Douglas Webber

Douglas Webber

  • College of Liberal Arts

    Economics

    Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies

    Affiliated Faculty

    Programs
    • Global Studies
Office Location

Ritter Annex, 877

Phone

(215) 204-5025

Expertise

Labor Economics, Economics of Education

Biography

Dr. Webber is currently an Associate Professor in the Economics Department at Temple University and a Co-editor at Economics of Education Review. He has published on a wide variety of topics in the fields of labor economics and the economics of higher education, including: earnings inequality, expenditures in higher education, the gender pay gap, the economic returns to college major, and student loan debt. His research has appeared in scholarly journals such as the Journal of Labor Economics, the Journal of Human Resources, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and the Economics of Education Review. 

He has testified in front of the both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives about his research on student loan debt and education finance. Dr. Webber holds Bachelor’s Degrees in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Florida, as well as Masters and Ph.D. Degrees in Economics from Cornell University.  

Curriculum Vitae

Website

Selected Publications

  • “Employment Adjustment Over the Business Cycle: The Impact of Competition in the Labor Market”, Journal of Human Resources, Forthcoming.
  • "A Growing Divide: The Promises and Pitfalls of Education for the Working Class”. The Annals of theAmerican Academy of Political and Social Sciences. Forthcoming.
  • “The Returns to College Persistence for Marginal Students: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from University Dismissal Policies” (with Ben Ost and Weixiang Pan), Journal of Labor Economics, 2018, 36(3): 779-805.
  • "Higher Ed, Lower Spending: As States Cut Back, Where Has the Money Gone?" Education Next, 2018, 18(3): 72-78.
  • “Mass Layoffs and Higher Education Decisions: Evidence from the State of Ohio” (with Ben Ost and Weixiang Pan), Labour Economics, 2018, 51: 1-12.
  • “State Divestment and Tuition at Public Institutions”, Economics of Education Review, 2017, 60: 1-4.
  • “Risk-Sharing and Student Loan Policy: Consequences for Students and Institutions” Economics of Education Review,, 2017, 57: 1-9.
  • “Are College Costs Worth It? How Ability, Major, and Debt Affect the Returns to Schooling” Economics of Education Review, 2016, 53: 296-310.

Courses Taught

  • ECON 1102: Principles of Microeconomics
  • ECON 1902: Honors Principles of Microeconomics
  • ECON 3514: Economics of Education and Human Capital
  • ECON 8009: Econometrics I