The Reorganization of Social Policy in a Recession
An IRP Seminar Series

During the 2009–2010 academic year, top researchers will visit IRP to discuss the design and effects of policy on poor children and other vulnerable groups in a recession in order to help clarify impacts of the recession on child support payments, EITC and other refundable tax credit claims, living arrangements, employer-based health insurance, and other key elements of U.S. social policy.

The Reorganization of Social Policy in a Recession series is motivated by the need to identify key unanswered questions concerning the health and well-being of vulnerable (especially poor) children and families; to explore the range of supports and incentives available to low-income families that are moving toward self-sufficiency and the challenges they confront; and to examine the ways in which new social policies, particularly concerning health insurance and child support, operate in a severe recession, and how efforts to counteract the recession have affected social policy.

The series will include seminars on results of initial evaluations of the antipoverty effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in the face of the recession, such as large expansions in income tax credits; the distributional effects of the recession and policies to promote work and training in an era of joblessness; an evaluation of the New York City conditional cash transfer program, conducted by MDRC; and seminars on how the housing crisis has affected living arrangements. Other seminars will focus on health care coverage issues, the promotion of healthy behaviors, and education during a recession.

Thursdays, 12:15-1:30 p.m., 8417 Social Sciences Building

September 17, 2009

Education Policy in a Recession: New Investments in Community Colleges
Sara Goldrick-Rab and Douglas N. Harris, Professors of Education, Educational Policy Studies, Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER), University of Wisconsin–Madison, and IRP Affiliates
[PowerPoint available in PDF format]

November 19, 2009

Recession and Redistribution: The Economy, Public Policy, and the Poor
Gary Burtless, John C. and Nancy D. Whitehead Chair of Economic Studies, Brookings Institution

January 28, 2010

Low-Skill Work in High-Skill Countries: Poverty and Policy Implications
David Autor, Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

March 4, 2010

NYC’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program—How Well Did It Work?
James Riccio, Director, Low-Wage Workers and Communities Policy Area, MDRC

March 11, 2010

Conditional Cash Penalties in Education: Evidence from the Learnfare Experiment
Thomas Dee, Professor of Economics, Swarthmore College (co-sponsored with WCER)

April 29, 2010

The Regeneration of Social Policy: Effects on Health and Health Care Coverage for the Poor
Barbara Wolfe, Professor of Economics, Public Affairs, and Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and IRP Affiliate