On the Evidence
MATHEMATICA
A podcast hosted by Mathematica’s J.B. Wogan that examines what we know about today’s most urgent challenges and how we can make progress in addressing them. Reimagining the way the world gathers and uses data, Mathematica uncovers the evidence that offers our partners the confidence and clarity they need to find out what can be done, how to make it happen, and where to go next.
135 | It’s the Evidence, Stupid: GAO’s Report on Evidence-Based Policymaking and What Comes Next
This episode features audio from an in-person roundtable discussion at the 2024 Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management Fall Research Conference. The roundtable focused on the five-year anniversary of The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act and a recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on federal agencies' ability to assess their capacity to collect and use evidence. The panelists also discussed what needs to happen next to further strengthen the u
134 | Modernizing State Public Health Data Policies and Practices
In the same way a doctor uses data to diagnose and treat a patient, states’ public health agencies use data to measure and address health in their communities. In the United States, states have the autonomy to decide their own data policies, which influences the amount, quality, and timeliness of public health data they produce. On the heels of the worst global pandemic in a century—and at a time when technology is significantly changing the way that information flows to public health agencies—a
133 | Boosting the Use of Social Policy Research
On the latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, Lauren Supplee, the deputy assistant secretary for planning, research, and evaluation at the Administration for Children and Families, sat down for a wide-ranging conversation about the use of evidence in social policy. Supplee reflected on this year’s White House blueprint on social and behavioral science in government, which included Head Start as an example of a government program for children and families that benefited from dec
132 | Embedding Data and Innovation Across California State Government
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features Jeffery Marino, the director of California’s Office of Data and Innovation (ODI). For the podcast, Mathematica’s President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Decker spoke with Marino about ODI’s CalAcademy for training state employees in areas such as plain language and human-centered design, California Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order on generative artificial intelligence, facilitating interagency data sharing agreements,
131 | How Expanded Tax Credits Benefited Family Well-Being
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features an interview with Katherine Michelmore, an associate professor of public policy at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the 24th recipient of the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize.
Michelmore’s research has focused on temporary expansions of tax credits during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is part of a growing body of evidence informing state and federal policy proposals to make permanent some
130 | The Evidence-Based Benefits of Employee Ownership
In honor of Employee Ownership Month in October, Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features a special episode with Paul Decker, Mathematica’s president and chief executive officer, and Jim Bonham, the president and chief executive officer of The ESOP Association. On the episode, Decker and Bonham discuss the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) as an evidence-based tool that benefits employees, consumers, and communities across the nation.
An ESOP is a retirement vehicle for employees that
129 | How Evaluation Can Support Housing Justice and Community Change
A new episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast explores recent research that experimented with a new approach to equitable data collection that also equips individuals and their organizations with new skills and resources. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation contracted with Mathematica and its partner UBUNTU Research and Evaluation to learn how grassroots organizations in the housing justice movement had used grant funds for community power building.
Through a fellowship program establis
128 | How Better Data Interoperability Can Improve Care Delivered To Patients
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast focuses on the potential for health data interoperability to improve people’s health and well-being. Improved data interoperability is part of a broader push in the public and private sectors to use digital technology to make greater volumes of data available faster, at lower cost, and in higher-quality formats. These advances would make data easier to access, especially when needed to prevent or address urgent problems. In health care,
127 | Ensuring Evidence Use in Public Policy with Brookings Institution Pres. Cecilia Rouse
Cecilia Rouse is the former dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the current president of the Brookings Institution. For the first two years of the Biden administration, she was the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers—the first Black American to chair the council in its 75-year history. In August, she joined Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast for a conversation with Mathematica’s President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Decker about leadership, the use
126 | How AmeriCorps Uses Data to Support Communities Through National Service and Volunteerism
Thirty years ago, President Bill Clinton signed bipartisan legislation creating what is now known as AmeriCorps, a federal agency for national service and volunteerism. Since then, the agency estimates that more than 1.3 million AmeriCorps members and hundreds of thousands more AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers have provided billions of hours of service across each of the 50 states and U.S. territories.
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of AmeriCorps, On the Evidence hosted a discussion about th
125 | 20 Years of Evidence-Based Poverty Reduction from the Millennium Challenge Corporation
Twenty years ago, the U.S. Congress created a new federal agency that represented a bold experiment in international aid. That agency, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), strove to reduce global poverty through grant-making to low- and lower-middle-income countries that demonstrated a commitment to good governance, economic freedom, and investing in their citizens. Part of what made MCC distinct in the international development space was its evidence-based approach, which focused on eval
124 | AcademyHealth’s New CEO on AI, Climate Change, and Other Topics of Health Services Research
Our guest for this episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast is Dr. Aaron Carroll, a pediatrician, health researcher, and science communicator who recently assumed the post of president and chief executive officer at AcademyHealth, the leading national organization for convening and sharing information across health services researchers, policymakers, and health care practitioners.
