ד"ר לימור חצור

                        L.L.B and B.A–          1999-2004 – Tel-Aviv University –

Law – Magna Cum Laude,

Economics – Summa Cum Laude

                        M.A. / M.Sc. –            2003-2005 – Tel-Aviv University –

Economics – Summa Cum Laude

                                                            Advisor: Prof. Itzhak Zilcha  

                                                            Title of M.A thesis: ‘Human Capital, Public 

Education, Inequality and Growth’.

                        Ph.D. –                        2005-2013 – Tel-Aviv University – Economics

                                                            Advisor: Prof. Itzhak Zilcha  

                                                            Title of Ph.D thesis: ‘The Allocation of Public

                                                            Education Resources’

Post-Doctoral Fellowships –

                                    2013-2014, 2016-2018 – The Hebrew            

                                    University, Bar Ilan University – Economics

                                    Advisor: Prof. Arthur Fishman

Visiting Scholar –

                                    2014-2016 –The University of Texas at Austin  

                                    and Southern Methodist University

Lecturer –                    2009-2020 –

                        Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT), Ariel  

                        University, The College of Management

                        Academic Studies (COLMAN), Bar Ilan

                        University, Tel Aviv University

Legal internship –       2004-2005 – Kantor, Elhanani, Tal & Co. Law

Offices, Tel Aviv

The work included preparation of statements of claims and defense, preparation of contracts and court hearings, and other legal assistance and legal research in various fields of Commercial Law in a leading Israeli Law firm

2001-2003 – The Eitan Berglas School of Economics, Tel Aviv 

University – Merit-based scholarship for M.A. studies

2004 – The Eitan Berglas School of Economics, Tel Aviv University – Prize for an outstanding M.A research thesis

2004 – Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences, Tel Aviv University – an Excellence Scholarship

2009-2010 – The Eitan Berglas School of Economics, Tel Aviv 

University – Merit-based scholarship for Ph.D studies

2006-2009 – Tel Aviv University, the president and rector – Special merit-based scholarship for Ph.D. studies for excellent students

2013 – The Eitan Berglas School of Economics, Tel Aviv 

                                    University – Prize for an outstanding Ph.D research thesis

2016-2018 – Post-Doctoral Scholarship, Bar Ilan University

Fields of interest: Economics of Education, Labor Economics, Law and Economics.

a. Summary of Past Research and Development Activities

My past research investigates a variety of questions concerning the allocation of public education resources including the relationship of government expenditure to students’ achievements, inefficiencies, the effect of skill-biased technological changes on publicly financed teacher quality and teacher quantity, the organization of funding schemes for higher education, and the efficiency of disciplinary actions against malpractice of firms. I published four articles in academic journals (the publications are listed in section 6), and I continue working on these topics and on other new topics, including gender inequality and the labor supply of mothers.

b. Summary of Current Research and Development Activities

 Working papers

 Breastfeeding and labor supply of new mothers: evidence from a baby formula hazard realization, joint with Ity Shurtz, Ben Gurion University

We use a product safety hazard realization in the baby formula market in Israel in 2003 as a plausible natural experiment to study the causal relationship between breastfeeding and new mothers' labor supply. We find that the likelihood of households with new mothers to consume baby formula decreased by about 15 percent, suggesting an increase in breastfeeding. In turn, first-time new mothers delayed their return to work. Specifically, analysis of administrative data covering the universe of births in the country shows that average months worked in the _rst six months after childbirth fell by about 4 percent. This effect is driven by new mothers from above-median income households. The results indicate that breastfeeding is a key factor in new mothers' employment decisions.

