Research Fields: Economics and Institutions, Economics and Inequality, Economics and Beliefs
I am an applied microeconomist interested in the historical contexts that shape economic development. In particular, I am recently interested in how the roots of development are shaped by past conflicts and in the incentives and actions of institutions that interact with development. In past work, I have studied a range of topics related to skill development and mental health. I also have some work using survey experiments to understand gender norms and motherhood labour market penalties.
CV
Google Scholar Profile
jonathan.norris@strath.ac.uk
Working Papers
The aerial bombing of Cambodia and the recovery of communities with Thi Tham Ta and Otto Lenhart.
[ Abstract | Draft ]
We study how local areas in Cambodia are still shaped by past exposure to US bombing decades ago, leading to divergent patterns in health and economic development. Using a wide range of geo-coded data and a spatial regression discontinuity adapted to many boundaries, we find that the long-term impacts of past bombings vary significantly by location dependent on whether they persist as unexploded ordnance (UXO). In areas of hard ground, bombs are more likely to detonate leaving destruction but no lingering risk, while in soft ground, bombs fail more frequently leaving UXO. We confirm this pattern using data on causalities from explosive remnants of war, and we then show this difference gives rise to a diverging pattern in health and economic development. In bombed, hard ground locations that are free from the dangers of UXO, investments in economic activities and healthcare infrastructure have even improved outcomes post-conflict. However, in areas where UXO remains a threat, development has been hindered, and negative consequences are persistent. Overall, our results offer an important lesson that while conflicts can be harmful, the impacts on future generations can be mitigated through investments in the post-conflict era, if remnants of war no longer remain.
Asymmetric Effects of Recreational Marijuana Laws on Mental Health and Labor Markets with Daniel Borbely, Otto Lenhart, Agnese Romiti, and Zhan Shi.
[ Abstract | Draft ]
Recreational marijuana legalization broadens adult access, but users at different ages likely face very different consequences. We estimate the effects of recreational marijuana laws (RMLs) on mental health, behavior, and labor market outcomes using a difference-in-differences imputation strategy on state-year-age-group panel data from 2003–2024 across US states. RMLs raise past-year marijuana use roughly twice as much among 18–25 year olds as among adults 26 and older (6.4 versus 3.3 percentage points). This differential exposure by age helps explain the pattern in our results: the average effect on mental health is null, but this masks a sharp asymmetry. Young adults under 25 report more poor mental health days, exercise less, and become more likely to experience long-term unemployment, amounting to roughly 107,000 additional young adults in unemployment spells over one year across RML states. Adults over 50 report less joint pain, exercise more, and show suggestive income gains. The coherence across five outcomes points to two age-specific channels: cannabis exposure during neurological development for young adults, and pain management for older adults. The findings imply that a uniform adult access model for marijuana legalization produces costs concentrated among younger adults and benefits among older adults.
Beliefs on Children’s Human Capital Accumulation and Mothers at Work with Cesarine Boinet, Agnese Romiti, Paul Telemo, and Zhan Shi
[ Abstract | Draft ]
Perceptions that women have an absolute advantage in child-rearing can pressure mothers out of work. Guided by a simple model, we use a survey experiment to equalize earnings potential across gender, finding that women are perceived to hold an absolute advantage in child-rearing. We show that these beliefs have intergenerational roots, predict women’s labor supply, and are explained by expectations that mothers will spend more productive time with children than fathers. Our findings add to the motherhood penalty literature by providing novel evidence that helps explain a
source of gender labor market differentials.
Income Composition and Peer Effects in Education (R&R at Labour Economics) with Marco Fongoni, Agnese Romiti, and Zhan Shi.
[ Abstract | Draft (updated 26/09/2025) | IZA Draft (previous version; different title) ]
We study the long-run effects of income differences within peer compositions. An increase in the share of low-income peers within school-cohorts improves the educational outcomes of low-income students and negatively affects high-income students. We show this pattern is not explained by commonly observed mechanisms. We then propose a model based on reference-dependent preferences and social comparison that rationalizes our findings, highlighting the role of frustration or motivation depending on students’ relative income. We also provide evidence consistent with this mechanism. Finally, we show that better connections in school can help avoid unintended consequences of income differences among peers.
Published Papers
The Long-Run Effects of Peers on Mental Health (with Lukas Kiessling), The Economic Journal 133, no. 649 (2023): 281-322.