On the Evidence spoke with Carroll ahead of his organization’s Health Datapalooza conference in mid-Septembe
123 | Validating Natural Climate Solutions with Better Data
In the United States, conversations about solutions to climate change often revolve around reducing fossil fuel emissions from human activities. But many believe regenerative agricultural practices and other nature-based solutions—which use soil and plants and try to either prevent or capture emissions—should complement policies and programs to reduce emissions from vehicles and power plants. As the nature-based climate solutions mature, public and private organizations that invest in them will
122 | Reflecting on Juneteenth and Our Collective Equity Journey
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast coincides with June 19, which is celebrated by many around the United States as Juneteenth, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in this country. Recently, one way staff at Mathematica have honored this important moment in U.S. history is by joining together in person and virtually on June 18th to read aloud and discuss a speech by Frederick Douglass titled “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Douglass gave the spee
121 | NORC and Mathematica CEOs on the Future of Data and Evidence
Within the past few years, organizations that help improve public well-being by providing data-driven insights have witnessed significant changes. From a digital transformation hastened by big data and artificial intelligence (AI) to the globalization of evidence-based solutions for problems that transcend borders, changes in technology, society, and culture are challenging leaders to rethink how their organizations operate. On the latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, NORC at
120 | Improving Health through Responsible Use of AI
This episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features a discussion about how various parties within the health care ecosystem can responsibly use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve patient health. The conversation comes amid increasing interest in the applications of AI in daily life and one month after Mathematica announced the launch of its Health Data Innovation Lab, a digital operational hub for government agencies, foundations, medical centers, and other health organizations t
119 | Max Stier on Using Data to Improve the Federal Government
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features Max Stier, the president and chief executive officer of the Partnership for Public Service. Stier discusses the central role that data and research play in supporting his organization’s mission to make the federal government more effective. The episode comes during Public Service Recognition Week (May 5–11), which is also when the partnership announces finalists for its Service to America Medals. These annual awards celebrate e
118 | Moving from Evidence Generation to Evidence Use in President Biden's 2025 Budget
In March, when the Biden administration released its budget request for fiscal year 2025, it not only offered a blueprint for the president’s policymaking agenda—it also provided the latest indication of how the White House and federal agencies are going beyond evidence generation to use evidence as a guide in making program investments that can improve Americans’ lives. For this episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, Nichole Dunn, the vice president of federal policy at Results for A
117 | Moody’s Mark Zandi on Being a Voice for Data-Driven Decisions in Public Policy
The latest episode of On the Evidence features Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. On the episode, Zandi speaks with Paul Decker, Mathematica’s president and chief executive officer, about comprehensive immigration reform, artificial intelligence, labor shortages, remote work, the merits of pursuing a nonacademic career in economic research, and how Zandi seeks to influence politically charged policy debates with data and credibility. Zandi is the author of two books related to
116 | Applying AI to Improve Health Policy Research
The latest episode of On the Evidence features an interview with Mathematica’s Ngan MacDonald about the applications of artificial intelligence (AI) for improving health care through data analytics. MacDonald recently joined Mathematica as the company’s director of health data innovations, where she leads a team of data scientists that help public and private health organizations use their data to deliver meaningful and effective insights. In addition to her role at Mathematica, MacDonald is als
115 | Improving the Impact of Social Programs Through Better Evaluation
A new episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast explores the idea that a more comprehensive approach to evaluation, including study of a program’s design and implementation, maximizes a program’s chances of success. The episode draws from a convening in January at Mathematica’s D.C. office at which experts from the federal government, philanthropy, academia, and research organizations discussed insights from the Oxford Handbook on Program Design and Implementation Evaluation, edited by Ma
114 | How Virtual and Group Tutoring Could Address Learning Loss
The COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a public health emergency, but its harmful effects on the U.S. education system still linger. Nationwide standardized test scores show that average student achievement in core subjects, such as math and reading, remains below pre-pandemic levels. Over the past four years, a growing number of schools have used temporary federal pandemic relief funds to implement high-dosage tutoring, an evidence-based strategy shown to increase student learning. Education agenci
113 | An interview with U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos
On the five-year anniversary of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, we’re proud to feature an interview with Robert Santos, the director of the U.S. Census Bureau. Santos, the first Latino and the second person of color to lead the agency, joined Mathematica in January for a wide-ranging conversation that covered the following topics:
• changing Latinx/Hispanic population trends in the United States
• how people of Latinx/Hispanic heritage can advance in the field of public policy research
•
112 | Lessons for States Interested in Hospital Global Budgeting
This episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast explores lessons from Maryland, with glimpses from Vermont and Pennsylvania, that could help other states decide whether and how to adopt hospital global budgeting. The guests for this episode are Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, who was the secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene when the state adopted hospital global budgeting; Thomas Mullen, who led a Baltimore-area hospital system when Maryland adopted the new payment mode
111 | Homeschooling, Inequities in Disability Policy, and Improving Child Health Through School
