Policy Topics

Poverty and social policy

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Dingells mark Medicare and Social Security anniversary at Ford School

Aug 12, 2015

Two elected leaders and a roundtable of University of Michigan researchers convened at the Ford School on August 11 to mark the 50th anniversary of the legislation that created the Medicare system and the 80th anniversary of Social Security's...

Photo of Congressman John Dingell and Congresswoman Debbie Dingell

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Introducing Bill Axinn, joining our faculty with a courtesy appointment

Aug 11, 2015

The Ford School is delighted to announce that a number of faculty members will join our community this fall. To introduce them to the Ford School community, we’re running weekly Q&As throughout the summer that touch on their policy and personal...

In the news, Stevenson talks My Brother's Keeper, min. wage, job licensing

Jul 31, 2015

Betsey Stevenson is helping to paint a picture of the stark reality surrounding racial and economic inequality in the United States. In a July 30 Yahoo Politics article, "Obama: Investing in minority men is not 'charity,' it's lucrative," Senior...

Introducing Natasha Pilkauskas, incoming assistant professor of public policy

Jul 16, 2015

The Ford School is delighted to announce that a number of faculty members will join our community this fall. To introduce them to the Ford School and University, we’re running weekly Q&As throughout the summer that touch on their policy and personal...

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Introducing Luke Shaefer, associate professor of public policy and social work

Jul 14, 2015

Photo of Luke Shaefer in the Ford School's Towsley Reading Room

To be effective, healthcare policy needs expanded focus says House in Guardian op-ed, new book

Jul 13, 2015

"Healthcare, for the most part, doesn't prevent illness—it tries to fix it once it happens," writes James House in his July 6 Guardian op-ed, "Healthcare heals the sick. Better pay keeps them healthy in the first place."The Affordable Care Act has...

Betsey Stevenson on the June jobs report: new jobs, flat wages, falling labor force participation

Jul 10, 2015

The American economy added 223,000 jobs this month, but wages have not risen and labor force participation has fallen to its lowest level since 1977, according to the Department of Labor's June jobs report. As a member of President Obama's Council...

Internship field report, Matt Ericson @ National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, Washington, DC

Jul 2, 2015

Matt Ericson (MPP '16) offers this field report from Washington, DC. Ericson is working with the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. Review more internship field reports from Ford School students serving...

ACLU's Kary Moss renews call for civil asset forfeiture reform

Jun 29, 2015

Kary Moss has long advocated for reform to the state’s civil asset forfeiture laws. After years of lobbying and advocacy, she and other supporters may finally see changes to the controversial laws.The Senate is set to consider an eight-bill package,...

ACLU's Kary Moss renews call for civil asset forfeiture reform - content image

With SCOTUS marriage decision, Kary Moss calls for 'LGBT Equality Day'

Jun 29, 2015

In a press conference Friday in Ferndale, Kary Moss was joined in celebration by Michigan LGBT civil rights leaders for a victory she called "historic." Moss, the director of the Michigan branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), was, of...

Sue Dynarski’s latest NYT TheUpshot column takes on income gap in college graduation

Jun 2, 2015

In a June 2 column in the New York Times, Ford School professor Susan Dynarski writes that “class trumps ability when it comes to college graduation.”Dynarski cites a recent publication from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which...

Dean Yang promoted to full professor of public policy and economics, September 2015

May 26, 2015

The University of Michigan Board of Regents approved Dean Yang’s promotion to full professor of public policy and economics last week. His appointment is effective September 1.Yang, an applied development economist, has held appointments with the...

Preventing vote-selling in the Philippines image

Seefeldt cited in WaPo analysis of Kansas law limiting welfare recipient ATM withdrawals

May 26, 2015

In a Washington Post “Wonkblog” posting published last Thursday, Kristin Seefeldt provided insight into the impact a new provision passed by the Kansas legislature could have on poor families. The provision limits the amount of cash welfare...

Sue Dynarski quoted in MarketWatch article on Ivy League's 'hidden poor'

Apr 22, 2015

Sue Dynarski was quoted in a MarketWatch story addressing the struggles of low-income and first-generation students at Ivy League schools. While Columbia University served as the backdrop for “The Ivy League’s hidden poor,” published today, the...

Michigan Radio interviews Kristin Seefeldt for "Up by your bootstraps," a State of Opportunity special

Apr 15, 2015

In “Up by your bootstraps,” a State of Opportunity special that aired today on Michigan Radio, Sarah Alvarez interviews Kristin Seefeldt about “policymaking by anecdote.” “Seefeldt says the number-one myth about poverty she sees making its way into...

