Departments and Research Centers

National Poverty Center

The National Poverty Center conducts multidisciplinary, policy-relevant research, mentors and trains emerging scholars, and informs public discourse on the causes and consequences of poverty.

Showing 1 - 30 of 51 results

News

Vox piece on universal basic income proposal cites Luke Shaefer's "must read" research

May 31, 2017

Vox asks “What happens if you replace every social program with a universal basic income?” in a May 30 article by Dylan Matthews. The piece goes on to cite Luke Shaefer’s research on a negative income tax. The article discusses a recent American...

Shaefer in The American Prospect: Fighting child poverty with universal child allowance

Apr 20, 2017

Luke Shaefer's article, co-authored with David Harris, “Fighting child poverty with a universal child allowance,” is featured in the spring 2017 edition of The American Prospect magazine. “Most developed countries provide cash to families with...

Shaefer compares poverty in United States to poverty in world's poorest countries

Jan 25, 2017

A paper by Luke Shaefer, Pinghui Wu (University of Michigan), and Kathryn Edin (Johns Hopkins University), "Can Poverty in America Be Compared to Conditions in the World's Poorest Countries?" is forthcoming in the American Journal of Medical...

News

In New York Times, Luke Shaefer discusses new policy proposal on childhood poverty

Oct 19, 2016

With a forthcoming paper on childhood poverty about to be released by the Russell Sage Foundation, Luke Shaefer spoke with New York Times Economic Scene columnist Eduardo Porter for the October 18 story, “Giving Every Child a Monthly Check for an...

Luke Shaefer delivers a talk at the Ford School

News

Washtenaw Reads selects $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, for 2017

Oct 6, 2016

$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, by Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer, has been selected as next year’s pick for the Washtenaw Reads community initiative. Washtenaw Reads aims to “promote reading and civic dialogue through the...

Pikauskas co-authors two chapters in new book, Children of the Great Recession

Oct 4, 2016

Natasha Pilkauskas has co-authored (with Irwin Garfinkel) two chapters featured in the Russell Sage Foundation's August 2016 e-book Children of the Great Recession, edited by Garfinkel, Sara McLanahan, and Christopher Wimer. The chapters are...

Shaefer speaks to United Way of Washtenaw County about local economic disparity

Sep 15, 2016

Luke Shaefer marked the start of the United Way of Washtenaw County’s annual fundraising campaign by highlighting the increasing and often invisible economic inequality in the local community. According to Lisa Barry from WEMU, who covered the...

The Economist cites $2.00 a Day in the article, “Poverty in America: No money no love”

Aug 19, 2016

The Economist cites $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, in the story “Poverty in America: No money no love,” which calls on today’s Presidential candidates to address endemic poverty.$2.00 a Day, a recently released book by Luke...

Huff Po asks if America’s poor really are “the envy of the world,” cites new NPC paper

Aug 9, 2016

Jonathan Cohn, senior national correspondent for the Huffington Post, explores how America’s poor measure up by international standards in, “Yet another conservative argument about poverty appears to be wrong.”The piece explores whether America’s...

New book, "Abandoned families: Social isolation in the 21st century," by K. Seefeldt

Aug 5, 2016

Kristin Seefeldt’s new book, Abandoned families: Social isolation in the 21st century, is set to release on December 25, 2016. Published by the Russell Sage Foundation, the book is described as “a timely, on-the-ground assessment of hardship in...

New York Review of Books on $2.00 a Day and “Why the very poor have become poorer”

May 23, 2016

In “Why the very poor have become poorer,” Christopher Jencks reviews $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, for the June 9 issue of The New York Review of Books. Written by Luke Shaefer and Kathryn Edin, $2.00 a Day (Houghton Mifflin...

Sandra Danziger, $2.00 a Day cited in NYT on political rifts over 1996 welfare reform

May 23, 2016

Sandra Danziger and $2.00 a Day are cited in The New York Times piece, “Political rifts over Bill Clinton’s welfare law resurface as aid shrinks.” The piece, which examines the mixed legacy of welfare reform on the occasion of its pending 20th...

News

$2.00 a Day wins 2016 Hillman Prize for book journalism in the service of the common good

Apr 22, 2016

The Sidney Hillman Foundation has selected $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, by Luke Shaefer and Kathryn Edin, for the 2016 Hillman Prize for Book Journalism. The prize will be awarded on May 3 at the 66th annual Hillman Prize...