Every year, early-career scholars join Mathematica for a summer to work on independent research related to improving public well-being. As prospective applicants prepare to apply by the Feb. 29 deadline for the 2024 Summer Fellowship program, Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast spoke with last year’s fellows (Laurin Bixby, Carla Wellborn, and Luis Carlos Carvajal-Osorio) about what is at stake in the questions they’re investigating, why they’re interested in applied research, and what they fou
110 | Our Listeners on the Most Important Developments in Evidence and Well-Being in 2023
For the final episode of 2023, Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast asked friends of the show to send short voice notes about important developments in evidence and well-being this year that will continue to matter in 2024. More than a dozen listeners and former guests responded to our call, highlighting significant milestones in health care, early childhood education, economic opportunity, climate change, disability policy, gender equality, and government agencies’ growing capacity to generate
109, Part 2 | Improving Health Equity by Transforming Public Health Data Systems
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, inconsistent data collection and reporting made it difficult for U.S. public health agencies to respond to the disease's inequitable impacts. Demographic and socioeconomic factors, such as age, race, ethnicity, gender, income, and disability status, were particularly challenging to capture. The same data issues would later impede agencies’ ability to prioritize vaccinations for the people most impacted by the pandemic. Even though COVID-19 is no longer a global pu
109, Part 1 | Improving Health Equity by Transforming Public Health Data Systems
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, inconsistent data collection and reporting made it difficult for U.S. public health agencies to respond to the disease's inequitable impacts. Demographic and socioeconomic factors, such as age, race, ethnicity, gender, income, and disability status, were particularly challenging to capture. The same data issues would later impede agencies’ ability to prioritize vaccinations for the people most impacted by the pandemic. Even though COVID-19 is no longer a global pu
108 | How Artificial Intelligence Can Advance Health Equity
In September 2023, Mathematica and Congressman Don Beyer’s office hosted an event on Capitol Hill to discuss artificial intelligence (AI) and its implications for health equity. This episode of On the Evidence features audio from the September event, anchored by Victoria Knight, a health care policy reporter for Axios, who interviewed Congressman Beyer and moderated a subsequent panel with Ellie Graeden, Jen Roberts, Ngan MacDonald, and Deliya Wesley.
• Beyer represents the 8th Congressional D
107 | Elizabeth Linos on Bolstering the Public Sector Workforce and Improving Government Services
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features Elizabeth Linos, the 23rd recipient of the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize. Linos is a public management scholar and behavioral scientist who studies, designs, and tests innovations in how government works. On the episode, Linos talks about what public sector workers and public policy researchers can learn from each other, how she selects research topics that have salience in the policy community, and what she is learning abou
106 | Jennifer Pahlka on Government in the Digital Age
Jennifer Pahlka served as the U.S. deputy chief technology officer under President Barack Obama and founded Code for America, a nonprofit that works to improve government digital services. In her new book, "Recoding America: Why Government is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better," Pahlka takes us beyond the basics to explore why policy implementation goes wrong and what we can do to improve delivery of government services and create better outcomes for the American public.
On thi
105 | How Colorado Committed to Supporting Teacher Diversity and Why it Matters to Students
Teacher recruitment and retention challenges have increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. But even before that, students of diverse backgrounds have historically not seen themselves reflected in the adults in their classrooms and schools. Why does this matter? Students of color do better in school when they have teachers who share similar identities. For example, Black students with at least one Black teacher in grades K-3 are 13 percent more likely to graduate high school and 19 per
104 | Michael Mann on Taking Action to Address the Climate Crisis
For anyone looking to understand Earth’s climate history and the unfolding climate crisis, Michael Mann has got you covered.
Mann is the Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media. He has authored numerous books, including The New Climate War and The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars. He was selected by Scientific American as one of the fift
103 | OMB Evidence Team on Evidence-Based Policymaking and Federal Evaluation
From helping lead implementation of the Evidence Act to providing technical assistance on activities and initiatives, the Evidence Team at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is on the frontlines of evidence building and use across the federal government.
Led by Diana Epstein (Team Lead), Erica Zielewski (Senior Evidence Analyst), Danielle Berman (Senior Evidence Analyst), and Erika Liliedahl (Senior Evidence Analyst), the OMB Evidence Team spends their days doing “anything and everything
102 | Gayle Smith on the Federal Role in Global Response to Health and Climate Crises
Gayle Smith, CEO of the ONE Campaign, served in many leadership roles in the federal government as a staunch advocate for evidence-based decision making.
As Coordinator for Global COVID Response and Health Security at the U.S. Department of State in 2021, Smith led the U.S. effort to end the global pandemic, helping the Biden-Harris Administration map out a response, identify spikes, and target vulnerabilities through monitoring, testing, diagnostics, and other tools. As Administrator of the Un
101 | Using Data to Advance Equitable Outcomes from Pre-K through the Workforce
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated pre-existing inequities that changed how individuals engage with pre-K programs, schools, colleges, employers, and the world at large. Early evidence suggests the pandemic took a toll on student learning, educational attainment, employment, and physical and mental well-being, especially in communities of color and communities experiencing poverty. In recognition of the fact that better data infrastructure will be needed to shift the systems that currently produc
Bonus Content | J.B. Wogan Reflects on 100 Episodes
In this special feature, On the Evidence host J.B. Wogan reflects on the first 100 episodes of the Mathematica podcast, and retraces some of the steps taken in the almost five years since the series launched in early 2019.
