Caesar Agula, & Ayaga Bawah; published in the Journal of International Development [Download here]
Risk Attitudes and Demand for Insurance: Micro Evidence from Ghana (2022) with Patrick Asuming; published in the Review of Behavioral Finance [Download here]
Student experiences in the Technical College System of Georgia's eCampus initiative (2025) with Talia Kessler & Jennifer Darling-Aduana, Georgia Policy Labs. [Download here]
Instructors' Experiences in the Technical College System of Georgia's eCampus Initiative (2025) with Jennifer Darling-Aduana, Georgia Policy Labs. [Download here]