Scott Cunningham (economist)
Scott Cunningham is a professor of economics at Baylor University, Research Fellow of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, and Research Affiliate of the Computational Justice Lab. He is known for popularizing advances in non-experimental impact evaluation methods (causal inference) by making it more accessible to practitioners. He is also known as the organizer of a 5k running race at the annual meetings of the American Economic Association. He holds a B.A. in Literature from the University of Tennessee and a PhD in Economics from the University of Georgia. Research. Cunningham's research examines prostitution  markets, foster care, abortion, mental health, and drug policy. He has found that the accidental legalization of prostitution in Rhode Island between 2003 and 2009 increased the size of that market, but reduced sexual violence against women and the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases. He has also found the sudden closure of abortion clinics in Texas in 2013 resulted in a decline in the number of abortions linked to an increase in distances to open clinics.