Max Livingston

---

---

I am currently a data scientist at Datadog, where I use machine learning to detect anomalous patterns across a variety of applications. Before that, I was Director of Data Science at Freebird, modeling flight cancellations, delays, and last-minute prices. My background is originally in economics – I wrote my undergrad thesis about the effects of teacher unionization on school district spending and performance, and then worked at the New York Fed, where I primarily focused on education research.

---

Publications, Presentations, Blogs, & Working Papers

Flight Disruptions

• Scaling Bayesian Inference: A Case Study (slides and video),

  Presented at 5th International Conference on Predictive Applications and APIs, Boston, October 2018.

• Prediction and Uncertainty Quantification of Daily Airport Flight Delays,

  with Thomas Vandal, Camen Piho, and Sam Zimmerman.

  Proceedings of The 4th International Conference on Predictive Applications and APIs, in PMLR 82:45-51, 2018.

Consumer Expectations

• (Unmet) Credit Demand of American Households,

  with Basit Zafar and Wilbert van der Klaauw. Liberty Street Economics Blog, November 2013.

• My Two (Per)cents: How Are American Workers Dealing with the Payroll Tax Hike?,

  with Basit Zafar and Wilbert van der Klaauw. Liberty Street Economics Blog, May 2013.

• Rising Household Debt: Increasing Demand or Increasing Supply?,

  with Basit Zafar and Wilbert van der Klaauw. Liberty Street Economics Blog, May 2014.

Sandy Impact Analysis

• The Impact of Superstorm Sandy on New York City School Closures and Attendance,

  with Rajashri Chakrabarti. Liberty Street Economics Blog, December 2012.

  • Featured on the Huffington Post

School District Finances

• The Impact of the Great Recession on School District Finances: Evidence from New York,

  with Rajashri Chakrabarti and Elizabeth Setren, Economic Policy Review, October 2015.

• Did Cuts in State Aid during the Great Recession Lead to Changes in Local Property Taxes?,

  with Rajashri Chakrabarti and Joydeep Roy. Education Finance and Policy, Fall 2014.

• Historical Echoes: The Changing Face of Education in the United States,

  with Rajashri Chakrabarti and Amy Farber. Liberty Street Economics Blog, September 2013.

• Still Not Out of the Woods? New Jersey Schools during the Recession and Beyond,

  with Rajashri Chakrabarti. Staff Reports, Federal Reserve Bank of NY, September 2013.

  • Accompanying blog post

• The Long Road to Recovery: New York Schools in the Aftermath of the Great Recession,

  with Rajashri Chakrabarti. Staff Reports, Federal Reserve Bank of NY, September 2013.

  • Accompanying blog post

• Just Released: Mapping Changes in School Finance,

  with Rajashri Chakrabarti. Liberty Street Economics Blog, July 2013.

Undergraduate Thesis

• The Effect of Teachers’ Unions on District Performance or: “Hey Teacher! Leave Them Kids Alone?”,

  Wesleyan University, May 2013.