Cities
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Reducing Racial Disparities in the US by Increasing Contraception Coverage
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On October 6, the Trump Administration rolled back the federal requirement that all employers must include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans. As a result, some employees will be asked to pay for contraceptives on their own. By making contraceptives less affordable and accessible, this policy decision may…
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The Affordable Housing Gap Leaves Low-Income Renters without Options
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The Urban Institute recently released a report highlighting a significant gap in the amount of affordable housing available, and the number of individuals who need it. This gap has widened in many parts of the country, especially in Cook County, Illinois (the county that encompasses Chicago and neighboring suburbs), which…
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Breaking the Cycle of Inner City Violence with PTSD Care
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As many cities across the country actively seek solutions to stem violence, researchers from Emory University, New York University, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have confirmed a relationship between Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and exposure to violent behavior among civilians living in urban areas. Though it is most…
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Have Home, Won’t Travel: How Housing Values Impact Labor Mobility
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The terms “economic mobility” and “social mobility” are used figuratively to describe ascending the wealth ladder, usually by accruing income. But such mobility can take on a more literal connotation: if a better paying job is across the country it might be worth moving. Anything that restricts a person’s ability…
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Evaluating the Impact of Minimum Wage Increases on Child Neglect
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During the most recent presidential election, the issue of raising the federal minimum wage was intensely debated. Political debates about the federal minimum wage often center on the effects of a minimum wage increase on employers’ labor decisions, changes in prices of goods and services and poverty alleviation among workers.…
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Housing Relocation in Developing Countries: Opportunity or Isolation?
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Over the course of the last two decades, there has been a significant trend toward urbanization worldwide as the promise of jobs and wealth has driven many people to relocate. A record 54 percent of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, with the largest increases occurring in developing…
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Capturing the Economic Toll of Urban Gun Violence
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Every time a trigger is pulled in Minneapolis, the creation of 80 potential jobs is blocked. While the traumatizing effects of gun violence have been studied extensively, its impact on economic activity has remained largely unexplored. A recent Urban Institute report, “The Effect of Gun Violence on Local Economies,” establishes…
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Analyzing Racial Bias in Selecting Students for Gifted Classes
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Gifted programs in U.S. schools help many students find the sort of academic success that opens the door to opportunities later in life. A recent Vanderbilt University study explores the depths of inequality in the assignment of black students to gifted programs. The authors utilize data from the Early Childhood…
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More Questions than Answers: A Review of Gun Violence in Chicago
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The University of Chicago Crime Lab released a report in January 2017 that details the sudden spike in gun violence that persisted throughout 2016. The Crime Lab analyzed key data in an attempt to discover what triggered the dramatic increase in gun-related crime. Many of the findings were not surprising: Gun violence…
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Paying for Lower Taxes: The Effect of a Place-Based Tax Reduction Program in Detroit
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To combat poverty, state and local policymakers have increasingly turned to “place-based” policies that offer financial support, such as subsidies or tax abatements based on location. This assistance is meant to spur redevelopment and economic growth in a particular area. The increasing popularity of place-based policies has been driven by…
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Where Children Live Matters: Housing Policy Effects on Education Outcomes
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Social scientists have long suspected that the demographic characteristics and attributes of neighborhoods affect the educational outcomes of the children who live in them. However, this hypothesis is challenging to test because people tend to self-select the neighborhoods in which they live. As a result, exogenous variation — a randomized…