Cecilia Rouse

Rouse is currently on leave from Princeton University, where she is the Theodore A. Wells '29 Professor of Economics and Public Affairs. She has been a senior editor of The Future of Children and the Journal of Labor Economics. Her research focuses on labor economics and the economics of education. Recent research includes studying Florida’s school accountability and voucher programs, technology-based programs in schools in large urban districts, strategies for increasing educational attainment among community college students, and the impact of student loans on post-college occupational choices. Other topics have included the study of the economic benefit of community college attendance, the Milwaukee Parent Choice Program, and the effects of education inputs on student achievement. She has also studied the existence of discrimination in symphony orchestras, unions in South Africa, and the effect of financial aid on college matriculation. Rouse is the founding director of the Princeton University Education Research Section, and has been the director of the Industrial Relations Section. She was a member of the MacArthur Foundation’s Research Network on the Transition to Adulthood. Rouse served in the National Economic Council under President William J. Clinton from 1998 to 1999. She received her Ph.D in economics from Harvard University.