Ariel Kalil
Professor, Harris School of Public Policy
Bio
Ariel Kalil is a Professor in the Harris School of Public Policy. At Harris, she directs the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy and co-directs the Behavioral Insights and Parenting Lab. Professor Kalil is a developmental psychologist who studies economic conditions, parenting, and child development. Her current research examines the historical evolution of income-based gaps in parenting behavior and children’s cognitive and non-cognitive skills. In addition, at the Behavioral Insights and Parenting Lab, she is leading a variety of field experiments designed to strengthen parental engagement and child development in low-income families using tools drawn from behavioral economics and neuroscience. Kalil has received the William T. Grant Foundation Faculty Scholars Award, the Changing Faces of America’s Children Young Scholars Award from the Foundation for Child Development, the National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship, and in 2003 she was the first-ever recipient of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Award for Early Research Contributions. Her current work is funded by NIH and by a number of private foundations.
Selected Publications
Klein, N., Lintz, K., Kalil, A., & Mayer, S. (2018, September). Helping parents follow through.
Behavioral Scientist. Included in “Nudge Turns 10: A Special Issue on Behavioral
Science in Public Policy.” Available at: https://behavioralscientist.org/helping-parentsfollow-through/
Price, J. & Kalil, A. (2018). The effect of parental time investments on children’s cognitive
achievement: Evidence from natural within-family variation, Child Development.
Corman, H., Dave, D., Kalil, A,. & Reichman, N. (2017). Effects of maternal work incentives on
youth crime. Labour Economics, 49, 128-144.
Duncan, G., Kalil, A., & Ziol-Guest, K. (2017). Increasing inequality in parent incomes and
children’s schooling. Demography, 54: 1603-1626.
Kalil, A., Ryan, R., & Corey, M. (2012). Diverging destinies: Maternal education and the developmental gradient in time with children. Demography, 49(4), 1361-1383.
Duncan, G. J., Ziol‐Guest, K. M., & Kalil, A. (2010). Early‐childhood poverty and adult attainment, behavior, and health. Child Development, 81(1), 306-325.
Yoshikawa, H., Weisner, T. S., Kalil, A., & Way, N. (2008). Mixing qualitative and quantitative research in developmental science: Uses and methodological choices. Developmental psychology, 44(2), 344.
DeLeire, T., & Kalil, A. (2002). Good things come in threes: Single-parent multigenerational family structure and adolescent adjustment. Demography, 39(2), 393-413.