Briana Ballis is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of California-Merced. Her research interests are in labor and public economics. Much of her work focuses on studying the determinants of inequality in education. Through her work, she seeks to better understand how individuals’ educational investment decisions are shaped by their environments and backgrounds, and, in particular how policies or programs that impact vulnerable youth can sere to reduce (or exacerbate) pre-existing gaps in later life.

She earned her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California-Davis in 2020 and a B.A in Economics and International Relations from Boston University in 2011.