Kelly Bedard

About Me

Kelly Bedard’s research focuses largely on the economics of education and health, including influential studies of the effects of military service on health, determinants of gender test score gaps among children in OECD countries, and the determinants of obesity in populations of immigrants to the U.S. Probably her best known paper studied the effects of a student’s age relative to his/her classmates in kindergarten on success later in life; this research was featured prominently in the popular press and in a recent bestselling book by Malcolm Gladwell. Prof. Bedard’s research has been supported by two grants from NIDDK.

Research

Standardized Mortality Ratios and Canadian Health Care Funding (with John Dorland, Allan W. Gregory, and Mark Rosenberg), Canadian Public Policy, 1999, 25(1): 47-64.
Needs-Based Health Care Funding: Implications for Resource Distribution in Ontario (with John Dorland, Allan W. Gregory, and Joanne Roberts), Canadian Journal of Economics, 2000, 33(4).
Human Capital Versus Signaling Models: University Access and High School Drop-outs, Journal of Political Economy, 2001, 190(4): 749-775.
The Relative Earnings of Young Mexican, Black, and White Women (with Heather Antecol), Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 2002, 56(1): 122-35.
Wage and Test Score Dispersion: Some International Evidence (with Chris Ferrall), Economics of Education Review, 2003, 22(1): 31-43.
School Quality and the Distribution of Male Earnings in Canada, Economics of Education Review, 2003, 22(4): 395-407
The Racial Wage Gap: The Importance of Labor Force Attachment Differences Across Black, Mexican and White Men (with Heather Antecol), Journal of Human Resources, 2004, 39(2): 564-583.
The Location of Women’s Prisons and the Deterrence Effect of “Harder” Time (with Eric Helland), International Review of Law and Economics, 2004, 24(2):147-167
Sex Preferences, Marital Dissolution and the Economic Status of Women (with Olivier Deschenes), Journal of Human Resources, 2005, 40(2): 411-434.
Teenage Delinquency: The Role of Child Support Payments and Father's Visitation (with Heather Antecol) in The Law and Economics of Child Support Payments (edited by William S. Comanor).
Are Middle Schools More Effective? The Impact of School Structure on Student Outcomes (with Chau Do), Journal of Human Resources, 2005, 40(3): 660-682
The Impact of Military Service on Long-Term Health: Evidence from World War II and Korean War Veterans (with Olivier Deschenes), American Economic Review 2006, 96(1): 176-194.
Unhealthy Assimilation: Why Do Immigrants Converge to American Health Status Levels? (with Heather Antecol), Demography, 2006, 43(2): 337-360.
The Persistence of Early Childhood Maturity: International Evidence of Long-Run Age Effects (with Elizabeth Dhuey), Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2006, 121(4): 1437-1472.
Does Single Parenthood Increase the Probability of Teenage Promiscuity, Drug Use and Crime? (with Heather Antecol), Journal of Population Economics, 2007, 20: 55-71.
Where Class Size Really Matters: Class Size and Student Ratings of Instructor Effectiveness (with Peter Kuhn), Economics of Education Review, 2008, 27(3): 253-65.
Who Goes to Graduate/Professional School? The Importance of Economic Fluctuations, Undergraduate Field, and Ability (with Douglas Herman) , Economics of Education Review, 2008, 27(2): 197-210.
Prison Health Care: Is Contracting Out Healthy? (with Ted Frech)
Early Gender Test Score Gaps Across OECD Countries (with Insook Cho).
School Entry Policies and Skill Accumulation Across Directly and Indirectly Affected Men (with Elizabeth Dhuey).
The Wages of Failure: New Evidence on School Retention and Long-run Outcomes (with Philip Babcock).
Letting down the Team? Evidence of Social Effects of Team Incentives (with Philip Babcock, Gary Charness, John Hartman, and Heather Royer).
No Cohort Left Behind (with Philip Babcock and Jennifer Schulte).
Micro-Marketing Healthier Choices: Effects of Personalized Ordering Suggestions on Restaurant Purchases