Overview
Sarah Komisarow is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Economics in the Sanford School of Public Policy, a Faculty Affiliate of the Center for Child & Family Policy, and a Faculty Scholar at the Duke University Population Research Institute. She is an applied microeconomist with research interests in the economics of education and K-12 education policy. She graduated from Duke University with a B.A. in Public Policy Studies in 2008 and from the University of Chicago with a M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics in 2012 and 2016, respectively. Her personal website can be accessed here: https://sites.google.com/site/sarahkomisarow/home
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Assistant Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy
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2016 - Present
Sanford School of Public Policy
Assistant Professor of Economics
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2018 - Present
Economics,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Affiliate of the Center for Child and Family Policy
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2025 - Present
Center for Child and Family Policy,
Sanford School of Public Policy
Recent Publications
When does crime respond to punishment?: Evidence from drug-free school zones
Journal Article Journal of Urban Economics · May 1, 2025 Economic theory suggests that crime should respond to punishment severity. However, empirical evidence on this link is ambiguous. We propose one explanation for this discrepancy: Punishments deter crime but only when the probability of detection is moderat ... Full text CiteSCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CARE AND ABSENTEEISM: EVIDENCE FROM TELEMEDICINE
Journal Article Education Finance and Policy · March 1, 2024 The prevalence of school-based health care has increased markedly over the past decade. We study a modern mode of school-based health care, telemedicine, that offers the potential to reach places and populations with historically low access to such care. S ... Full text CiteCAN COMMUNITY CRIME MONITORING REDUCE STUDENT ABSENTEEISM?
Journal Article Education Finance and Policy · March 1, 2023 In this paper we study the impact on student absenteeism of a large, school-based community crime monitoring program that employed local community members to monitor and report crime on designated city blocks during times when students traveled to and from ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
The Impacts of Guns in High Schools
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Russell Sage Foundation · 2025 - 2027Hunt-CCFP Research Fellows
Institutional SupportResearch Scientist · Awarded by James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy Foundation. · 2020 - 2021View All Grants
Education, Training & Certifications
The University of Chicago ·
2016
Ph.D.
The University of Chicago ·
2012
M.A.
Duke University ·
2008
B.A.