Universities vs. Colleges: Is Heterogeneity in Higher Education Desirable? joint with Itzhak Zilcha, Tel-Aviv University

    In many countries, there is an ongoing debate on the public funding of their growing higher education (HE) system. Our goal is to examine the theoretical justification for the establishment of HE institutions, subsidized or unsubsidized by the government. We study non-stationary equilibria of an OLG economy in a hierarchical education system. Given the capacity constraints of the Universities, we explore the impact of adding new institutions, to be called Colleges, to the HE system, focusing on two issues. Given that Colleges are less productive than Universities, (a) Should the government establish Colleges? (b) Should the government divert budgets from Universities to Colleges?   Based on long-run economic growth considerations, we obtain positive answers to both questions. Then, we compare several policies of student subsidies. We show that implementing merit-based subsidies within each institution may cause a shift of students to a lower quality level of education. However, directing subsidies to disadvantaged students in each institution may alleviate the downgrading of the stock of human capital in the economy. Our results suggest that much caution is needed in the implementation of student subsidies, in order to avoid distortion in the selection of students across heterogenous institutions. Our model also accounts for several stylized facts over time, (1) the increase in the number of institutions and students; (2) the decline in College admission standards; (3) the decline in public budget per student and the corresponding increase in net student out-of-pocket payments. 

'The more the merrier? The efficiency of disciplinary actions against malpractice of firms', joint with Artyom Jelnov, Ariel University

In a world of experience goods, consumers reveal the product quality after purchase, but cannot observe whether they encounter a low-quality product because of malpractice (low effort of producers) or because of bad luck. This well-known market failure impairs the incentives of producers to invest effort in production. In this article, we examine the interaction between two ex-post means to alleviate this market failure, costly lawsuits pursued by consumers and inspection of malpractice by the government. Our results suggest that government inspectors may alleviate malpractice in the equilibrium but not in all circumstances. Specifically, the reliance of consumers on the government inspection may discourage them from pursuing lawsuits. Under plausible assumptions about the productivity and cost of the inspectors, this crowding-out of consumers by the government harms the incentives of producers to excel effort in the equilibrium. In this case, the government intervention reinforces the market failure.

'Higher Education Funding – The Value of Choice', joint with Ronen Bar-El, Open University

An alternative to the dependence on traditional student loans may offer a viable relief from the tremendous burden that those loans usually incur. This article explores the implications of governmental intervention to grant students 'more choice' in their funding decisions by allowing them to have portfolios, mixtures of different types of loans. To study this point, we present a model where students invest in higher education while facing uncertainty about their individual earning potential. The model reveals that when students are allowed to have portfolios of loans, some of them indeed take the opportunity and diversify their loans, benefiting themselves, but also improving the loan terms of other students. Therefore, when governments organize student loans, it is essential to consider providing students with more choice in their funding decisions.

c. Future Directions for Research and Development.

 The gender wage gap and the motherhood penalty: A theoretical framework, joint with Naomi Friedman-Sokuler, Bar Ilan University

Reconciling work and motherhood involves challenging decisions for women. Considering their time allocation between work and home, the length of maternity leave may have considerable implications on their future career paths. Besides the direct effect on working hours, a longer maternity leave may generate a negative signal to potential employers. We develop a human capital model in which heterogenous mothers choose between two contracts: a 'Motherhood track' with relatively low wages vs. a 'Career-track' where mothers are 'punished' for taking voluntary maternity leaves. The punishment is manifested through a reduction in wages that acts as a 'tax' (on top of the forgone wages during maternity leave). We obtain analytical results regarding how mothers react to different voluntary and compulsory maternity leave policies. We substantiate our results using evidence from the National Insurance Institute of Israel on women's wages and maternity leaves.

Compulsory schooling laws, ethnicity and social opportunity, joint with Sarit Cohen Goldner, Bar Ilan University

     The high school dropout rates have not changed much in the United States over the last thirty years, and have been consistently higher among Blacks and Hispanics. Policymakers and administrators often pursue ways to reduce the number of dropouts and increase the college attendance considering their well-known contribution to the earnings potential, employment and health outcomes and to the economic growth. The aim of this proposal is to examine whether raising the school-leaving age and strengthening the enforcement of compulsory schooling laws may serve as effective means to increase education attainment among the least educated. For this purpose, we will use 1990 and 2000 Census microdata to empirically estimate the impact of compulsory schooling laws on high school enrollment of different ethnic groups. Our preliminary figures imply that increasing the school-leaving age to eighteen combined with tougher enforcement may provide a potential mechanism to improve the social opportunity of different ethnic groups by possibly lowering their dropout rates and increase their average years of schooling.