Learn more, listen, and subscribe: https://mathematica.org/ontheevidence
100 | Robert Shea on the Federal Government’s Progress in Using Evidence
In May 2023, Mathematica hosted a convening on Capitol Hill about embedding evidence in federal decision making, with a focus on the legacy of the nearly five-year-old Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, also known as the Evidence Act. One of the attendees that day was Robert Shea, an expert on performance improvement in government who served on the bipartisan U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, a group whose recommendations informed the Evidence Act. Shea is the chief e
99 | Understanding Why More Eligible Kids Got Free Meals During Pandemic Summers
Leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, only about one in every seven students served by the National School Lunch Program also participated in free summer meals programs provided by the federal Food and Nutrition Service. The low ratio of students accessing meals in the summer compared to the school year has been dubbed the “summer food gap.” Policymakers and anti-hunger advocates have long worried that millions of children from households with low incomes aren’t getting enough to eat when school
98 | Developing Education Programs to Prevent Violence and Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean
This episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast focuses on how research informs funding strategies to tackle an urgent social challenge. A couple of years ago, Mathematica reviewed evidence from across the world on whether education programs can prevent or mitigate violence and crime. USAID commissioned the report to help develop effective strategies for leveraging the education sector to address violence and crime in Latin America and the Caribbean. Although Mathematica’s researchers iden
97 | Building on the Evidence Act
In late May 2023, Mathematica coordinated with Congressman Derek Kilmer’s office to host a discussion on Capitol Hill about the impact of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Evidence Act) and how to further embed the use of data and evidence in federal decision making. This episode of On the Evidence features edited audio from the event with remarks from Kilmer and his House colleague, Rep. William Timmons, in addition to a panel discussion with experts from government, think ta
96 | Addressing Fragmented Health Care
The fragmentation of outpatient health care drives up the cost of care and worsens the quality of care that patients receive, posing a risk to patients’ health. On this episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, guests James Lee of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation, Knitasha Washington of ATW Health Solutions, Bob Phillips of the Center for Professionalism and Value in Health Care, and Lori Timmins of Mathematica discuss recent research on the nature of the problem and federal
95 | The Role of Evidence in Solutions Journalism
The 95th episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features author Tina Rosenberg discussing the role of data and other evidence in supporting solutions journalism. In 2013, Rosenberg co-founded the Solutions Journalism Network, which challenges journalists to show whether a solution they are covering is effective using available data or qualitative results. The episode explores the nature of solutions journalism and how researchers who evaluate policies and programs can contribute to evi
94 | Christina Ciocca Eller on White House Year of Evidence for Action
Episode 94 of On the Evidence is the second installment in a new occasional series on the show called Evidence in Government, where guests talk about new developments in the halls of government and the role that evidence can or should play in decisions that could improve people’s lives.
On this episode, Christina Ciocca Eller talks about a recent push at the White House to accelerate the comingling of research and public policy to improve the lives of the American people. Ciocca Eller is an ass
93 | Inside Arizona’s Investment in Evidence-Based Foster Care Prevention
On this episode, we discuss the Family First Prevention Services Act in the context of one state’s efforts to build evidence for a parent education program thought to prevent child abuse and neglect.
Katherine Guffey, Meg Dygert, and Allon Kalisher discuss a parent education program in Arizona that Mathematica evaluated, the Family First law, and the long-term implications of the law’s provisions around prevention services and evidence of effectiveness. Guffey is the executive consultant to the
92 | Evidence-Based Policy in President Biden's 2024 Budget
In the president’s proposed budget for the 2024 fiscal year, the Biden White House outlines a spending plan that would expand health care insurance coverage for more Americans, extend free school meals to more children, and provide financial assistance for child care to more families. The budget includes more than a dozen references to evidence and calls for taking evidence-based or evidence-informed approaches to criminal justice, foster care prevention services, and registered apprenticeship p
91 | Solutions for Preventing Heart Attacks, Improving Patient Health, and Reducing Health Spending
Every year, Mathematica publishes dozens of new papers and reports, some of which surface fresh insights about how public agencies and private organizations can be more effective at improving public well-being. For the 91st episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, we’re launching an occasional series focused on examples of solutions that recent research suggests are effective.
