Peter Mueser

Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1983
Labor and economic policy, with an emphasis on programs to aid disadvantaged workers and their families
Peter Mueser is Frederick A. Middlebush Professor of Economics, in the Department of Economics and the Truman School of Public Affairs. His work focuses on the design and implementation of analysis and evaluation of labor market programs and institutions, largely focused on programs designed to benefit disadvantaged workers in the labor market and to support families facing economic setbacks. His work includes the examination of programs designed to enhance job search skills and aid workers in obtaining employment, programs that support the development of productivity-enhancing skills through vocational training (WIA, TAA, for-profit schools), programs to support educational signaling (high school equivalency), and programs to aid families facing labor market hardship (food stamps/SNAP and interaction with the Unemployment Insurance benefits).
Professor Mueser has recently published papers providing an evaluation of job search assistance programs during the Great Recession based on a random assignment experimental design (Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2018). Two recent papers use regression discontinuity methods to evaluate the labor market impacts of high school equivalency certification (Journal of Labor Economics, 2017, and Journal of Political Economy, 2016). Recent studies examine food stamp (SNAP) and Unemployment Insurance programs which aid families facing labor market hardship (Upjohn Institute, forthcoming). He has also undertaken propensity score matching method in evaluations of the WIA job training program and the Trade Adjustment Assistance program (IZA Journal of Labor Economics, 2013). Earlier work provided nonexperimental evaluations of the JTPA training program (Review of Economics and Statistics, 2007), and training programs for TANF recipients (Journal of Labor Economics, 2006).
Economics 9447: Advance Empirical Methods
Economics 4320/7320: History of Economic Thought
Economics 4004: The Economics of Discrimination
Food Stamps and the Working Poor
Peter Mueser, David Ribar, Erdal Tekin
Upjohn Press: Kalamazoo, Michigan (forthcoming)
Program Participation in the Show Me State: Missouri Responds to the Great Recession
Collen Heflin, Peter Mueser
In David Stevens and Michael Wiseman (editors), Strengths of the Social Safety Net in the Great Recession: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and Unemployment Insurance
Upjohn Press: Kalamazoo, Michigan (forthcoming)
Are Reemployment Services Effective? Experimental Evidence from the Great Recession
Marios Michaelides, Peter Mueser
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (vol. 37, no. 3, Summer 2018), pp. 546-570.
Second Chance for High School Dropouts? A Regression Discontinuity Analysis of Postsecondary Educational Returns to the GED
Christopher Jepsen, Peter Mueser, Kenneth Troske
Journal of Labor Economics (vol. 35, no. S1, July 2017), pp. S273-S304
Labor-market Returns to the GED Using Regression Discontinuity Analysis
Christopher Jepsen, Peter Mueser, Kenneth Troske
Journal of Political Economy, vol. 124, no. 3, June 2016
The Great Recession and SNAP Caseloads: A Tale of Two States
Mark Edwards, Collen Heflin, Peter Mueser, Suzamme Porter, Bruce Weber
Journal of Poverty (vol. 20, no. 3, 2016), pp. 261-277
Do Public Employment and Training Programs Work?
Carolyn Heinrich, Peter Mueser, Kenneth Troske, Kyung-Seong Jeon, Daver Kahvecioglu
IZA Journal of Labor Economics (vol. 2, no. 6, 2013), pp. 1-23
The Impact of Welfare Reform on Leaver Characteristics, Employment and Recidivism: An Analysis of Maryland and Missouri
Peter Mueser, David. Stevens, Kenneth Troske
In Welfare Reform and Its Long-Term Consequences for America's Poor, edited by J. Ziliak. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Using State Administrative Data to Measure Program Performance
Peter Mueser, Kenneth Troske, Alexey Gorislavsky
Review of Economics and Statistics (vol. 89, no. 4, November 2007), pp. 761-783
Race, Bureaucratic Discretion, and the Implementation of Welfare Reform
Lael Keiser, Peter Mueser, Seung-Whan Choi
American Journal of Political Science (vol. 48, no. 2, April 2004), pp. 314-327