Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in the Professions

Faculty

Sean P. Corcoran

Assistant Professor of Educational Economics

Sean P. Corcoran

Phone: 212-992-9468
Email:

Sean P. Corcoran (Ph.D Economics, University of Maryland) is an assistant professor of educational economics at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and an affiliated faculty of the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. His research emphasizes the economics of school funding, the political economy of school choice, and the labor market for elementary and secondary school teachers. Professor Corcoran is a research associate of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., and was a 2005-06 visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation. His publications can be found in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, the Journal of Urban Economics, and the American Economic Review.


Degrees Held

  • Ph.D University of Maryland 2003
    Economics

Awards

  • 2006 : Principal Investigator, Spencer Foundation, "The Political Economy of Inequality in America's Public Schools"
  • 2006 : Principal Investigator, Russell Sage Foundation grant, "The Politics of Inequality and Redistribution in U.S. Education Finance"
  • 2008 : Co-Investigator, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant, "National Study to Track Career Changes among Newly Licensed Registered Nurses – Phase 2"
  • 2009 : Principal Investigator, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant, "What Nursing Workforce Research Can Learn From Other Labor Markets"

Publications

  • Curriculum Vitae (link)
  • “Women, the Labor Market, and the Declining Relative Quality of Teachers,” with William N. Evans and Robert M. Schwab. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, v. 23 n. 3, Summer 2004. (link)
  • “The Political Economy of School Choice: Support for Charter Schools Across States and School Districts,” with Christiana Stoddard. Journal of Urban Economics, v. 62 n. 1, July 2007. (link)
  • "Long-run Trends in the Quality of Teachers: Evidence and Implications for Policy," Policy Brief, Education Finance and Policy, Fall 2007, vol. 2 no. 4. (link)
  • "Equity, Adequacy, and the Evolving State Role in Education Finance," with William N. Evans, in Handbook of Research in Education Finance and Policy, ed. Helen F. Ladd and Edward B. Fiske, New York: Routledge, 2008. (link)
  • “Stalled Progress in Closing the Race Achievement Gap: The Role of Teacher Quality,” with William N. Evans, in Steady Gains and Stalled Progress: Inequality and the Black- White Test Score Gap, ed. Katherine Magnuson and Jane Waldfogel, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2008. (link)
  • "The Troubled Quest for Equality in School Finance," with Howard Rosenthal and Thomas Romer, in What do we Owe Each Other? Rights and Obligations in Contemporary American Society, ed. Howard Rosenthal and David J. Rothman, Piscataway, NJ: Transaction, 2008.
  • “Beware of Geeks Bearing Formulas: Reflections on Growth Models for Accountability,” with Jennifer L. Jennings. Phi Delta Kappan, v. 90 n. 9, May 2009. (link)

Courses

E10.2155 Economic Analysis for Education Policy
E51.2020 Financing Schools: Equity and Adequacy in Public Education
E53.2008 Comparative Education II: Quantitative Analysis

Research Interests

  • state and local public finance
  • teacher labor markets
  • school finance
  • school choice and charter schools
  • applied econometrics