I am an applied micro-economist with an interest in the economics of education, labor economics, and inequality.
You can find me at kotta@bgu.ac.il
“Does Remedial Education at Late Childhood Pay Off After All? Long-Run Consequences for University Schooling, Labor Market Outcomes and Inter-Generational Mobility” (with Victor Lavy and Genia Rachkovski), Journal of Labor Economics. Volume 40, Number 1, January 2022, pp. 239–282
Working Papers
Adjustments to Reduced Cash Transfers: Religious Safety Nets and Children’s Long-Term Outcomes (With Naomi Gershoni, Rania Gihleb, Hani Mansour and Yannay Shannan) New!
This paper examines how families adjust to changes in unconditional cash transfers, and how these adjustments affect children's long-term outcomes. In 2003, Israel reformed its child allowance program, significantly reducing unconditional cash benefits for large families. Using a sharp date-of-birth cutoff introduced by the reform, we show that Arab families responded by reducing completed fertility and increasing paternal employment. Consequently, we find little evidence that the decline in transfers negatively affected the education or labor outcomes of Arab children. In contrast, Jewish families substituted for the loss in government benefits by enrolling their school-aged children in ultra-Orthodox religious schools, without changing their fertility or labor supply. These schools act as informal safety-nets by providing valuable services unavailable in mainstream public schools but focus primarily on religious studies over secular subjects. In the long run, this substitution between formal and informal safety nets resulted in lower educational attainment among Jewish students and may have steered them toward a more religious lifestyle. Our results highlight the importance of existing support structures in determining the effects of policy changes, particularly in contexts where religious and public welfare systems compete.
My Job Market Paper, which is related to this project, is a recipient of the Policy Impacts Early-Career Scholars Grant
Starting Together, Diverging Later? Gender Differences in Universal Pre-K’s Long-Term Effects New!
I estimate the causal effect of starting to attend universal public pre-K at age three versus age four on school progression and high school achievements. The analysis leverages a dramatic expansion of public pre-K in Arab-majority towns in Israel, which generated within-household variation in siblings' pre-K attendance, enabling a sibling-fixed-effect model. I find that starting pre-K at age three significantly improves school progression, though high school academic achievements remain unaffected. By jointly observing pre-K attendance and long-term outcomes, I document patterns of heterogeneity in both program take-up and treatment effects. The results reveal stark gender heterogeneity, with girls gaining substantially more than boys from early pre-K attendance. Investigation of potential mechanisms yields results consistent with the hypothesis that this gender heterogeneity results from differences in home environments between girls and boys. The findings indicate that in communities with prevalent gender norms, public pre-K can serve as an efficient equalizing force.