Charles T. Clotfelter

Professor in the Department of Economics
Charles Clotfelter is Z. Smith Reynolds Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics and Law at Duke University, where he has taught since 1979. He is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. His major research interests are in the economics of education, the nonprofit sector, and public finance.
He is the author of Unequal Colleges in the Age of Disparity (Harvard University Press, 2017), Big-Time Sports in American Universities (Cambridge University Press, 2011), After Brown: The Rise and Retreat of School Desegregation(Princeton University Press, 2004), Buying the Best: Cost Escalation in Elite Higher Education (Princeton University Press, 1996), and Federal Tax Policy and Charitable Giving (University of Chicago Press, 1985). He is also coauthor (with Philip Cook) of Selling Hope: State Lotteries in America (Princeton University Press, 1989) and has coauthored or edited five other books pertaining to higher education and the nonprofit sector. He was co-winner of the Gladys M. Kammerer prize, awarded by the American Political Science Association for the best political science publication in the field of U.S. national policy in 2004, forAfter Brown: The Rise and Retreat of School Desegregation. In 2011, he was selected to give the Spencer Foundation Award Lecture at the meetings of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. In 2015 he was elected to the National Academy of Education.
Clotfelter received a B.A. from Duke University in 1969, where he majored in history, summa cum laude, and he received a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University in 1974. Before coming to Duke, he taught at the University of Maryland, spending his last year there on leave at the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Tax Analysis. While at Duke, he has served as vice provost for academic policy and planning, vice chancellor, vice provost for academic programs, and associate dean of academic programs at the Sanford School of Public Policy. He has also served as president of the Southern Economic Association. During the 2005/06 year he was a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation. During the 2013/14 year he was a fellow at the Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law and Justice, at the N.Y.U. School of Law.
He was born in Birmingham, Ala., and grew up in Atlanta, Ga.
Education
- Ph.D., Harvard University 1974
- Journal Articles
- Books
- Book Sections
- Scholarly Editions
- Conference Papers
- Reports
- Digital Publications
- Other
Brint, S., and C. T. Clotfelter. “U.S. Higher education effectiveness.” Rsf 2, no. 1 (April 1, 2016): 2–37. https://doi.org/10.7758/rsf.2016.2.1.01. Full Text
Brint, S., and C. T. Clotfelter. “Overview of the volume.” Rsf 2, no. 1 (April 1, 2016): 38–40. https://doi.org/10.7758/rsf.2016.2.1.02. Full Text
Clotfelter, C. T., H. F. Ladd, C. Muschkin, and J. L. Vigdor. “Developmental education in North Carolina community colleges.” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 37, no. 3 (January 1, 2015): 354–75. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373714547267. Full Text
Clotfelter, C. T., H. F. Ladd, C. G. Muschkin, and J. L. Vigdor. “Success in Community College: Do Institutions Differ?.” Research in Higher Education 54, no. 7 (November 1, 2013): 805–24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-013-9295-6. Full Text
Berube, M., G. S. Brown, C. Clotfelter, M. W. Finkin, C. R. Nelson, C. Newfield, D. D. Wood, D. M. Rabban, R. G. Ehrenberg, and J. E. Kurland. “The role of the faculty in conditions of financial exigency.” Academe 99, no. 4 (July 1, 2013): 120–47.
Clotfelter, Charles T., Helen F. Ladd, and Jacob L. Vigdor. “New destinations, new trajectories? The educational progress of Hispanic youth in North Carolina..” Child Development 83, no. 5 (September 2012): 1608–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01797.x. Full Text
Clotfelter, C. T. “After 'Brown': The rise and retreat of school desegregation.” After “Brown”: The Rise and Retreat of School Desegregation, October 16, 2011.
Clotfelter, C. T., H. F. Ladd, and J. L. Vigdor. “Teacher Mobility, school Segregation, and Pay-Based policies to level the playing field.” Education Finance and Policy 6, no. 3 (June 1, 2011): 399–438. https://doi.org/10.1162/EDFP_a_00040. Full Text
Clotfelter, C. T., H. F. Ladd, and J. L. Vigdor. “Teacher credentials and student achievement in high school: A cross-subject analysis with student fixed effects.” Journal of Human Resources 45, no. 3 (January 1, 2010): 655–81. https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.45.3.655. Full Text
Clotfelter, C. T., H. F. Ladd, and J. L. Vigdor. “The academic achievement gap in grades 3 to 8.” Review of Economics and Statistics 91, no. 2 (May 1, 2009): 398–419. https://doi.org/10.1162/rest.91.2.398. Full Text
Pages
Clotfelter, C. T. After "Brown": The rise and retreat of school desegregation, 2011.
