Biography

Kejda Llana is a doctoral candidate (public policy and administration) in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware (expected May 2026). She also currently serves as a research intern with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Consumer Finance Institute (CFI). Her research interests are in the fields of Consumer Finance, Housing Policy, Education Policy, and Health Policy. Her work focuses on applied microeconomics, combining causal inference, large administrative and public datasets, and spatial analysis (GIS) to produce policy-relevant findings.

Kejda's job market paper, “Building Futures: The Impact of Affordable Housing on Student Achievement,” examines the effects of affordable housing — specifically, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program — on student educational outcomes. Using administrative data linking millions of student-year observations with geocoded LIHTC developments (2011–2024), she utilizes a staggered difference-in-differences method to provide causal evidence on how proximity to subsidized housing influences student attendance and achievement. Findings suggest modest, but persistent effects that accumulate over time.

Her broader research agenda explores consumer finance, food insecurity, and health-related research questions. Kejda has developed machine learning tools to predict food insufficiency using retail sales data, analyzed medical debt collections following hospital mergers, and examined the impact of Medicaid coverage expansions on the uptake of GLP-1 medications. She has presented her work at several national conferences, such as the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) and the Southern Economic Association (SEA).

Degrees

• M.Sc., Economics and Applied Econometrics, University of Delaware
• BA, Economics, cum laude, American University in Bulgaria (2018)       

PhD Advisor

Sarah Bruch

Websites

Kejda's personal website