About

Roland G. Fryer, Jr. is a Professor of Economics at Harvard University whose research integrates economic theory, empirical evidence, and randomized experiments to design more effective government policies. His work primarily addresses issues in education, inequality, and race, and has been widely cited in media outlets as well as in Congressional testimony. Professor Fryer has received numerous prestigious awards, including a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship and the John Bates Clark Medal, which is awarded by the American Economic Association to the best American economist under the age of 40. He is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been honored with the Calvó-Armengol Prize and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Notably, at age 30, he became the youngest African-American to receive tenure at Harvard University. His current research focuses on education reform, social interactions, and police use of force. Prior to his academic career, Fryer worked at McDonald's in a drive-thru position.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Geography
• Economic growth
• Economics
• Mathematics education
• Criminology
• Medical education
• Medicine

Selected publications

• Not Too Late: Improving Academic Outcomes among Adolescents

  American Economic Review · 2023 · 67 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Mathematics education
  • Psychology

  Improving academic outcomes for economically disadvantaged students has proven challenging, particularly for children at older ages. We present two large-scale randomized controlled trials of a high-dosage tutoring program delivered to secondary school students in Chicago. One innovation is to use paraprofessional tutors to hold down cost, thereby increasing scalability. Participating in math tutoring increases math test scores by 0.18 to 0.40 standard deviations, and increases math and nonmath course grades. These effects persist into future years. The data are consistent with increased personalization of instruction as a mechanism. The benefit-cost ratio is comparable to many successful early childhood programs. (JEL H75, I21, I24, I26, I32, J13, J15)

  PublisherDOI

• Enhancing the Efficacy of Teacher Incentives through Framing: A Field Experiment

  American Economic Journal Economic Policy · 2022-10-28 · 33 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  In a field experiment, we provide financial incentives to teachers framed either as gains, received at the end of the year, or as losses, in which teachers receive up-front bonuses that must be paid back if their students do not improve sufficiently. Pooling two waves of the experiment, loss-framed incentives improve math achievement by an estimated 0.124 standard deviations (σ), with large effects in the first wave and no effects in the second wave. Effects for gain-framed incentives are smaller and not statistically significant, approximately 0.051σ. We find suggestive evidence that the effects on teacher value added persist posttreatment. (JEL C93, I21, I28, J32, J45)

  PublisherDOI

• Not Too Late: Improving Academic Outcomes Among Adolescents

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2021-03-01 · 28 citations

  reportOpen access

  There is growing concern that it is too difficult or costly to substantially improve the academic skills of children who are behind in school once they reach adolescence. But perhaps what we have tried in the past relies on the wrong interventions, failing to account for challenges like the increased variability in academic needs during adolescence, or heightened difficulty of classroom management. This study tests the effects of one intervention that tries to solve both problems by simplifying the teaching task: individualized, intensive, in-school tutoring. A key innovation by the non-profit we study (Saga Education) is to identify how to deliver "high-impact tutoring" at relatively low cost ($3,500 to $4,300 per participant per year). Our first randomized controlled trial (RCT) of Saga's tutoring model with 2,633 9th and 10th grade students in Chicago public schools found participation increased math test scores by 0.16 standard deviations (SDs) and increased grades in math and non-math courses. We replicated these results in a separate RCT with 2,710 students and found even larger math test score impacts-0.37 SD-and similar grade impacts. These effects persist into future years, although estimates for high school graduation are imprecise. The treatment effects do not appear to be the result of a generic "mentoring effect" or of changes in social-emotional skills, but instead seem to be caused by changes in the instructional "technology" that students received. The estimated benefit-cost ratio is comparable to many successful model early-childhood programs.

  PublisherDOI

• Introducing CogX: A New Preschool Education Program Combining Parent and Child Interventions

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2020-10-01 · 15 citations

  preprint1st authorCorresponding

  We present the results of a novel early childhood intervention in which disadvantaged 3-4-year- old children were randomized to receive a new preschool and parent education program focused on cognitive and non-cognitive skills (CogX) or to a control group that did not receive preschool education. In addition to a typical academic year (9 month) program, we also evaluated a shortened summer version of the program (2 months) in which children were treated immediately prior to the start of Kindergarten. Both programs, including the shortened version, significantly improved cognitive test scores by about one quarter of a standard deviation relative to the control group at the end of the year. The shortened version of the program was equally as effective as the academic- year program because most of the gains in the academic-year program occurred within the first few months.

