Research
My research investigates the systems, incentives, and institutions that influence economic and social life, using quantitative analysis and large-scale data to uncover meaningful patterns. † Working Paper ‡ Published
2026
Packaging Hierarchies in U.S. Higher Education: Pell Exposure and the Composition of Aid (Working Paper)†
Working paper mapping how U.S. colleges structure financial-aid packages for full-time, first-time undergraduates and how these hierarchies vary with Pell exposure. Built institution-year, per-FTFT measures from 2009–2023 IPEDS by linking Student Financial Aid aggregates to residency-weighted COA, expressed as shares of cost of attendance with indices for Grant-First, Pell-Anchor, and Institutional Top-off.
When Costs Define Aid: Responses to Federal Cost-of-Attendance Caps†
Institutions adjust the Cost of Attendance differently across sectors, with private nonprofits exhibiting strategic price-aid bundling and publics showing adjustment through non-tuition borrowing margins. Uses institution fixed effects, dynamic fixed effects, and system-GMM models of cost of attendance, tuition, and non-tuition components.
Building a Quality-Assured IPEDS Institution-Year Panel from Annual Access Databases, 2004–2023†
Introduces IPEDSDB_Panel, an open-source workflow that converts annual NCES IPEDS Access databases into a reproducible, integrity-checked unbalanced panel keyed by institution and year for 2004–2023. The workflow automates acquisition, extraction, metadata harmonization, panel construction, parent-child cleaning, and layered validation.
2025
Financial Literacy & Food Insecurity in Seniors (Master’s Capstone)
Examines the link between financial literacy and food insecurity among older adults in Clark County, Nevada using local survey data and multiple probability-based models to measure the relationship and test robustness.
A Dynamic Structure of the Causal Link Between Increases in Federal Student Aid and Increases in College Prices
Extends the Bennett's Hypothesis literature through dynamic panel specifications and pricing-aid structure analysis, focusing on how federal student aid and institutional responses interact over time across higher-education sectors.
AI Diffusion and Gender Wage Inequality: A Quasi-Experimental Approach†
Studies whether the diffusion of generative AI shifted gender wage inequality across tech versus non-tech roles using CPS-MORG via IPUMS. Uses pooled OLS with a triple-interaction quasi-experimental design and Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions.
Revisiting Bennett’s Hypothesis: The Unintended Effects of Student Financial Aid on the Cost of College‡
Investigates Bennett’s Hypothesis with National Center for Education Statistics data, focusing on public and private nonprofit colleges and the effects of government and institutional financial aid on the cost of attendance.
View PDF2024
The Race for Increasing College Costs
A cross-sectional study of tuition growth, aid, and institutional behavior using National Center for Education Statistics data and Bennett’s Hypothesis as a guiding framework.
Potential Expansion for Caesars Entertainment to the Philippines
Explores whether the Philippines offers a viable expansion opportunity by combining macro indicators, tourism and spending trends, regulatory analysis, and competitor benchmarking.
2023
Economic Effects of Raising Retirement Age
Analyzes the economic effects of France’s policy shift to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 using the Solow Model, IS/MP-PC, and labor-market frameworks.
© Mark Jayson Martinez Farol