Prior to his appointment, he was a postdoctoral scholar at the Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 2014, and his B.A. in economics and math from Columbia University in 2005. His research is in the field of labor and public economics, and is focused on public policies targeted at families, including the child support program and housing policies related to eviction and neighborhood development. His work has been supported by the Spencer Foundation, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, the W.E. Upjohn Foundation, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Arnold Foundation as part of their program “Using Linked Data to Advance Evidence-Based Policymaking.”