News

The Atlantic interviews Luke Shaefer for story on the false promise of welfare reform

Apr 4, 2016

In a recent Atlantic article, “The End of Welfare as We Know It,” author Alana Semuels explores the state of the welfare system today, focusing in on Arkansas in the years following President Bill Clinton’s 1996 reforms. Semuels argues that the...

NYT profiles bipartisan plan to reduce poverty, professor emeritus Sheldon Danziger

Feb 3, 2016

The New York Times this week highlights a recent development in the fight against poverty that brought together thinkers from both sides of the aisle, including professor emeritus Sheldon Danziger. "Finding Common Political Ground on Poverty," the...

News

Shaefer promotes job stability as a key solution to poverty in SSIR op-ed

Jan 25, 2016

In "Precarious Work and the Employment-based Safety Net," an op-ed for the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), Luke Shaefer argues that our current employment-based welfare system overlooks the fact that the poorest Americans can only secure...

HuffPost says Shaefer’s work on extreme domestic poverty inspired $2 billion federal proposal

Jan 13, 2016

The Obama administration has announced plans for a $2 billion initiative to test new approaches to fight poverty in the U.S., citing Luke Shaefer and Kathryn Edin’s recently published book about Americans living on $2 a day.White House officials say...

Seefeldt questions Massachusetts' welfare and work program in The Atlantic

Dec 15, 2015

A recent Atlantic article, "When the Government Tells Poor People How to Live," profiles A Better Life, an intensive case management program that requires residents of Worcester, Massachusetts’ state-subsidized public housing system to work or...

Seefeldt shares new research on poor single motherhood in The Atlantic

Dec 3, 2015

According to “How Poor Single Moms Survive,” an article by Alana Semuels for The Atlantic, the number of single-parent households in the US has soared since 1960, just as the amount of government assistance available to these largely female-headed...

U Record spotlights Luke Shaefer, “Associate professor studies extreme poverty in America”

Nov 11, 2015

When living in extreme poverty, people make use of whatever assets they have as a means of survival, whether it means selling plasma, junk yard scrapping, food stamps or sex just to get by."It's both depressing and uplifting," Luke Shaefer says of...

Increasing work opportunities, reducing poverty two decades after Welfare Reform

Nov 6, 2015

A research article by Sandra K. Danziger, Sheldon Danziger, Kristin S. Seefeldt, and Luke Shaefer, "Increasing work opportunities and reducing poverty two decades after Welfare Reform," was published in the November 2015 edition of the Journal of...

"From welfare to a work-based safety net: An incomplete transition" published by JPAM

Nov 6, 2015

A research study by Sandra K. Danziger, Sheldon Danziger, Kristin S. Seefeldt, and Luke Shaefer, "From welfare to a work‐based safety net: An incomplete transition," was published in the November 2015 edition of the Journal of Policy Analysis and...

Shaefer testifies before Senate Finance Committee at hearing on welfare and poverty

Oct 29, 2015

Luke Shaefer testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee today in a hearing on welfare and poverty in America. During his testimony, Shaefer offered recommendations for reforming safety net programs (such as TANF) and provided insight into...

Atlantic, HuffPo and others highlight Shaefer/Edin's new book on extreme poverty in US

Sep 8, 2015

Luke Shaefer and Kathryn Edin’s new book, $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, details the lives of Americans in extreme poverty.In a recent op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, the authors estimate that the proportion of Americans living...

News

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

Jul 14, 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...

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...

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...

Census report on poverty rate shows stimulus worked, Sheldon Danziger says

Sep 12, 2012

National Poverty Center director Sheldon Danziger had an optimistic view of the U.S. Census Bureau's report on the poverty rate, which remained at an all-time high but did not increase as many anticipated."This is good news and a surprise," Danziger...

State & Hill

The right place at the right time, unfortunately

Sep 16, 2009

National Poverty Center surveying effects of recession and federal stimulus on Southeast Michigan workers and families Long affected by the loss of well-paid manufacturing jobs, workers and families in Southeast Michigan have been hit especially...

Example page: General page title

Page lead Page lead Page lead Page lead Page lead Page lead Page lead