Photo of Kristin Seefeldt seated and working at a computer in her office

Dean Yang’s research featured in HuffPo story about increased access to banking in developing economies

Apr 15, 2015

Dean Yang’s research is featured in “More people in the developing world are getting bank accounts, but there’s an asterisk on that progress,” an article by Jonathan Cohn in today’s Huffington Post. Cohn is referring to a new report from the World...

Inside Philanthropy profiles Russell Sage Foundation’s crucial role in "moving inequality to the center of politics and policy”

Apr 15, 2015

“The [Russell Sage Foundation’s] research has played a crucial, if subtle role in moving inequality to the center of politics and policy in recent years” writes David Callahan for Inside Philanthropy. The article, “Inside the Russell Sage...

New York Review of Books features Sheldon Danziger’s Legacies of the War on Poverty

Apr 7, 2015

This April, Christopher Jencks reviews Sheldon Danziger’s Legacies of the War on Poverty (Russell Sage, 2013) in a two-part series for The New York Review of Books. Jencks says Legacies’ chapters are “packed with evidence, make judicious judgments,...

Wolfers takes aim at recent study claiming parenting time doesn’t matter

Apr 2, 2015

In his latest New York Times Upshot editorial, Justin Wolfers took aim at a recent study on parenting time by mothers that has garnered widespread national media coverage. The study, “Does the Amount of Time Mothers Spend With Children or...

Ford School students host annual US-Canada conference

Mar 31, 2015

The 6th annual Ford+SPPG Conference took place earlier this month at Joan and Sanford Weill Hall in Ann Arbor. The event brings together MPP candidates from the Ford School and the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance...

Shaefer cited in New York Times op-ed exploring severity of poverty in U.S.

Mar 27, 2015

Luke Shaefer was among a handful of national experts cited in a New York Times online op-ed exploring the current state of poverty and inequality in the United States. In “How Poor Are the Poor?,” published Wednesday, columnist Thomas B. Edsall...

Microfinance study: Yang finds people may give more generously when they can choose what their dollars purchase

Mar 17, 2015

At a microfinance bank in Maputo, Mozambique, Dean Yang and colleagues engaged clients in a lab-in-the-field experiment with interesting implications for those who care about increasing the number and level of remittances, the financial...

Dynarski argues for better educational attainment data in Brookings report

Mar 13, 2015

Susan Dynarski recently co-authored “How can we track trends in educational attainment by parental income? Hint: not with the Current Population Study,” posted March 12 by the Brookings Institution.With Matthew M. Chingos of Brookings, Dynarski...

Dean Yang publishes findings from randomized study of microsavings’ impact on agriculture, poverty

Mar 5, 2015

“Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa employs two-thirds of the labor force and generates about one-third of GDP growth,” writes Dean Yang in the introduction to “Facilitating savings from agriculture: field experimental evidence from Malawi,” a...

Improving health in developing countries, Erin Zaikis’ (BA ’10) social enterprise

Feb 24, 2015

By Mandira BanerjeeCleaning upAs Erin Zaikis lay sick with dengue fever in a Thailand hospital in 2013, she had an epiphany. She wanted to dedicate her life to helping others.Confined to her hospital bed with little to do, she ran through images of...

Elisabeth Gerber’s Community Ventures analysis featured in Detroit Free Press

Feb 17, 2015

Could Detroit’s renaissance begin to extend past the downtown and Midtown areas? Community Ventures, a new worker retraining program, is trying to make that happen, and Elisabeth Gerber, who analyzed the program with a group of four Ford...

Do placement exams bar students from higher ed? McFarlin says no. Read Education Week story

Feb 5, 2015

Education Week highlights Isaac McFarlin Jr.’s latest study in “Failing a Placement Exam Does Not Discourage College Enrollment,” posted by Caralee Adams on January 15.“State test cited in lower college enrollments,” a 1995 Dallas Morning News...

saac McFarlin discusses his research on Texas Top 10 Percent Plan with NPR image

Coates talks race and reparations during U-M's 2015 MLK Symposium

Jan 22, 2015

Ta-Nehisi Coates had one simple goal for his recent talk at U-M. “I hope to provoke people; I hope to give them what they brought me here to do,” he told Allana Akhtar of The Michigan Daily. “I hope to leave people talking.”Mission...

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Sound policy decisions, real-world time constraints and pressures, the Integrated Policy Exercise

Jan 14, 2015

Prior to taking part in the Ford School’s annual Integrated Policy Exercise (IPE) last week, Andrew Floyd (MPP ‘16) had a relatively vague notion of the part lobbyists played in the legislative process. After being cast as a lobbyist during the...

Justin Wolfers on the research, how pay increases influence and increase productivity

Jan 14, 2015

“Economists have long argued that increases in worker pay can lead to improvements in productivity—indeed, that it can actually be profitable to pay workers higher wages,” write Justin Wolfers and Jan Zilinsky in “Higher wages for low-income workers...