Jennifer Graves is an Associate Professor (Profesora Titular) of Economics in the Department of Economics and Public Finance at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Her research in labor economics and the economics of education estimates the causal effects of public policies, including their unintended consequences for families, communities, and local labor markets. Topics include classroom peer effects, specialization in higher education, school calendar structure, labor protections for sexual minorities, minimum wages, and gender differences in the labor market. Her work has been published in journals including the Journal of Urban Economics, AEA Papers and Proceedings, Economics of Education Review, Labour Economics, and Education Finance and Policy.

She received her PhD in Economics from the University of California, Irvine, and was previously an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Oklahoma. She has held visiting positions at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and New York University Abu Dhabi. She joined IZA as a Research Fellow in November 2026.