Evan Starr

Evan Starr is an Associate Professor of Management & Organization at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. His research examines issues at the intersection of employee mobility, human capital, entrepreneurship, and technology. He is particularly interested in the impacts of post-employment restrictions on workers and firms. Starr has authored more than a dozen articles in leading journals in economics and management and testified in front of the US Senate and the US House of Representatives. His research has been covered in major news outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, NPR, Financial Times, and The Washington Post. Formerly a professor at the University of Illinois, Starr received his PhD in Economics from the University of Michigan and a BA from Denison University.

First Evidence on the Use of Training Repayment Agreements in the US Labor Force

Similar to noncompete clauses in employment contracts, training repayment agreements, which require employees to pay back their employers for firm-sponsored training if they quit early, can impede worker mobility and reduce competition in labor markets. The authors document the pervasiveness and characteristics of these provisions and suggest directions for future research.

The Ties that Bind Workers to Firms: No-Poach Agreements, Noncompetes, and Other Ways Firms Create and Exercise Labor Market Power

Collusive no-poach agreements are per se illegal, but noncompete clauses are not. Recent research casts doubt on the rationale for this legal distinction and...

Banning Noncompete Agreements Benefits Low-Wage Workers

Examining the effects of a 2008 ban on noncompete agreements for low-wage workers in Oregon, a recent paper finds that the ban increased average...

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