Wagner School of Public Service and NYU Institute for Education and Social Policy (IESP). Dr. Corcoran earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2003. Among other things, his research focuses on human capital in the teaching profession, the economics of school choice, and state and local public finance. His published papers have examined long-run trends in teacher quality, the impact of income inequality and school finance reform on the level and equity of education funding in the United States, the properties of “value-added” measures of teacher effectiveness, and the high school choices of middle school students in New York City.