Stephen L. Ross

Affiliated Faculty, Professor of Economics

Department of Economics

---

Subject Areas: Urban Economics, Public Finance, Labor Economics

Stephen L. Ross is a professor of economics at the University of Connecticut. Professor Ross’s research has primarily focused on housing and mortgage lending discrimination, residential and school segregation, neighborhood and peer effects, and state and local governments. He has published in prestigious academic journals including the Journal of Political Economy, Review of Economics and Statistics, The Economic Journal, the American Economic Journal-Economic Policy, Social Problems and the Journal of Urban Economics, and published the Color of Credit with MIT Press in 2002. His research has been funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the FannieMae Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. Professor Ross also has consulted for Abt Associates, FannieMae, the National Consumer Law Center, the New York State Attorney General’s office, and the Urban Institute. He also edits the Urban and Real Estate Economics working paper announcement service for New Papers in Economics (NEP).

Education: Ph.D., Economics, Syracuse University

Honors and Appointments: — Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, 2014-Present — Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Housing Economics, 2011-Present — Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Urban Economics, 2009-Present — Member, Editorial Board, Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2007-Present — Councillor at Large, the North American Regional Science Council, 2011-2013 — Fellow, Weimer School of Advanced Studies in Real Estate and Land Economics, Homer Hoyt Institute, 2011 — Inaugural University of Connecticut College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Research Award – Social Sciences Division 2009 — University of Connecticut, Chancellor’s Fellow, 2003-04 — Post-doctoral Fellow, Weimer School of Advanced Studies in Real Estate and Land Economics, Homer Hoyt Institute, 2001 — American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association Dissertation Award, 1995 — Syracuse University Fellowship, 1990-1994

Courses Taught: — Economics of Taxation and Government Spending — Urban Development and Policy — Economics of Poverty — Real Estate Principles — Principles of Macroeconomics — Advanced Labor Economics (Ph.D.) — Public Expenditures (Ph.D.)

Research Interests: Discrimination, Education, Local Public Finance, Mortgage Markets, Peer and Neighborhood Effects, Segregation, Social Interactions, Urban Labor Markets

Selected Publications:“Change and persistence in the economics status of neighborhoods and cities” (In press). In The Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Volume 6 (Eds. G. Duranton, V. Henderson, W. Strange). Elsevier Science/North Holland (with S. Rosenthal).

“Accuracy and Efficiency in Simulating Equilibrium Land Use Patterns for Self-Organizing Cities” (with X. Dong). In Press. Journal of Economic Geography.

“Do High School Peers Have Persistent Effects on College Attainment and Other Life Outcomes?” Labour Economics (In Press) (with R. Bifulco, J. Fletcher and S. Oh).

“Does less income mean less representation,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy (2013) 5, 53-76 (with E. Brunner, E. Washington).

“Bank capital requirements and capital structure,” Journal of Financial Services Research (2013) 43, 127-148 (with J. Harding, X. Liang).

“Wage premia in employment clusters: How important is worker heterogeneity,” Journal of Labor Economics (2013) 21, 271-304 (with S. Fu).

“School quality and property values: Re-examining the boundary approach,” Journal of Urban Economics (2012) 71, 18-25 (with P. Dhar).

“Economics and ideology: Causal evidence of the impact of income on support for redistribution and other proposals,” Review of Economics and Statistics (2011) 93, 888-906 (with E. Brunner, E. Washington).

“Understanding the foreclosure crisis,” Journal of Policy, Analysis and Management: Point-Counterpoint (2011) 30, 382-388 (with K. Gerardi, P. Willen).

“The effect of classmate characteristics on individual outcomes: Evidence from the Add Health,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy(2011) 3, 25-53 (with B. Bifulco, J. Fletcher).

“Is the median voter decisive? Evidence from referenda voting patterns,” Journal of Public Economics (2010) 94, 898-910 (with E. Brunner).

“Universal vouchers and racial and ethnic segregation,” Review of Economics and Statistics (2010) 92, 912-927 (with E. Brunner, J. Imazeki).

“Public school choice and integration: Evidence from Durham, NC,” Social Science Research (2009) 38, 78-85 (with B. Bifulco, H. Ladd).

“Place of work and place of residence: Informal hiring networks and labor market outcomes,” Journal of Political Economy (2008) 116, 1150-1196 (with P. Bayer, G. Topa).

“Mortgage lending in Chicago and Los Angeles: A paired testing study of the pre-application process,” Journal of Urban Economics (2008) 63(3), 902-919 (with M. Turner, E. Godfrey, R. Smith).

“Which school attributes matter? The influence of school district performance and demographic composition on property values,” Journal of Urban Economics (2008) 63, 451-466 (with J. Clapp, A. Nanda).

“Community income distributions in a metropolitan area,” Journal of Urban Economics (2007) 61, 496-518 (with C. deBartolome).

“Housing discrimination in metropolitan America: Explaining changes between 1989 and 2000,” Social Problems (2005) 52, 152-180 (with M. Turner).

“Schools and housing markets: An examination of changes in school segregation and performance,” The Economic Journal (2004) 114, F425-F440 (with J. Clapp).

“Racial bias in motor vehicle searches: Additional theory and evidence,” Contributions to Economic Analysis and Policy (2004) 3, 1-21 (with D. Dharmapala).

“Redlining, the community reinvestment act, and private mortgage insurance,” Journal of Urban Economics (2004) 55(2), 278-297 (with G. Tootell).

“Whose in charge of the inner city: The conflict between efficiency and equity in the Design of a metropolitan area,” Journal of Urban Economics(2004) 56, 458-483 (with C. deBartolome).

“Now you see it, now you don’t: Why some homes are hidden from black buyers,” Review of Economics and Statistics (2003) 85, 854-873 (with J. Ondrich, J. Yinger).

Color of Credit: Mortgage Discrimination, Research Methods, and Fair Lending Enforcement (2002) (with J. Yinger).

“Sorting and voting: A review of the literature on urban public finance” (1999). In The Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Volume 3: Applied Urban Economics (Eds. P. Cheshire and E.S. Mills). Elsevier Science/North Holland (with J. Yinger).