  PublisherDOI

• Policing the Police: The Impact of

  2020-06-01 · 4 citations

  articleSenior author

  This paper provides the first empirical examination of the impact of federal and state Pattern-or-Practice investigations on crime and policing. For investigations that were not preceded by viral incidents of deadly force, investigations, on average, led to a statistically significant reduction in homicides and total crime. In stark contrast, all investigations that were preceded by viral incidents of deadly force have led to a large and statistically significant increase in homicides and total crime. We estimate that these investigations caused almost 900 excess homicides and almost 34,000 excess felonies. The leading hypothesis for why these investigations increase homicides and total crime is an abrupt change in the quantity of policing activity. In Chicago, the number of police-civilian interactions decreased by almost 90% in the month after the investigation was announced. In Riverside CA, interactions decreased 54%. In St. Louis, self-initiated police activities declined by 46%. Other theories we test such as changes in community trust or the aggressiveness of consent decrees associated with investigations -- all contradict the data in important ways.

• Introducing CogX: A New Preschool Education Program Combining Parent and Child Interventions

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2020-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Policing the Police: The Impact of "Pattern-or-Practice" Investigations on Crime

  2020 · 70 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Criminology
  • Psychology

  This paper provides the first empirical examination of the impact of federal and state "Pattern-or-Practice" investigations on crime and policing. For investigations that were not preceded by "viral" incidents of deadly force, investigations, on average, led to a statistically significant reduction in homicides and total crime. In stark contrast, all investigations that were preceded by "viral" incidents of deadly force have led to a large and statistically significant increase in homicides and total crime. We estimate that these investigations caused almost 900 excess homicides and almost 34,000 excess felonies. The leading hypothesis for why these investigations increase homicides and total crime is an abrupt change in the quantity of policing activity. In Chicago, the number of police-civilian interactions decreased by almost 90% in the month after the investigation was announced. In Riverside CA, interactions decreased 54%. In St. Louis, self-initiated police activities declined by 46%. Other theories we test such as changes in community trust or the aggressiveness of consent decrees associated with investigations --all contradict the data in important ways.

  PublisherDOI

• Policing the Police: The Impact of "Pattern-or-Practice" Investigations on Crime

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2020-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  This paper provides the first empirical examination of the impact of federal and state "Pattern-or-Practice" investigations on crime and policing. For investigations that were not preceded by "viral" incidents of deadly force, investigations, on average, led to a statistically significant reduction in homicides and total crime. In stark contrast, all investigations that were preceded by "viral" incidents of deadly force have led to a large and statistically significant increase in homicides and total crime. We estimate that these investigations caused almost 900 excess homicides and almost 34, 000 excess felonies. The leading hypothesis for why these investigations increase homicides and total crime is an abrupt change in the quantity of policing activity. In Chicago, the number of police-civilian interactions decreased by almost 90% in the month after the investigation was announced. In Riverside CA, interactions decreased 54%. In St. Louis, self-initiated police activities declined by 46%. Other theories we test such as changes in community trust or the aggressiveness of consent decrees associated with investigations -- all contradict the data in important ways.

  Publisher

• An Empirical Analysis of Racial Differences in Police Use of Force: A Response

  Journal of Political Economy · 2020-07-21 · 36 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Introducing CogX: A New Preschool Education Program Combining Parent and Child Interventions. Working Paper 27913.

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2020-10-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

Recent grants

• CAREER: New Methods for Understanding Race, Inequality, and Spatial Separation

  NSF · $400k · 2008–2014

Frequent coauthors

• Steven D. Levitt

  University of Chicago

  97 shared

• Will Dobbie

  Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center

  56 shared

• Keesler Welch

  42 shared

• Tanaya Devi

  37 shared

• Jörg L. Spenkuch

  Kellogg's (Canada)

  37 shared

• John A. List

  University of Chicago

  32 shared

• Richard Holden

  30 shared

• Lisa Kahn

  University of Rochester

  23 shared

Education

• B.A., Economics

  Harvard University

  1999

• M.A., Economics

  Harvard University

  2001

• Ph.D., Economics

  Harvard University

  2002

Awards & honors

• Sloan Research Fellowship
• Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Sci…
• Alphonse Fletcher Award (Guggenheims for race issues)
• Titanium Lion at the Cannes Lions International Advertising…
• Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers…