Research

Recent Publications

• Bird, Kelli A., and Benjamin L. Castleman. Forthcoming. “Do Financial Incentives Increase the Take-Up and Impact of Large-Scale Programs? Experimental Evidence from a National College Advising Initiative.” Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics. [Ungated]
• Xu, Di, Kelli A. Bird, Michael Cooper, and Benjamin L. Castleman. 2026. “Noncredit Workforce Training, Industry Credentials, and Labor Market Outcomes.” Journal of Public Economics.
• Bird, Kelli A., and Benjamin L. Castleman. 2026. “Do Embedded Supports Promote Engaged Learning? Experimental Evidence on Resource Use among Community College Students.” AEA Papers and Proceedings.
• Barr, Andrew C., and Benjamin L. Castleman. 2025. “Increasing Degree Attainment among Low-Income Students: The Role of Intensive Advising and College Quality.” American Economic Review.
• Kuan, Robert, Kristin Blagg, Benjamin L. Castleman, Rajeev Darolia, Jordan D. Matsudaira, Katherine L. Milkman, and Lesley J. Turner. 2025. “Behavioral Nudges Prevent Loan Delinquencies at Scale: A 13-Million-Person Field Experiment.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
• Bird, Kelli A., Benjamin L. Castleman, and Yifeng Song. 2025. “Are Algorithms Biased in Education? Exploring Racial Bias in Predicting Community College Student Success.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.
• Meyer, Katharine, Kelli A. Bird, and Benjamin L. Castleman. 2025. “Stacking the Deck for Employment Success: Labor Market Returns to Stackable Credentials.” Journal of Human Resources. [Ungated]
• Barr, Andrew C., Kelli A. Bird, Benjamin L. Castleman, and William L. Skimmyhorn. 2025. “Can Information and Advising Affect Postsecondary Participation and Attainment for Military Personnel? Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment with the U.S. Army.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.
• Bird, Kelli A., Benjamin L. Castleman, Yifeng Song, and Renzhe Yu. 2025. “Is Big Data Better? LMS Data and Prediction Accuracy in Postsecondary Education.” Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness. [Ungated]

Working Papers

• Castleman, Benjamin L., Denise Deutschlander, and Gabrielle Lohner. “Pushing College Advising Forward: Experimental Evidence on Intensive Advising and College Success.”
• Bird, Kelli A., and Benjamin L. Castleman. “Meeting People Where They Are: Experimental Evidence on Embedded Supports, Service Use, and Educational Outcomes.”
• Barr, Andrew C., and Benjamin L. Castleman. Labor market returns to intensive college advising: evidence from a randomized trial linked to federal earnings records.
• Bird, Kelli A., and Benjamin L. Castleman. Experimental evidence from a five-cohort randomized trial of near-peer virtual remote advising.

Full list of publications in my CV.