Team > John Brooks

Professor Brooks’s research focuses on tax law, public finance, social insurance, and related issues in federal fiscal and budget policy. In addition to contributing to tax and fiscal theory generally, Brooks also focuses on “tax-adjacent” areas of fiscal policy, especially the federal student loan program, and his work seeks to better understand the array of government fiscal tools beyond classic taxing and spending.

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Alongside Prof. Brian Galle and Prof. Adam Levitin, Prof. Brooks is using SLLI’s proprietary datasets to conduct research on how borrowers access critical repayment protections such as income-driven repayment (IDR). Their research explored how intrinsic borrower data points—such as demographic background or assigned student loan servicer—impact enrollment in repayment plans, the cost that borrowers ultimately pay for their loans, and how likely borrowers are to fall into delinquency or default. The scholars then evaluated the role of tax policy in improving broadscale borrower outcomes. This groundbreaking research provides policymakers a roadmap for integrating essential repayment protections to provide better, more accessible protections for student loan borrowers.