All three solutions in this episode involve financial incentives that seek to reduce health care costs while
90 | Supporting Families Through Equity-Infused Program Change
On this episode, guests Tosin Shenbanjo, Julie Sanon, and Allison Holmes discuss a cross-sector partnership in Memphis, Tennessee, that infused equity into a local nonprofit’s two-generation strategy for alleviating poverty and supporting families. Sanon is the chief operating officer at Agape Child & Family Services in Memphis. Holmes is a senior research associate at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Shenbanjo is a researcher at Mathematica. They share lessons from a collaboration between Agape,
89 | Teacher Coaching: A Solution to Learning Loss and Teacher Burnout?
On the latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, we look at a potential solution to two concerns in K–12 education during the pandemic: student learning loss and teacher burnout. The conversation builds on a national study from Mathematica and the Institute of Education Sciences on a form of individualized, video-based teacher coaching, which improved student achievement. Our guests for this episode include a teacher (Nicole Minor), a teacher coach (Michelle Schmidt), and a Mathem
88 | Helping Job Seekers with Low Incomes During Recessions and Recoveries
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast looks at proven ways to help job seekers with low incomes during economic recessions and recoveries. Guests Tyreese Nicolas, Kimberly Clum, and Alex Stanczyk share insights from the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse, a publicly available website about interventions designed to help job seekers with low incomes. They also discuss what the evidence says about the effectiveness of these interventions.
Nicolas served as an assistant
87 | A Conversation with Mathematica’s 2022 Summer Fellows
Every year, early-career scholars join Mathematica for a summer to work on independent research related to improving public well-being. As prospective applicants weigh whether to submit an application by the Feb. 28 deadline for the 2023 Summer Fellowship program, Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast spoke with last year’s fellows (Jennifer Kirk, Katherine Engel, and Adrienne Jones) about their experience working with Mathematica staff, the policy implications of their research, why they’re int
86 | The Present & Future of Computational Social Science
Princeton professor Matthew Salganik’s book, Bit by Bit, explores the merging worlds of computer science and social science for timely, policy relevant research in the 21st century. In the book, he shows how traditional research techniques in the social sciences can sometimes be combined with digital tools and big data to generate high-quality evidence on a larger scale, in less time, and at a much lower cost. On the five-year anniversary of his book’s release, Salganik, who is also a member of
85 | Human Services Agencies Pursue Environmental Justice
On the latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, guests Michael A. Becketts, Tracy Wareing Evans, Shavana Howard, and Matt Stagner make the case for state and local human services agencies to play a central role in the response to climate change.
Becketts is the director of the Fairfax County Department of Family Services; Wareing Evans is the President and Chief Executive Officer at American Public Human Services Association; Howard is an assistant secretary for the Louisiana D
84 | Advancing Equity and Addressing the Climate Crisis in 2022, the Year of Evidence for Action
For the final episode of 2022, we continue our annual tradition of inviting guests to reflect on Mathematica’s work with its partners in advancing equity, addressing the climate crisis, improving public well-being, and the role that evidence played in it. This year’s guests are Nancy Murray, Jill Constantine, and Chris Trenholm, who oversee Mathematica’s International, Human Services, and Health business units, respectively. On the episode, they discuss the following topics:
• Where they see s
83, Pt. 2 | Abigail Aiken on Using Research to Inform Abortion, Reproductive Health Policy
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features Abigail Aiken, the 22nd recipient of the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize.
In Part 1, as part of her acceptance speech at the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management’s fall research conference, Aiken shares details about her personal and professional journey as a researcher in the area of evidence-based reproductive health policy. Listen to Part 1 here: https://soundcloud.com/ontheevidence/informing-reproductive-he
83, Pt. 1 | Abigail Aiken on Using Research to Inform Abortion, Reproductive Health Policy
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features Abigail Aiken, the 22nd recipient of the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize.
In Part 1, as part of her acceptance speech at the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management’s fall research conference, Aiken shares details about her personal and professional journey as a researcher in the area of evidence-based reproductive health policy.
A full transcript of the episode is available here: mathematica.org/blogs/abigail-
82 | Confronting the Climate Crisis with Data and Evidence
Climate change represents the single most significant policy challenge in the 21st century. It is a multifaceted and global threat to society that affects a range of concerns, from the environment and food security to health and economic inequality. Recognizing the urgency of the threat, Mathematica recently established a climate change practice to help develop innovative and sustainable solutions that meet ambitious reduction goals for carbon dioxide emissions while helping vulnerable communiti
81 | Addressing the Health Risks Posed by Extreme Heat
On this episode of On the Evidence, Don Berwick of the National Academy of Medicine’s Climate Collaborative, Tom DiLiberto of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Aparna Keshaviah of Mathematica explore the risks that climate change and extreme heat pose to human health and how data can help inform solutions.
A full transcript of the episode is available here: https://www.mathematica.org/blogs/addressing-the-harmful-effects-of-climate-change-on-extreme-heat-and-human-health
80 | Lessons from Contact Tracing During the Pandemic
This episode of On the Evidence explores lessons from contact tracing for COVID-19 that should inform current and future efforts to rebuild the public health field, particularly its workforce, after the public health emergency ends.