[ Abstract | Draft | Published Link | Replication Package | Media ]
This paper studies how peers in school affect students' mental health. Guided by a theoretical framework, we find that increasing students’ relative ranks in their cohorts by one standard deviation improves their mental health by 6\% of a standard deviation conditional on own ability. These effects are more pronounced for low-ability students, persistent for at least 14 years, and carry over to economic long-run outcomes. Moreover, we document a strong asymmetry: Students who receive negative rather than positive shocks react more strongly. Our findings therefore provide evidence on how the school environment can have long-lasting consequences for the well-being of individuals.
Troubled in School: Does Maternal Involvement Matter for Adolescents (with Martijn van Hasselt), Accepted (2023), Journal of Population Economics.
[ Abstract | Draft | Published Link ]
We estimate the causal effect of mother's involvement on the amount of trouble an adolescent experiences in school. We use multiple measures of school trouble and factor analysis to construct a composite and then link this composite with noncognitive skills. Our measure of mother's involvement encompasses discussing school-related matters and providing help with school projects. Using an instrumental variable constructed from a suitably chosen peer group, our main finding is that an increase in maternal involvement leads to a significant decrease in school trouble. We find this result to be robust across a large number of sensitivity tests designed to account for possible selection effects, shocks at the peer group level, and further potential violations of the exclusion restriction. Additionally, we present evidence suggesting that the effect of maternal involvement may operate through its effect on adolescents' college aspirations, mental health, and the perception of parental warmth.
Peer Gender and Schooling: Evidence from Ethiopia (with Daniel Borbely) and Agnese Romiti), Accepted (2022), Journal of Human Capital.
[ Abstract | Draft | Published Link ]
This paper studies how classmate gender composition matters for school absences and test scores in a context characterized by strong social norms and scarce school resources. We base our results on a unique survey of students across classrooms and schools in Ethiopia, exploiting random assignment of students to classrooms. We find a strong asymmetry: while females benefit from exposure to more female classmates with reduced absenteeism and improvement on math test scores, males are unaffected. We further find that exposure to more female classmates improves motivation and participation in class, and in general, that the effects of classmate gender composition are consistent with social interaction effects.
The Skill Development of the Children of Immigrants (with Marie Hull), Economics of Education Review 78 (2020): 102036.
[ Abstract | Draft | Published Link ]
In this paper, we study the evolution of cognitive and noncognitive skills gaps for children of immigrants between kindergarten and 5th grade using two recent cohorts of elementary school students. We find some evidence that children of immigrants begin school with lower math scores than children of natives, but this gap disappears in later elementary school. For noncognitive skills, children of immigrants and children of natives score similarly in early elementary school, but a positive gap opens up in 2nd grade. We find that the growth in noncognitive skills is driven by disadvantaged immigrant students. We discuss potential explanations for the observed patterns of skill development as well as the implications of our results for the labor market prospects of children of immigrants.
Peers, Parents, and Attitudes about School, Journal of Human Capital 14, no. 2 (Summer 2020): 290-342.
[ Abstract | Draft | Published Link ]
Educational attitudes are linked to long-term educational success through motivating effort and greater attention to the future. This study focuses on the role of friends and of parents in the school grade cohort in shaping adolescent attitude development. First, I explore the effect of friends' attitudes on an adolescent's attitudes. Second, I ask whether parental investments and educational expectations in the adolescent's school cohort can moderate the influence of friends on attitudes. I find that adolescents’ attitudes about school respond to friends’ attitudes and that parental educational expectations within a cohort can moderate the influence of friends on attitudes.
Identity Economics: Social Influence and Skill Development, Journal of Economic Surveys 33, no. 5 (2019): 1389-1408.
[ Abstract | Draft | Published Link ]
Within the economic literature, studies in identity economics, peer effects, and skill development have all suggested that social influences have an important role in determining choices. In this review, I draw on lessons learned from the identity economics literature to examine implications from the peer effects and skill development literature. I focus on the role of social identity in generating social group effects from peers and what role identity may have in shaping the development of skills from broader environments, parents and peers during childhood and adolescence.
Work in Progress
Handcuffing the Grabbing Hand: Evidence from China’s Anticorruption Campaign (with Quoc-Anh Do and Fei Xu)
Autocratic Capture of Development (with Daniel Borbely, Mathias Bühler, and Joris Mueller).
