The UC Davis Center for Poverty & Inequality Research
mission is to facilitate non-partisan academic research on
poverty in the U.S., disseminate this research, and train
the next generation of poverty scholars. Our research agenda
includes four themed areas of focus: labor markets and poverty,
children and intergenerational transmission of poverty, the
non-traditional safety net, and immigration.
In recent years, cash-assistance programs have been piloted across the United States, typically as Guaranteed Income (GI). In a recent study, we explored how these programs are being designed and evaluated. Reviewing 105 programs covering over 40,000 beneficiaries, we compared eligibility criteria, funding sources, distribution amounts, program administration, pilot duration, and evaluation measures.
In a recent study, we investigated pediatric-onset conditions in the US, seeking to identify recent trends as well as opportunities for prevention and intervention. Specifically, we analyzed chronic conditions (CC) and functional limitations (FLs) in more than 236,000 children (5-17 years) and young adults (18-25 years) between 1999 and 2018.
Though racial disparities in infant health conditions have persisted for decades, evidence regarding their long-term consequences has been limited. In a recent study, I used administrative data from Texas and the shift to Medicaid Managed Care (MMC) to examine the later effects of prenatal MMC on key schooling outcomes.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides EBT benefits redeemable for healthful foods for low-income, nutritionally at-risk pregnant/postpartum women and young children. In a recent study, we found evidence of a new form of benefit redemption cycle in WIC, different from that seen with Food Stamps.
UC Davis is a powerhouse for breakthroughs and impact. Our
interdisciplinary research plays a vital role in building the
region’s economy. Our research contributes to our nation’s global
leadership in technology and innovation. Through collaboration
between our top-ranked hospital and veterinary school, as well as
our science and engineering discoveries, our research directly
improves American lives.
Objectives: To test for the effects of wages on smoking using
labor unions as instrumental variables. Methods: We analyzed four
waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (2013 to 2019
alternate years). The overall sample included workers aged 18 to
70 years in 2013 and subsamples within blue clerical/white-collar
and private/public sector jobs (N = 37,117 to 8446 person years).
We used two instrumental variables: worker’s union membership and
states’ right-to-work laws.
Katheryn Russ has expertise in open-economy macroeconomics and
international trade policy. She is a faculty research associate
in the National Bureau of Economic Research International Trade
and Investment Group and Co-Organizer of the International Trade
and Macroeconomics Working Group. She is a Non-Resident Senior
Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and
served as Senior Economist for International Trade and Finance
for the White House Council of Economic Advisors 2015-16.