Grade Standardization and Grade Inflation – the TAU experiment

     Grade inflation, the increase in grades over time in higher education institutions across the United States and other countries, has been a subject of concern in recent decades. Grades are mainly a signaling device that provides information on student abilities. This information is valuable to students (in identifying their strengths), financial aid officers (in allocating student funding), graduate schools (in making admission decisions), and potential employers (in screening job applicants). When grades increase over time they may eventually cease to deliver essential information on abilities. Student behavior aggravates the problem, in that they tend to enroll to courses that have granted high grades in the past. To overcome this problem, higher education institutions have adopted various grading standardization reforms. This study analyzes the consequences of grading policies adopted by the Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University in the years 1990-2006. The main goal of the policies was to reduce grade differences between courses and eliminate grade inflation over time. Based on student-course level data, we examine whether the new grading policies achieved their goals and how they affected student behavior. Specifically, we examine whether the new grading policies have reduced the incentives of students (especially low-ability ones) to select courses with initially higher grades, alleviating the grade inflation.

University Rating and Student Debt, joint with Saltuk Ozerturk

     We study three patterns observed in many developed countries: the increase in university ratings, the increase in enrollment to higher education, and the increase in student debt. In the model, individuals invest in higher education when the returns to their investment are uncertain. They choose their effort in higher education based on some information on their individual skills and the university rating. In this economic framework, a rise in university rating over time (without a coinciding increase in productivity) may increase student investment in

Peer-Reviewed Papers in Refereed Journals

1. Limor Hatsor, 2012, 'Occupational Choice: Teacher Quality Versus Teacher Quantity', Labour Economics – 19 – Pages 608-623.

Impact factor: 1.37. H index: 70, citations: 7, Q1.

2. Limor Hatsor, 2014, 'Allocation of Resources in Educational Production: The Budget Puzzle', Journal of Public Economic Theory – 16(6) – Pages 854-883.

Impact factor: 0.78. H index: 31, citations: 7, Q1.

3. Limor Hatsor, 2015, 'Higher Education Funding: The value of

                  Information', Economic Letters – 137 – Pages 230-233.

Impact factor: 0.86. H index: 92, citations: 5, Q1.

4. Ronen Bar-El, Limor Hatsor, Yossef Tobol, 2020, 'Home production, market substitutes, and the labor supply of mothers', Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization – 171 – Pages 378–390.

Impact factor: 1.48. H index: 108, Q1.

Revise and Resubmit

5. Limor Hatsor and Itzhak Zilcha – 'Universities vs. Colleges: Is Heterogeneity in Higher Education Desirable?' Journal of Public Economic Theory.

Impact factor: 0.78. H index: 31, Q1.

Under revision

6. Limor Hatsor and Ronen Bar-El, 'Higher Education Funding – The Value of Choice', Journal of Public Economic Theory.

Impact factor: 0.78. H index: 31, Q1.

Submitted

7. Limor Hatsor and Ity Shurtz – 'Breastfeeding and labor supply of new mothers: evidence from a baby formula hazard realization'.

