Travis Williams

Travis Williams

PhD candidate in Economics

The University of Iowa

Biography

I am a doctoral candidate in economics at the University of Iowa interested in economics of education and labor economics. I will be available for interviews for the 2021-2022 job market.

Interests

  • Economics of education
  • Labor economics
  • Applied microeconomics

Education

  • Ph.D. in Economics, 2022 (Expected)

    The University of Iowa

  • M.A. in Economics, 2017

    The University of Iowa

  • B.A. in Economics, B.S. in Mathematics, 2014

    Brigham Young University

Working Papers

One Email to Students: Can a Light-Touch Intervention Make a Difference? (Job Market Paper)

Poor performance in introductory courses and lack of individualized assistance may contribute to college non-completion. This research aims to identify the effects of increased, personalized instructor feedback on performance in introductory college courses. We conduct an experiment in which poorly-performing students in large lectures are randomized to receive individualized communication through email about their course performance along with a reminder of their instructors’ out-of-class availability. Half of the treated students receive an email from the professor, while the other half receive an email from their teaching assistant. We compare the efficacy of outreach from professors to outreach from teaching assistants. We find that neither treatment measurably increases course performance or perception of instructor quality. Emails from professors decrease attendance at TA office hours, suggesting that students view professor and TA office hours as substitutes. Both types of emails increase the frequency at which students seek help from the email’s sender, but do not increase the frequency at which students seek help from the other, non-sending instructor, even though all emails contain office hour information for both the professor and the TA. Thus, changing the identity of the sender changes the effects of the nudge, which has implications for the scale-up of nudging programs. If messages come from a source that is impersonal or unknown to the recipient, the nudges may be less effective than those in a small-scale study where sender and recipient have a closer relationship.

Works in Progress

The effects of online sections on immediate student decisions and longer-term outcomes

This study evaluates enrollment in and outcomes from online classes. Most studies that evaluate causal impacts of online college classes are randomized trials. These studies largely find that students taking online sections of a course perform worse than their peers in face-to-face sections, but do not consider the possibility that without the option of an online section some students may choose not to take a course at all instead of taking it face-to-face. I use a regression discontinuity design with waitlist data from the University of Iowa to estimate the effects of online classes in a way that accounts for this possibility. I find that for students on a waitlist for an online section, being offered a seat in that section greatly increases the likelihood that students will take the course at all and also increases the number of related courses that students take. Any negative effect that online sections have relative to face-to-face on these related future courses is small enough to be outweighed by the effect of access to the course. Access to the waitlisted online section has at most a small, positive impact on the number of credits that students take that session, and in most cases does not impact how quickly they graduate. Being admitted to an online section increases opportunities to take the course of interest and has a modest influence on the discipline of future courses.

Teaching

ECON 1100: Principles of Microeconomics

The University of Iowa

  • Instructor: Summer 2017

  • TA: Fall 2015 - Spring 2018, Spring 2019 - Spring 2021

ECON 478: Game Theory and Economics

Brigham Young University

  • TA: Winter 2014

MATH 302: Mathematics for Engineering 1

Brigham Young University

  • TA: Winter 2009, Fall 2011-Winter 2012

Contact