This episode features the following guests:
• Elinor Higgins, a policy associate at the National Academy for State Health Policy
• Shelley Fiscus, a pediatrician and senior policy consultant at the National Academy for State Health Policy
• Rachel Brash, a strateg
79 | Using Data Transparency to Control Hospital Costs
On this episode of On the Evidence, guests Gloria Sachdev of the Employers’ Forum of Indiana, Maureen Hensley-Quinn of the National Academy for State Health Policy, and Evelyn Li and Guru Rasukonda of Mathematica discuss the value of new online tools for making sense of large sets of hospital cost and pricing data being made available in response to new federal regulations.
A full transcript of the episode is available here: https://www.mathematica.org/blogs/using-data-transparency-to-control-h
78 | Addressing the Cash Cliff in Safety Net Programs: Lessons from a National Demonstration
Across many safety net programs, workers with low income and their families face the threat of a sudden and unexpected loss of benefits if their earnings increase too much, sometimes resulting in a net decrease in overall income. Policymakers have long worried that the phenomenon, often described as the cash or benefits cliff, discourages work and reinforces dependence on public assistance. Over the past decade, the Social Security Administration has launched two national demonstrations intended
77 | Addressing a Primary Care Workforce Crisis
The latest episode of On the Evidence, the Mathematica podcast, explores the primary care workforce crisis, a complex and long-standing problem that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Guests Sue Lin, Luci Leykum, Julie Schilz, and Diane Rittenhouse discuss recent research on the nature of the problem as well as evidence-based solutions for strengthening primary care.
Lin is the deputy office director of the Office of Quality Improvement within the Bureau of Primary Health Care at the He
76 | The Costs of Untreated Maternal Mental Health Conditions
In honor of Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, Mathematica’s podcast, On the Evidence, explores recent research on the societal costs of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. These disorders—which can include depression, suicidal thoughts, and panic attacks—affect women and birthing people during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Although these disorders are common, they often go undiagnosed and untreated, which can negatively affect the long-term physical, emotional, and developmental he
75 | Human Services Adapted During the Pandemic. What Will Stick?
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted human services agencies to rethink how they engage with clients and how they address persistent stress and trauma experienced by their own staff.
On this episode of On the Evidence, Mathematica’s J.B. Wogan and Diana McCallum discuss how human services agencies have adapted during the pandemic. The episode also includes insights from Kataney Couamin and Andrea Barnum, who work at local agencies providing workforce services, as well as Mathematica’s Jonathan McCay
74 | Globalizing Evidence-Based Solutions for an Interdependent World
As the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change demonstrate, in an increasingly interdependent world, communities across the globe face shared challenges and need shared solutions. In the latest episode of On the Evidence, Adam Coyne, Chris Boyd, and Respichius Deogratias Mitti discuss the changing role of data and evidence in supporting decisions to improve well-being in a more interconnected world.
Coyne oversaw international research at Mathematica for most of the past two years and currently s
73 | Ensuring Equity as Wastewater Testing for COVID-19 Matures in the United States
Sewage has proven to be a valuable source of real-time SARS-CoV-2 data during the COVID-19 pandemic, giving public officials insights into the health of their community without relying on individuals getting tested. But as wastewater monitoring expands, local officials and their research partners are increasingly interested in how wastewater testing might also advance or hinder equity.
On this episode of On the Evidence, guests Dr. Na’Taki Osborne Jelks, Dr. Otakuye Conroy-Ben, and Aparna Kes
72 | Bayesian Methods Could Provide the Key to Answering Which Policies Work Best for Whom
On this episode of On the Evidence, Mathematica’s Mariel Finucane and John Deke join Tim Day of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation to discuss the application of evidence-informed Bayesian methods that not only confirm whether a policy or program works, but for whom.
Learn more about Mathematica's work using evidence-based Bayesian methods in applied policy research: https://mathematica.org/features/bayesian-methods
Read a brief about using a Bayesian framework for interpreting findi
71 | The Role of Evidence in Local Spending of Pandemic Fiscal Relief Funds
Last year’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was the largest one-time federal investment in state, local, and Tribal governments in the past century, and it included $350 billion meant for governments to respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. State, local, and Tribal governments have wide latitude in how they can spend the money, including the use of evaluation and data management tools that can improve the efficacy of public health and economic assistance programs.
On the latest e
70 | Preventing Cardiovascular Disease and Promoting Equity in Higher Ed
On this episode of On the Evidence, Temitope Ojo and Katlyn Lee Milless discuss their experience with the Mathematica Summer Fellowship in 2021. Ojo is a doctoral candidate at the NYU School of Global Public Health. Her research focuses on implementation science as well as the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease and other non-communicable diseases in a global setting.
Milless is a doctoral candidate in basic and applied social psychology at the Graduate Center of The City Univer
69 | Understanding the Equity and Justice Dimensions of Energy Policy Decisions
In her research, Sanya Carley examines the effects of energy policies, including their equity and justice implications.