8. Limor Hatsor and Artyom Jelnov – 'The more the merrier? Disciplinary actions against malpractice'.

                              2011-2013 – Limor Hatsor, principal investigator, The Sanbar                                

                              Institute for Public Economics – Grant for research on                               

                              ‘Efficient Funding of Higher Education’

                              2018-2020 – Limor Hatsor and Ity Shurtz, principal investigators,                                     

                              The National Insurance Institute – Grant for research on ‘The

                              Remedia event as a natural experiment – maternity leaves,                                

                              breastfeeding, health and cognitive skills of children’

                              2020 – Limor Hatsor and Artyom Jelnov, principal investigators,

                              Heth Academic Center for Research of Competition and                               

                              Regulation – Grant for research on 'Efficient implementation of  

                              Circular Economy'

a. Journal refereeing

The Journal of Public Economic Theory, International Economic Review

 b. Other refereeing

Israeli Science Foundation's research grants

c. Conference organization

2018 – Co-organizer of the workshop on 'Perceptions and public policies' at Bar Ilan University sponsored by 'Friends of Israel Educational Foundation, Academic Study Group' (ASG), the Center for Economic Growth and Policy (CEGAP), at Durham University Business School, The Schnitzer Foundation for Research on the Israel Economy and Society and the Sir Isacc Wolfson Chair in Economics at Bar Ilan University

d. Conference lectures

(a)        Presentation of papers at conferences

2006, 2007 – 2^nd and 3^rd Core summer school on Economic Analysis of Heterogeneity in Social Organizations, Belgium

2010-2012 – Annual meeting of Israel Economic Association

2010 – The annual conference of the Association for Public

Economic Theory (APET) at Bogazici University, Istanbul

2011 – The annual conference of the European Association of Labour Economists, Cyprus

2012 – The European meeting of the Econometric Society,

Malaga

2013 – The annual conference of APET at Catolica, Lisbon

2017 – The annual conference of APET at University Paris II;

Annual meeting of Israel Economic Association; Ariel conference on the political economy of public policy, Ariel University

2018 – Conference on the Future of Gender Equality, the Israeli Ministry of Science; Workshop on 'Perceptions and public policies' at Bar Ilan University; The Annual Conference of the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics (Earie), Athens; Annual meeting of Israel Economic Association

2019 – The 2019 Meeting of the European Public Choice Society (EPCS) at the Hebrew University; The annual conference of APET at Strasbourg, France

2020 – Virtual Environmental Protection and Circular Economy day at Heth Academic Center for Research of Competition and Regulation; The Econometric Society and Bocconi University Virtual World Congress, session chair

(b)  Seminar presentations at universities

2006-2013 – Seminars at Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv University, Ben Gurion University and Haifa University

2014-2016 – Seminars at Southern Methodist University

2017-2018 – Seminars at Bar Ilan University, IDC, Ariel and Ben Gurion University

(d)  Other presentations

2018 – The Prime Minister's office, director of regulatory policy

2017 – The Antitrust authority, Israel

(e)  Attendances

2008 – EEA annual meeting in Bocconi University, Milan

Summer School of Economic Growth in the Hebrew University

2014 – Stata TX empirical microeconomics conference at Southern Methodist University

2017,2018 – 7^th and 8^th Annual Israeli I.O Day: Industrialization, regulation and competition policy in Israel; The 10^th annual conference of the Israeli chapter of the Game Theory Society (my article was presented by a co-author)

2020 – Circular Economy IL Summit

f. Courses taught

Introduction to research methods, Imperfect competition – JCT

Economic Policy in Practice – JCT, COLMAN

Introduction to Econometrics – Ariel University

Economics of Education – COLMAN, Bar Ilan University

Economic aspects of social work – The Shapell School of Social work, Tel Aviv University

1. Course materials developed

(a)        Course preparation

            2009-2018 – The Hebrew University, Tel Aviv    

            University, Ariel University, COLMAN, JCT –

Growth and Inequality, Introduction to Economics, Introduction to Econometrics, Economics of Education, Public Economics for MA, Introduction to research methods, Economic Policy in Practice

(b)       Teaching assistance

2003-2009 – Tel Aviv University, IDC, COLMAN –

Intermediate Micro A and B, Insurance Economics, Introduction to Econometrics, Introduction to game theory and economic analysis of the law.

(b)       Research assistance

2004-2005, 2010-2011 – Itzhak Zilcha – Tel Aviv University, Insurance Economics, Economics of Education

2013-2014 – Ity Shurtz – The Hebrew University, empirical research