Clotfelter, C. T. Big-Time sports in American Universities, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511976902. Full Text
Clotfelter, Charles T., and Philip J. Cook. Selling Hope: State Lotteries in America, 1989.
Clotfelter, C. T. “Milliken and the prospects for racial diversity in U.S. public schools.” In The Pursuit of Racial and Ethnic Equality in American Public Schools: Mendez, Brown, and Beyond, 315–37, 2014.
Clotfelter, C. “Comments.” In Collective Decision Making: Applications from Public Choice Theory, 11:196–98, 2013. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315064468. Full Text
Clotfelter, C. “Patron or Bully? The Role of Foundations in Higher Education.” In Reconnecting Education & Foundations: Turning Good Intentions Into Educational Capital, 211–48. Jossey-Bass, 2007.
Clotfelter, C. T. “Gambling Taxes.” In Theory and Practice of Excise Taxation: Smoking, Drinking, Gambling, Polluting, and Driving, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1093/0199278598.003.0004. Full Text
Clotfelter, C. T., S. W. Hemelt, and H. F. Ladd. “MULTIFACETED AID FOR LOW-INCOME STUDENTS AND COLLEGE OUTCOMES: EVIDENCE FROM NORTH CAROLINA,” January 1, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.12486. Full Text
Ladd, H. F., C. T. Clotfelter, and J. B. Holbein. “The growing segmentation of the charter school sector in North Carolina,” October 1, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00226. Full Text
Clotfelter, Charles T., Helen F. Ladd, and Jacob L. Vigdor. “Algebra for 8th Graders: Evidence on its Effects from 10 North Carolina Districts,” December 2012.
Clotfelter, C., H. Ladd, and J. Vigdor. “How and Why Do Teacher Credentials Matter for Student Achievement?,” 2007.
Clotfelter, Charles T., and Philip J. Cook. “The Demand for Lottery Products,” April 1989.
Clotfelter, C. T., H. F. Ladd, and J. L. Vigdor. “Classroom-level segregation and resegregation in North Carolina,” 70–86, 2009.
Clotfelter, C. T., H. F. Ladd, and J. L. Vigdor. “The aftermath of accelerating algebra: Evidence from district policy initiatives,” January 1, 2015. https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.50.1.159. Full Text
Clotfelter, C. T., H. F. Ladd, and J. L. Vigdor. “Teacher credentials and student achievement: Longitudinal analysis with student fixed effects,” December 1, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2007.10.002. Full Text
Clotfelter, C., and C. Cook, Philip J. “State Lotteries at the Turn of the Century: Report to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission,” June 1, 1999. Open Access Copy
Clotfelter, C. “Is Sports in Your Mission Statement?.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 24, 2010. Open Access Copy
Clotfelter, C. “80 years of trade-offs in college sports.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 27, 2009. Open Access Copy
Clotfelter, C., and C. Cook, Philip J. “What if the Lottery were Run for Lottery Players?.” Raleigh News and Observer, March 1, 2007. Open Access Copy
Clotfelter, C., C. Ladd, Helen, and C. Vigdor, Jacob. “Surprising Success Among Hispanic students.” Duke Today, June 12, 2006. Open Access Copy
Clotfelter, C. “The Decline of Diversity in Our Schools.” The Washington Post, May 15, 2004. Open Access Copy
Clotfelter, C., and E. Chemerinsky. “The Death of Segregation.” News & Observer, 2007.
Clotfelter, C., and E. Chemerinsky. “Abandoning the Promise.” Baltimore Sun, 2007.
Pages
Selected Grants
Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research - CALDER awarded by (Co Investigator). 2013 to 2018
Exploring the Linkages Between Post-Secondary School and Labor Market Success awarded by (Co Investigator). 2011 to 2014
An Analysis of State Lotteries awarded by (Principal Investigator). 1998 to 1999