In a new episode of On the Evidence, Carley discusses her increased interest in understanding the human element of energy policy decisions: Who makes policy decisions, who benefits from those decisions, and who does not.
Carley is a professor at the Paul O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, where she directs the Master of Public Affairs
68 | Reflecting on Evidence and Insights in 2021 and the Year Ahead
Between a pandemic, an uneven economic recovery, ongoing concerns about societal inequities, and increasingly troubling signs of climate change’s impacts, decision makers in 2021 faced an acute need for timely and reliable evidence about what works to address a range of health and social challenges. In this episode of On the Evidence, Mathematica’s Adam Coyne, Jill Constantine, and Chris Trenholm reflect on the role that evidence played in responding to pressing challenges in the past year and p
67 | Advancing Racial Equity in Fatherhood Programs
The latest episode of On the Evidence focuses on the ways that racism and inequity within human services programs affect fathers and families, and how adopting a more inclusive father engagement strategy can benefit children, fathers, and their families.
Today, federal and state governments, as well as foundations and nonprofits, are emphasizing the importance of understanding the role of racism in American institutions and policies. In partnership with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for
66 | Removing Barriers to Child Care for Parents in Education and Training Programs
In the United States, education and training programs are available to help adults with low incomes secure better jobs and earn higher wages. But, of an estimated 21 million parents with low incomes nationwide, only about 1 in 10 participated in such programs. One reason the participation rate isn’t higher? Inadequate supply of affordable and convenient child care options.
The lack of child is a major barrier for parents with low incomes who want to engage in training, acquire new skills, inc
65 | Learning from Foundations' Push to Advance Equity through Evidence
Although researchers play an important role in making progress on equitable research, they are one part of a broader ecosystem of people and organizations who make research possible and use research findings to change policies, programs, and practices to improve people’s lives. On this episode of On the Evidence, we focus on the role of funders, particularly those in the philanthropic sector, as early proponents and adopters of culturally responsive and equitable research in social programs. Our
64 | Lessons from a National Health Initiative that Helps Address Social Needs
On this episode of On the Evidence, we focus on a national initiative aimed at addressing social needs like housing or food insecurity that affect a person's health. Specifically, we discuss a screening tool for health-related social needs. The screening tool stems from the Accountable Health Communities Model, a nationwide initiative funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center. Mathematica developed, on CMS’s behalf, a guide to help health care providers admin
63 | Inside an Initiative to Diversify the Field of Computational Social Science
On this episode of On the Evidence, we focus on a creative initiative designed to build a more diverse pipeline of researchers who use methods and tools from data science and social science. Earlier this year, Howard University and Mathematica sponsored a free, two-week training for graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and beginning faculty in the fields of data science and social science. The training was part of a broader instructional program held at 20 sites across the globe called t
62 | Improving the College and Career Readiness of High School Students with Disabilities
On this episode of On the Evidence, we focus on a demonstration in Vermont evaluated by Mathematica intended to help high school students with disabilities transition to college and the workforce.
In 2016, the Rehabilitation Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Education, awarded grants to state vocational rehabilitation agencies to build on the body of knowledge about what works to help young people transition from high school to adulthood. States had to identify and demons
61 | Anita Summers on a Pioneering Career in Economics and Public Policy Research
Our guest for this episode of On the Evidence is Anita Summers, a former member of Mathematica's Board of Directors and a pioneer in the fields of economics and public policy research. Summer's career includes research posts with the National Bureau of Economic Research, Standard Oil, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. During her time at the Federal Reserve, she developed expertise in urban economic development and education. Summers has held a variety of academic appointments, includ
60 | Lessons from a Successful Medicare Program Integrity Demonstration
Almost seven years ago, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched an initiative to test a possible solution to improper use of ambulance rides, long cited as a major source of waste and abuse in the Medicare program. The idea was pretty simple: Require companies that provide patients with repetitive, scheduled, non-emergent ambulance transport (RSNAT) for certain types of health care, such as dialysis or cancer treatments, to get prior authorization from CMS before providing se
59 | Lessons from Southwest Detroit's Efforts to Support Informal Child Care
Five years ago, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, in partnership with the Kresge Foundation, launched Hope Starts Here, a community-focused, citywide initiative aimed at ensuring that all children in Detroit are prepared for kindergarten by increasing access to high quality early care and education.
