Angela Dills

Distinguished Professor Western Carolina University

  • Cullowhee NC

Angela Dills's research focuses on policy issues such as school choice, accountability, peer effects, and alcohol and drug prohibition.

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Biography

Dr. Angela Dills is the Gimelstob-Landry Distinguished Professor of Regional Economic Development at Western Carolina University. She received a B.A. from the University of Virginia and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Boston University. She previously held faculty positions at Clemson University, Mercer University, Wellesley College, and Providence College. Specializing in the economics of education, crime, and health, her research focuses on policy issues such as school choice, accountability, peer effects, college quality, and alcohol and drug prohibition. This research has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Health Economics, Economic Inquiry, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, and the Economics of Education Review. She lives in Franklin, NC with her economist-husband and three children.

Industry Expertise

Public Policy
Research
Education/Learning
Beverages - Alcoholic
Law Enforcement

Areas of Expertise

Health Economics
Drug and Alcohol Policy
Econometrics
Microeconomics
School Choice
Social Issues

Accomplishments

Georgescu-Roegan Prize for Best Academic Article

2018 - Southern Economics Association

Excellence in Research Award

2017 - WCU College of Business

Education

Boston University

Ph.D.

Boston University

M.S.

University of Virginia

B.A.

Affiliations

  • Education Freedom Institute : Advisory Board Member

Languages

  • English

Media Appearances

As homeschooling increases, so do attempts to restrict it

WORLD News  online

2025-04-10

There’s very little evidence that such legislation would be effective, according to Ray. He cited a 2022 study by Angela Dills, a professor of economics at Western Carolina University and a fellow with EdChoice, a nonprofit advocating for educational freedom.

Dills’ research, published in the Journal of School Choice, analyzed child abuse–related deaths from 1979 to 2008. During that time frame, many states made legal provisions for homeschooling. “I can look at the effect of those laws that led to an increase in homeschooling and see if there’s a change in child fatalities during that period,” Dills told WORLD. “And mostly, what I see is not a whole lot.”

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School Choice Can Promote Evasive Entrepreneurs

The Daily Economy  online

2023-12-01

“Evasive entrepreneurs are having their moment. Education entrepreneurs and parents are working to find educational options for children outside of the highly regulated traditional public schools.” ~Angela Dills

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Study finds school choice improves mental health

Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs  online

2019-04-03

School choice plays a significant role in improving overall student mental health, including lowering adolescent suicide rates. That’s according to a groundbreaking new study by Corey DeAngelis, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, and Angela Dills, a professor of economics at Western Carolina University.

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Event Appearances

Creativity and Economic Wellbeing

February 2019 | Jubilee Professional  

Ride-Sharing, Fatal Crashes, and Crime: Uber and the Social Good

Fall 2018 | Florida Gulf Coast University  

Ride-Sharing, Fatal Crashes, and Crime: Uber and the Social Good

April 2019 | The College of New Jersey  

Availability

  • Moderator

Research Grants

UNCA’s “Working Smarter and Harder: Advising and Registration for Timely Graduation”

UNC System Office Award

2019-2021

The Effects of Regulation on School Choice Participation: Experimental Evidence from a Nationally Representative Sample of Private Schools

Charles Koch Foundation

2019-2020.

Summer Research Grant

WCU’s College of Business $5000

2020

Articles

Gender Disparities in Economic Freedom and Human Capital

Journal of Private Enterprise

2024

Economic freedom raises incomes and economic growth, partly through increased human capital investment. When men and women differ in the economic freedom they experience, we expect girls and boys to face different returns to human capital investment. Using country-level panel data and country fixed effects, I estimate how gender disparity in economic freedom affects gender gaps in human capital accumulation. Closing gender disparities in economic freedom raises female literacy rates and may improve female learning outcomes.

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Does telemedicine save lives? Evidence on the effect of telemedicine parity laws on mortality rates

Southern Economic Journal

2024

Between 1995 and 2018, just over half of U.S. states enacted laws requiring private insurance plans cover medical care provided remotely. These telemedicine parity laws likely increase health care access, particularly in areas with few providers, by granting patients access to specialists or primary care providers located elsewhere. We estimate the effect of telemedicine parity laws on mortality rates of all causes and for causes of death due to conditions more frequently treated with telemedicine. Mortality rates decline postparity laws, driven by decreases in ischemic heart disease deaths. Ischemic heart disease mortality rates decline by about 6% in the difference‐in‐differences specification and 9% in the event study estimation.

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The effects of private schooling on pupil achievement: a global systemic analysis

Comparative Education

2024

Globally, the private school share of enrollment increased from about 14 percent in 2000 to about 18 percent in 2019. We estimate the systemic effect of private enrollment share on learning outcomes. Estimates of the systemic effect of private school enrollment capture any competitive effects as well as any differences between public and private schools in raising student outcomes. We use new data from the World Bank on harmonised learning outcomes for mathematics, reading, and science to produce an unbalanced sample of 120 countries from 2000 to 2017. We find that, all else equal, on average, a one percentage point increase in private enrollment is associated with null to at most weakly positive effects on country-level learning outcomes.

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