Mark Hoekstra

Mark Hoekstra is the Larry Faulkner Professor of Economics in the School of Civic Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin.  He also holds appointments as a Research Fellow at IZA and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

In the classroom, Professor Hoekstra teaches Foundations of Research Methods for Civics, where he focuses on how statistical analysis is used, and abused, in research.  He is also scheduled to teach a UT Signature Course on the Economics of Sports and Competition, in which he introduces students to useful economic concepts through their applications to sports.

As a researcher, Professor Hoekstra aims to find new data and approaches to solve puzzles that are of interest both within and outside of economics.  In the context of education, Professor Hoekstra has used novel data sets to demonstrate significant returns to school quality, and that childhood peers impact academic achievement and adult earnings years later.  In the context of health, Professor Hoekstra’s study of data from a setting in which peers were randomly assigned indicated that friends’ poor physical fitness is in fact “contagious.”  Professor Hoekstra’s research in law and economics has examined the impact of Stand-Your-Ground laws on homicides and whether state laws can deter illegal immigration.  His research has also shown how a government program designed to increase new vehicle spending – the Cash for Clunkers stimulus program – actually reduced new vehicle spending over a period of less than a year.  Professor Hoekstra’s research has also demonstrated that personal bankruptcy is largely a consequence of behavior, rather than bad luck, given that very large random positive income shocks only postpone, rather than reduce, personal bankruptcy.  His work on elections has found that strict voter identification laws can have at most very small direct effects on voting for the simple reason that very few people vote without identification even when state law allows it.

EDUCATION
Ph.D. in Economics from University of Florida