On October 13, 2026, Matthew Ross (UConn PhD 2016) came back to campus to present his paper “Do Better Detectives Reduce Crime?” in our department seminar. Matt is an Associate Professor at Northeastern University, jointly appointed in the School of Public Policy & Urban Affairs and the Department of Economics.
Using data on more than 160,000 criminal investigations in Austin, Texas, Matt showed that hiring higher-quality detectives raises arrest rates. The gains come both on the new detectives’ own cases and on cases handled by their colleagues. It was a lively talk, with plenty of questions from faculty and students. Matt also spent a full day meeting with his former professors, new professors, and current PhD students.
The seminar comes on the heels of a major publication. Matt’s paper “The Effect of Field Training Officers on Police Use of Force,” with Chandon Adger and CarlyWill Sloan, appeared in the May 2026 issue of the American Economic Review.
Matt wrote his dissertation under Professor Couch (chair), and Professor Furtado and Professor Ray were on his committee. He won the department’s Third Year Paper Award and the University of Connecticut Dissertation Award while he was here. Much of Matt’s work on racial profiling in police stops is with Professor Ross as well as former and current UConn students. This includes a recent paper in the Journal of Human Resources with Jesse Kalinowski (UConn PhD 2018). It also includes ongoing research with current PhD students, Xiaofeng Gong and Da Xu, using cell phone mobility data.
Thank you for coming back to share your work, Matt! You can learn more about his research at https://www.mbross-econ.com/.
Members of the Department of Economics recently presented their research at the 2026 Conference of the
The presentation examined the integration of Tableau-based data visualization into a required undergraduate economics writing course. Using pre- and post-course survey data, the study finds improvements in student course satisfaction and writing confidence after students learned to produce their own data visualizations. The results highlight the potential for combining data literacy and writing instruction to enhance student engagement and communication skills in economics coursework.
Anastassiya Karaban presented her paper, “The role of gender comparisons in determining reference wage and labor supply.” She finds that when people make different wages, we choose to compare our wage to others of the same gender. Women work harder when making more than other women (but not when making more than other men). Men work less hard if they are making less than another man (but not if they are making less than a woman).
Victor Volkman presented his paper, “Race and experimental design: How respondents may read context into a neutrally framed scenario.” Traditionally, economics experiments have participants engage in “context free” simulated economic transactions. Victor examines whether such absence of context can affect individuals differently based on their racial backgrounds. He finds evidence that different racial groups interpret context-free scenarios differently, and thus their actions are not directly comparable.
On a picture perfect Spring evening, several doctoral students participated in the 
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