William Arbour
I am currently a PhD candidate in economics at the University of Toronto. I will join the University of Montreal as an assistant professor in June 2023.
My job market paper studies the effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy on incarcerated offenders using novel micro data.
My current research agenda focuses on ways to encourage inmates' social reintegration through, for instance, rehabilitation programs and supervised transition. More broadly, I am interested in the economics of crime and education, and labor economics.
CV
Please, find the most up-to-date version of my CV here.
Research
Job market paper
Can Recidivism Be Prevented from Behind Bars? Evidence from a Behavioral Program
Working Papers
Prison Rehabilitation Programs: Efficiency and Targeting (with Steeve Marchand and Guy Lacroix)
Can Parole Reduce Both Time Served and Crime? (with Steeve Marchand)
status: new draft coming soon! (email me for an early draft)
Work in progress
Propelling Occupations (with David Price)
Predicting (and Misclassifying) Offenders' Risk (with Sébastien Brouillette-Alarie, Guy Giguère, Guy Lacroix and Steeve Marchand)
What Does a Good Teacher Sound Like? (with Marlène Koffi and Philip Oreopoulos)
Peer Effects and Prison Programming
Teaching
Instructor
I developed and taught the course Introduction to Policy Evaluation, in which students are introduced to econometric methods such as difference-in-differences, instrumental variables and regression discontinuity. During the semester, the students dive into quantitative research by watching interviews I conducted with researchers. I am currently teaching this course for the second time.
I was also the main instructor for a course on Economics and crime.
Syllabi are available upon request.
Teaching Assistant
Principles of Microeconomics, Quantitative Methods (x3), Health Economics, Applied Econometrics (x3), Law and Economics