Faculty Profile

David Bjerk, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

E-mail: david.bjerk@claremontmckenna.edu
Phone: (909) 607-4471
Campus Address: Bauer Center 313

Departments:
Web Site
Curriculum Vitae

Educational Background

B.A. Carleton College; M.A., Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison

Teaching Interests

  • Microeconomic Theory, Labor Economics

Research Interests

  • Crime and the Criminal Justice System
  • Race and Gender Inequality in the Labor Market

Selected Professional Activities

  • Research Affiliate, National Poverty Center (at the University of Michigan)
  • Research Fellow, IZA--Institute for Study of Labor (Bonn, Germany)
  • Co-editor, economics (e-journal)

Selected Research and Publications

  • "Thieves, Thugs, and Neighborhood Poverty," Journal of Urban Economics (forthcoming).
  • “How Much Can We Trust Causal Interpretations of Fixed Effects Estimators in the Context of Criminality?” Journal of Quantitative Criminology 25(4): 391-417 (2009).
  • “Glass Ceilings or Sticky Floors? Statistical Discrimination in a Dynamic Model of Promotion and Hiring,” The Economic Journal 118(July): 961-982 (2008).
  • “Guilt Shall Not Escape or Innocence Suffer: The Limits of Plea Bargaining When Defendant Guilt is Uncertain,” American Law and Economics Review 92(2): 305-329 (2007).
  • “Assortative Marriage and the Effects of Government Homecare Subsidy Programs on Gender Wage and Participation Inequality,” (joint with Seungjin Han) Journal of Public Economics 91(5-6): 1135-1150 (2007).
  • “Racial Profiling, Statistical Discrimination, and the Effect of a Colorblind Policy on the Crime Rate,” Journal of Public Economic Theory 9(3): 543-567 (2007).
  • "Beauty vs. Earnings: Gender Differences in Human Capital, Earnings, and Priorities Over Spousal Characteristics in a Matching Model," Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 69: 248-259 (2009).
  • “The Differing Nature of Black-White Wage Inequality Across Occupational Sectors.” Journal of Human Resources 42(2): 398-434 (2007).
  • “On the Role of Plea Bargaining and the Distribution of Sentences in the Absence of Judicial System Frictions.” International Review of Law and Economics 28(1): 1-7 (2008).
  • “Measuring the Relationship Between Youth Criminal Participation and Household Economic Resources,” Journal of Quantitative Criminology 23(1): 23-39 (2007).
  • “Making the Crime Fit the Penalty: The Role of Prosecutorial Discretion Under Mandatory Minimum Sentencing.” Journal of Law and Economics 48(2): 591-627 (2005).
  • "Re-examining the long-term consequences of dropping out on criminal and labor market outcomes," Working Paper.