Alicia Sasser Modestino
Associate Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Economics; Director, Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy
Professor Modestino is an Associate Professor with appointments in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Department of Economics at Northeastern University, where she also serves as the Director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy. She is currently an Affiliated Researcher of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), a Nonresident Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Research Fellow at the IZA Institute Labor Economics. Previously, she was a Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston where she conducted research on regional economic and policy issues for over a decade.
Professor Modestino’s current research focuses on labor and health economics including youth development, skills mismatch, childcare, and the opioid crisis. Much of her research is interdisciplinary and involves large-scale empirical evaluations to determine underlying causal relationships using a variety of data, methods, and techniques. She has amassed over $10 million in external funding, including grants from Arnold Ventures, the Doris Duke Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation.
Last year, Professor Modestino launched Community to Community (C2C): Policy Equity for All, a new $4.8 million initiative across Northeastern’s global campus network. Working in partnership with city departments, state agencies, and community-based organizations C2C provides rigorous data and analysis to find solutions to the most urgent public problems at each campus location.
Professor Modestino holds both a Master’s degree and a PhD in Economics from Harvard University, where she also served as a doctoral fellow in the Inequality and Social Policy Program at the Kennedy School of Government.
- Data Champion, National Youth Employment Coalition, 2025
- Evidence Champion, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), MIT, 2024
- Global Network Accelerator Award, Northeastern University, 2023
- Excellence in Research and Creative Activity Award, Northeastern University, 2022
- Outstanding Faculty Research Team Award, College of Engineering, Northeastern University, 2020
- Outstanding Teaching Award, College of Social Science and Humanities, Northeastern University, 2019
Publications:
- Dupas, P., Handlan, A., Modestino, A., Niederle, M., Sere, M., Sheng, H. & Wolfers, J. 2026. Gender Differences in Economics Seminars. American Economic Review, 116 (2):749–89.
- Modestino, A., Burke, M., Sadighi, S.† Sederberg, R.,† Stern, T.† & Taska, B. 2026. No Longer Qualified? Changes in the Supply and Demand for Skills within Occupations. Industrial and Labor Relations Review.
- Modestino, A., & Paulsen, R.† 2023. School’s Out: How Summer Youth Employment Programs Impact Academic Outcomes. Education Finance and Policy, 18 (1): 97–126.
- Modestino, A., Paul, U. † and McLaughlin J. 2022. What’s In a Job? Evaluating the Effect of Private Sector Job Experience on Students’ Academic Outcomes. AEA Papers and Proceedings, 112: 126-30.
- †Hasan, M., †Mohite, P., Islam, M., Alam, M. Modestino, A. Peckham, A., Young, L. & Young, G. 2021. Patterns of Patient Discontinuation from Buprenorphine/Naloxone Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder: A Study of a Commercially Insured Population in Massachusetts. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 131:108416.
- †Hasan, M. Young, G., †Patel, M.R., Modestino, A., Sanchez, L. Alam, N. 2021. A Machine Learning Framework to Predict the Risk of Opioid Use Disorder. Machine Learning with Applications, 6(15): 10144.
- Modestino, A., Shoag, D., & Ballance, J. 2020. Upskilling: Do Employers Demand Greater Skill When Workers Are Plentiful? Review of Economics and Statistics, 102(4): 793-805.
- Paulsen, R.†, Modestino, A., † Hasan, M., Alam, M., Young, L., & Young, G. 2020. Patterns of Buprenorphine/Naloxone Prescribing: An Analysis of Claims Data from Massachusetts. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 46(2): 216-223.
- Modestino, A., Sederberg, R.†, & Tuller, L.† 2019. Assessing the Effectiveness of Financial Coaching: Evidence from the Boston Youth Credit Building Initiative. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 53(4): 1825-1873.
- Modestino, A. 2019. How Do Summer Youth Employment Programs Improve Criminal Justice Outcomes, and for Whom? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 38(3): 600-628.
- Modestino, A., Shoag, D., & Ballance, J. 2016. Downskilling: Changes in Employer Skill Requirements Over the Business Cycle. Labour Economics, 41: 333-347.
- Modestino, A., & Dennett, J. 2013. Are Americans Locked into Their Houses? The Impact of Housing Market Conditions on State-to-State Migration. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 43(2): 322-337.
- Sasser, A. 2010. Voting with Their Feet: Relative Economic Conditions and State Migration Patterns. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 40(2-3): 122-135.
- Cutler, D., Long, G., Berndt, E., Royer, J., Fournier, A., Sasser, A., & Cremieux, P. 2007. The Value Of Antihypertensive Drugs: A Perspective On Medical Innovation. Health Affairs, 26(1): 97-110.
- Sasser, A. 2005. Gender Differences in Physician Pay: Tradeoffs Between Career and Family. Journal of Human Resources, 40(2): 477-504.
Working Papers:
- Research Fellow, Women and Public Policy Program, Harvard Kennedy School, 2020-
- Affiliated Researcher, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT, 2020-
- Non-Resident Scholar, Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., 2016-
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Education
PhD, Economics, 2001, Harvard University
MS, Economics, Harvard University -
Contact
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Address
360M Renaissance Park
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115 -
Associations
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