Making it hard: How administrative burdens affect inequality

Pamela Herd will deliver Carol Kakalec Kohn Professorship of Social Policy lecture, reflecting her research that showcases how inequality intersects with health, aging, and policy, and the bureaucratic obstacles people encounter when accessing government benefits, services, and rights.

More about the Kohn Collaborative for Social Policy

Since 2018, Hal and Carol Kohn and the Kohn Charitable Trust have committed more than $21 million to the Ford School to establish the Kohn Collaborative for Social Policy, a hub that will catalyze interdisciplinary research and policy impact to promote social equity and inclusion for all U.S. residents. The collaborative consists of three pillars: Kohn Professors, Kohn Scholars, and policy impact. The Carol Kakalec Kohn Professor of Social Policy is one of six Kohn professorships, and will address inequality and health access.

Other Kohn Professors include:

Luke Shaefer - Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professorship in Social Policy and Social Justice, promoting scholarly and applied research focused on social justice.

Christina Weiland - Karl and Martha Kohn Professorship of Social Policy, promoting social equity through U.S. education policy, with a focus on childhood development.

Sam Bagenstos - Arlene Susan Kohn Professor of Social Policy, specializing in constitutional and civil rights litigation, with interests in labor and employment, disability rights, and housing.

Two more professorships are planned:

Harold Kohn Professorship, supporting applied research in U.S. economic policy that advances social equity and inclusion.

Lenore K. and Robert Damrauer Professorship, to contribute to policies and actions that advance sound U.S. environmental policies.
 

Speaker bio: 

Pamela Herd is the Carol Kakalec Kohn Professor of Social Policy and faculty associate at the Institute for Social Research Population Studies Center. She is also an expert in survey research and biodemographic methods. She is currently one of the Co-Principal Investigators for General Social Survey, an Investigator with the Wisconsin Longitudinal Survey, and Chair of the NIH Data Advisory Board for the National Study of Adolescent Health.

Professor Herd also researches administrative burden, or the bureaucratic obstacles that people encounter when trying to access government benefits, services, and rights. She is especially interested in how this burden is both shaped by and further reinforces inequality. Her book Administrative Burden, Policymaking by Other Means has received numerous awards, was reviewed in the New York Review of Books, and has helped influence state and federal policy reforms, including recent executive orders by the Biden Administration. She frequently writes and speaks on these topics to media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Slate, NPR, and the PBS NewsHour.

In addition to her book awards, Professor Herd has received the Outstanding Public Engagement in Health Policy Award from the American Political Science Association, the Kohl Award, the AARP Innovation Award, and the Wilder School Award for Scholarship in Social Equity in Public Policy Analysis, given by the National Academy of Public Administration.

Kohn Collaborative for Social Policy

Better Government Lab

Carol Kakalec Kohn Professor of Social Policy

Pam Herd

Pamela Herd