Education economist Sarah Reber joins Brookings Institution as senior fellow

Sarah Reber has joined the Brookings Institution as a Joseph A. Pechman senior fellow in economic studies.

She started work at the Washington D.C.-based think tank on Sept. 1, and moved from UCLA, where she was associate professor of public policy at the Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Reber’s research focuses primarily on education and health economics. Her work has focused on elementary and secondary education finance, as well as college access for disadvantaged students.

Recent research projects have included an examination of the adequacy of federal funding for schools during the COVID-19 crisis, as well as the educational, social and fiscal effects of key policies enacted during the 20th century.

Reber is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a California Policy Lab affiliated expert. She is a research assistant and staff economist on the Council of Economic Advisers.

She obtained her Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University in 2003.