Domestic policy | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
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Domestic policy

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Core faculty

Sarah Cohodes

Associate professor
Cohodes is a leading education policy economist who uses quantitative causal inference methods to evaluate policies and programs. She is known for her influential research on charter schools. Her research focuses on school choice, programs for high-achieving students, and settings that support access to high-quality education.
Core faculty

Kathryn M. Dominguez

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs; Marina von Neumann Whitman Distinguished University Professor of Public Policy; Professor of Economics
Dominguez's research focuses on topics in international financial markets and macroeconomics. A research associate at the NBER, she is also a member of the Panel of Economic Advisers at CBO, the Advisory Scientific Committee of the ESRB, and the Economic Advisory Panel of the New York Fed.
Core faculty

Catherine Hausman

Associate Professor of Public Policy
Hausman is an environmental and energy economist, and some of her recent areas of research include electricity markets and climate change; inequality in pollution exposure; and the natural gas sector's role in methane leaks. She is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economics Research.
Core faculty

Joshua Hausman

Associate Professor of Public Policy; Associate Professor of Economics (by courtesy)
Hausman’s research interests are in economic history and macroeconomics with a focus on the U.S. economy in the 1930s and the Japanese economy today. He is a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Core faculty

Pamela Herd

Carol Kakalec Kohn Professor of Social Policy
Pamela Herd is the Carol Kakalec Kohn Professor of Social Policy and faculty associate at the Institute for Social Research Population Studies Center. Her research focuses on inequality and how it intersects with health, aging, and policy. She is als...
Core faculty

Justin Holz

Assistant professor
Justin Holz is an economist who explores how racial discrimination affects the consequences of minimum wage policies, inequity in property taxes, debt amnesties in developing countries, and the causes and consequences of police misconduct.
Core faculty

Brian A. Jacob

Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy; Professor of Public Policy, Economics, and Education
Jacob is co-director of the Youth Policy Lab. His primary fields of interest are labor economics, program evaluation, and the economics of education. Jacob's current research focuses on urban school reform, with a particular emphasis on standards and accountability initiatives.
Core faculty

In memoriam: John Leahy

Allen Sinai Professor of Macroeconomics
In memoriam: John Leahy is the Allen Sinai Professor of Macroeconomics, a joint appointment between the Ford School and the Department of Economics. Much of his work considers the psychological side of consumerism, analyzing individuated, decisionmak...
Core faculty

Stephanie Leiser

Director of Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP), Lecturer in Public Policy
Stephanie Leiser leads the Michigan Local Government Fiscal Health Project at the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP).
Core faculty

Katherine Michelmore

Associate Professor of Public Policy
Michelmore is a leading scholar and educator on the social safety net, education policy, labor economics, and economic demography. She is a recognized expert on the efficacy of the Earned Income Tax Credit and its impact on children.
Core faculty

Jeffrey D. Morenoff

Associate Dean for Research and Policy Engagement, Professor of Public Policy and Sociology
Morenoff's research interests include neighborhood environments, inequality, crime and criminal justice, the social determinants of health, racial/ethnic/immigrant disparities in health and antisocial behavior, and methods for analyzing multilevel and spatial data.
Core faculty

Don Moynihan

J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy
Donald Moynihan is the Ford School's J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy. Previously he served as Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy Chair of Public Policy and the director of the La Follette School at the U...
Core faculty

Natasha Pilkauskas

Associate Professor of Public Policy
Pilkauskas is a social demographer who studies the social safety net, children's living arrangements, and economic insecurity. Pilkauskas' work considers how social policy might improve the developmental and life trajectories of children living in poverty.
Core faculty

Kaitlin T. Raimi

Associate Professor of Public Policy; Faculty Associate in Psychology; Faculty Associate in Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research
Raimi is a social psychologist focused on climate change beliefs and policy support. She studies how people compare themselves to others, how adopting one pro-environmental behavior affects later action, and how communication affects understanding and support for climate policy and technology.
Core faculty

Luke Shaefer

Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice and Social Policy; Director, Poverty Solutions; Professor of Social Work
Luke Shaefer serves as the inaugural director of Poverty Solutions, an interdisciplinary, presidential initiative at U-M that seeks to partner communities and policymakers to find new ways to prevent and alleviate poverty.
Core faculty

Betsey Stevenson

Professor of Public Policy and Economics
Stevenson is a labor economist who publishes widely about the labor market and the impact of public policies on outcomes both in the labor market and for families. Her research explores women's labor market experiences, the economic forces shaping the modern family, and how these experiences and forces influence each other. She served as the chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor from 2010 to 2011, participating as the secretary's deputy to the White House economic team.
Core faculty

David E. Thacher

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Urban Planning
As an associate professor of public policy and urban planning, Thacher’s research draws from philosophy, history, and the interpretive social sciences to develop and apply a humanistic approach to policy research. Most of his work has focused on criminal justice policy, where he has undertaken studies of order maintenance policing, the local police role in homeland security, community policing reform, the distribution of safety and security, prisoner re-entry, and criminal justice discretion.
Core faculty

Justin Wolfers

Professor of Public Policy and Economics (on sabbatical leave)
Wolfers is an economist with broad policy-related interests and experience. He is also affiliated with the NBER, Brookings and the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He is a contributing columnist for the New York Times and host of the “Think Like An Economist” podcast. He is a popular teacher and author of a leading economics textbook.

Policymakers in residence

A diverse array of policy leaders join our faculty to teach and mentor students through the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, and Weiser International Policymaker in Residence programs, and more. These visiting pro...

Kohn Collaborative for Social Policy

The Kohn Collaborative for Social Policy advances research and policy solutions, and works with policymakers and stakeholders to promote a more inclusive, just society for all. The collaborative consists of four pillars: Kohn Professors, Kohn Scholar...

Service to Service

National Service to Service InitiativeVeterans and military families seeking careers in public service now have greater access to graduate education and career development support through Service to Service, a national initiative led by the Volcker A...

Ford50

Fifty years ago, in 1974, at a time of great division and turbulence in the U.S., Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States. President Ford's legacy is very much alive here at the Ford School of Public Policy, and we are ...
State & Hill

Samuel Bagenstos: Can scholarship shape democracy?

May 7, 2026
From arguing cases for the Justice Department to investigating why expanded social benefits were rolled back, Samuel Bagenstos explores the intersection of law, policy, and public service
State & Hill

Shaefer’s new role in Detroit

May 7, 2026
In January, Luke Shaefer was appointed chief executive of Health, Human Services & Poverty Solutions for the City of Detroit. His data-driven vision targets systemic change.