Melinda Pitts
Research Center Director
About
M. Melinda Pitts is the research center director of the Center for Human Capital Studies (CHCS) in the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Dr. Pitts is part of the applied microeconomics team.
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Biography
M. Melinda Pitts is the research center director of the Center for Human Capital Studies (CHCS) in the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Dr. Pitts is part of the applied microeconomics team. Her major fields of study are health and labor economics. She also contributes to the Atlanta Fed's macroblog, which provides commentary on economic topics, including monetary policy, macroeconomic developments, and the Southeast economy.
Dr. Pitts is also the executive director of the Atlanta Research Data Center (ARDC). The ARDC is in a secure physical location, housed in the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, where researchers can access nonpublic census data and data from other agencies. Nine regional research institutions support the ARDC. The ARDC is part of the Federal Statistical RDC Network.
Prior to joining the Bank in 2002, Dr. Pitts was an assistant professor of economics at Georgia State University, in Atlanta. She also worked as an assistant professor of economics at Salisbury State University in Salisbury, Maryland.
Dr. Pitts has published in several journals, including Industrial Relations, the American Economic Review, Archives of Internal Medicine, and Research in Labor Economics.
She is a member of the American Economic Association, International Health Economics Association, American Society of Health Economists, and the Society of Labor Economics.
Dr. Pitts received her doctorate in economics in 1997 and her master's degree in economics in 1993, both from North Carolina State University. She received her bachelor of arts in economics in 1987 from Clemson University.
Published Work
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Publications
2019
Laura M. Argys, Thomas A. Mroz, and M. Melinda Pitts. " Driven from Work: Graduated Driver License Programs and Teen Labor Market Outcomes." Working Paper 2019-16a. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. July 2019 (Revised August 2025).
2018
David E. Frisvold and M. Melinda Pitts. "State Merit Aid Programs and Youth Labor Market Attachment." Working Paper 2018-4. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. June 2018.
2017
Laura M. Argys, Andrew I. Friedson, M. Melinda Pitts, and D. Sebastian Tello-Trillo. "Losing Public Health Insurance: TennCare Disenrollment and Personal Financial Distress ." Working Paper 2017-6a. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. August 2017 (Revised October 2019).
Laura Argys, Andrew Friedson, and Melinda Pitts. "Bad Debt Is Bad for Your Health." macroblog. March 30, 2017.
2016
Laura M. Argys, Andrew I. Friedson, and M. Melinda Pitts. "Killer Debt: The Impact of Debt on Mortality." Working Paper 2016-14. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. November 2016,
Rebekah Durham, Julie L. Hotchkiss, and Melinda Pitts. "How Will Employers Respond to New Overtime Regulations?." macroblog. July 15, 2016.
2015
M. Melinda Pitts, Richard Rogerson, and Robert Shimer. "A Closer Look at Changes in the Labor Market," macroblog. November 5, 2015.
2014
Julie. L Hotchkiss, M. Melinda Pitts, and Mary Beth Walker. "Impact of First-Birth Career Interruption on Earnings: Evidence from Administrative Data." Working Paper 2014-23. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. November 2014.
Esfandiar Maasoumi, M. Melinda Pitts, and Ke Wu. "The Gap between the Conditional Wage Distributions of Incumbents and the Newly Hired Employees: Decomposition and Uniform Ordering." Working Paper 2014-22. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. November 2014.
Joseph J. Sabia, M. Melinda Pitts, and Laura Argys. "Do Minimum Wages Really Increase Youth Drinking and Drunk Driving?." Working Paper 2014-20. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. November 2014.
2012
Hotchkiss, Julie L., M. Melinda Pitts, and Fernando Rios-Ávila. "A Closer Look at Nonparticipants During and After the Great Recession." Working Paper 2012-10. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. August 2012.
2011
Hotchkiss, Julie L., M. Melinda Pitts, and Mary Beth Walker. "To Work or Not to Work: The Economics of a Mother's Dilemma." Working Paper 2011-2. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. March 2011.
Pitts, Melinda M., Mary Beth Walker, and Brian S. Armour. "A Decomposition of the Black-White Differential in Birth Outcomes." Working Paper 2011-1. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. March 2011.
2010
Hotchkiss, Julie L., M. Melinda Pitts, and Mary Beth Walker. "Assessing the Impact of Education and Marriage on Labor Market Exit Decisions of Women." Working Paper 2010-2. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. February 2010.
2009
Melinda Pitts. "Prospects for a small business-fueled employment recovery," macroblog. October 6, 2009.
2008
Hotchkiss, Julie L., M. Melinda Pitts, and Mary Beth Walker. "Working with Children? The Probability of Mothers Exiting the Workforce at Time of Birth." Working Paper 2008-8. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. February 2008.
2007
Brian S. Armour and M. Melinda Pitts. "Smoking: Taxing Health and Social Security." Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Economic Review (2007 Q3).
Brian S. Armour, M. Melinda Pitts, and Chung-won Lee. "Cigarette Smoking and Food Insecurity among Low-Income Families in the United States, 2001." Working Paper 2007-19. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. August 2007.
Brian S. Armour and M. Melinda Pitts. "Does Disability Explain State-Level Differences in the Quality of Medicare Beneficiary Hospital Inpatient Care?." Working Paper 2007-18. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. August 2007.
Julie L. Hotchkiss and M. Melinda Pitts. "Evidence of Demand Factors in the Determination of the Labor Market Intermittency Penalty." Working Paper 2007-16. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. July 2007.
Julie L. Hotchkiss and M. Melinda Pitts. "The Role of Labor Market Intermittency in Explaining Gender Wage Differentials." Working Paper 2007-1. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. February 2007.
2006
Brian S. Armour and M. Melinda Pitts. "Smoking: Taxing Health and Social Security." Working Paper 2006-12. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. September 2006.
Julie L. Hotchkiss, M. Melinda Pitts, and John C. Robertson. "The Push-Pull Effects of the Information Technology Boom and Bust: Insight from Matched Employer-Employee Data." Working Paper 2006-1. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. February 2006.
2005
Jason DeBacker, Julie Hotchkiss, M. Melinda Pitts,and John Robertson. "It's Who You Are and What You Do: Explaining the IT Industry Wage Premium." Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Economic Review (2005 Q3).
Julie L. Hotchkiss, Robert E. Moore, and M. Melinda Pitts. "Freshman Learning Communities, College Performance, and Retention." Working Paper 2005-22. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. September 2005.
Julie L. Hotchkiss, M. Melinda Pitts, and John C. Robertson. "Earnings on the Information Technology Rollercoaster: Insight from Matched Employer-Employee Data." Working Paper 2005-11. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. June 2005.
2004
Julie L. Hotchkiss, M. Melinda Pitts, and John C. Robertson. "Wage Gains among Job Changers across the Business Cycle: Insight from State Administrative Data." Working Paper 2004-19. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. August 2004.
2002
2002-30
Why Choose
Women's Work If It Pays Less? A Structural Model of Occupational Choice
M. Melinda Pitts
December 2002
Brian S. Armour and M. Melinda Pitts. "Incorporating Insurance Rate Estimates and Differential Mortality into Net Marginal Social Security Tax Rate Calculations." Working Paper 2002-29. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. December 2002.
Podcast Episodes
2019
M. Melinda Pitts. "'We Do Find a Meaningful Impact': Novice Driver Restrictions and the Labor Force." Economy Matters podcast. July 25, 2019.
2017
M. Melinda Pitts. "The Economic Impact on Individuals of Losing Public Health Insurance." Economy Matters podcast. August 31, 2017.
M. Melinda Pitts. "A Conversation about the Health Effects of Delinquent Debt." Economy Matters podcast. March 2, 2017.
2015
M. Melinda Pitts. "The Relationship between the Minimum Wage and Rates of Youth Drinking and Driving." Economy Matters podcast. October 15, 2015.