As part of the citywide initiative, Mathematica, with financial support from the Kellogg Foundation, worked to implement promising strategies to enhance the quality of informal child care, which is defi
58 | Learning from an Early Childhood Nonprofit that Serves Fathers
All over the country, federally funded Head Start programs promote the school readiness of young children ages birth through five from families with low incomes. These programs provide early education and a range of comprehensive services at no cost to the family. Although Head Start programs have historically empowered parents to be involved in their children’s learning and development, it’s been more common for mothers to be the focus of those efforts. Realizing the important role that fathers
57| Your Contact Tracing Workforce Can Drive Equity and Mitigate Infectious Disease Risks
Contact tracing is an important public health tool for containing the spread of disease, including COVID-19. But contact tracers are effective only if they can persuade people to answer questions about recent whereabouts and who else might have been exposed. Contact tracers are more likely to be successful in their outreach if they and the people they are contacting have similar backgrounds. Currently, no one collects and reports information on the composition of the COVID-19 workforce in commun
56 | How Fatherhood Programs Supported Dads During the Pandemic
In partnership with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Mathematica has been gathering information on what works in engaging fathers across a wide range of human services programs, with the goal of helping fathers and families thrive. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many of the typical ways organizations support fathers and their families, but it has also provided motivation to be creative, to adapt, an
55 | A Conversation about Diversity, Equity, and Justice
On this episode of On the Evidence, guests Patricia A. King, LaVerne H. Council, and Akira Bell discuss diversity in evidence-based public policy and how it relates to issues of inclusion and justice. They are all members of Mathematica's Board of Directors who recently helped develop the company's aspirational vision that by 2035, "Mathematica is shaping an equitable and just world in which evidence drives decisions for global impact." They bring unique perspectives as Black women who are leade
54 | The Value and Feasibility of COVID-19 Testing in K-12 Schools
In late March, the Biden administration announced that it was investing $10 billion to ramp up COVID-19 screening testing to help schools reopen. The expansion of screening tests in schools follows a February report from Mathematica that drew lessons from the experiences of six pilot sites that implemented COVID-19 testing in schools. These pilot programs—in Central Falls, Rhode Island; Los Angeles, California; Tulsa, Oklahoma; New Orleans, Louisiana; Louisville, Kentucky; and Washington, DC—wer
53 | Using Evidence to Guide Employment Assistance Strategies during and after the Pandemic
March 2021 marks the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization officially declaring the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. The disease we’ve come to know as COVID-19 has now infected more than 28 million Americans and led to at least half a million deaths in the United States. COVID-19 has also incurred serious damage to the nation’s economy. In February, the number of unemployed persons was 10 million, up from 5.7 million a year earlier.
On this episode of On the Evidence, guests Ge
52 | Supporting Economic Mobility Through Coaching and Navigation
Nearly a year after COVID-19 took root in the United States, Americans are still dealing with the pandemic’s economic fallout. In January 2021, more than 10 million Americans were unemployed, up from roughly 5.8 million a year earlier. On this episode of On the Evidence, four guests discuss an increasingly popular approach for helping people find jobs and achieve other, related goals that provide economic security, such as getting a GED, buying a car, and improving a credit score. The approach c
51 | Modeling the Spread of COVID-19 on College Campuses
On this episode of On the Evidence, guests Ravi Goyal and Natasha Martin share lessons from using an agent-based model to predict the spread of COVID-19 in a university setting. Goyal is a senior statistician at Mathematica who has an expertise in epidemic modeling. Martin is an infectious disease economic modeler and an associate professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at the University of California San Diego. They recently collaborated on a project that estim
50 | Reflecting on 2020, Previewing 2021
Between a pandemic, an economic recession, and heightened awareness about social injustice, 2020 presented no shortage of urgent health and social challenges that required immediate responses based on emerging data and research. In this episode of On the Evidence, Mathematica’s Adam Coyne, Jill Constantine, and Chris Trenholm reflect on how Mathematica and its partners rose to meet those challenges.
Coyne, Constantine, and Trenholm are the general managers of Mathematica’s international, human
49 | A One-Stop Shop for Information about State Approaches to COVID-19 Contact Tracing
In early spring, states were scrambling to learn from one another how to scale up contact tracing for COVID-19. Staff at Mathematica and the National Academy of State Health Policy (NASHP) recognized that states needed a single place to find accurate, up-to-date publicly available information about the decisions that other states were making in response to the pandemic.
To help states as they develop and refine their approaches to contact tracing, NASHP and Mathematica partnered to create and
48 | Maternal Health Care in India during and after the Pandemic
For more than two decades, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supported evidence-based programs in India that promote reproductive health and rights. As the foundation phased out its grantmaking related to population and reproductive health, it partnered with Mathematica to conduct a cumulative review of its efforts to improve maternal health in India.
The foundation’s maternal health quality of care strategy in India sought to improve the trajectory of health for women, children
47 | Investing in Education for Success in the Long Run
In his research, Kirabo Jackson, an economist at Northwestern University, has explored the causal relationship between school spending and student outcomes. His work has also shed light on the role that teachers and schools play in helping students acquire skills and succeed in the long run.
Jackson is the 20th winner of the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize, established to recognize young professionals under the age of 40 who have made distinguished contributions to the field of public policy.
46 | On the Need to Build and Diversify the Teacher Pipeline
For about a decade, the national supply of teachers has steadily declined, a trend that is expected to continue even as the demand for new teachers is projected to increase. Not only do schools and school districts need enough teachers, but they want to recruit and retain effective teachers. Because evidence suggests that students of color benefit academically from having a teacher who shares their racial or ethnic identity, increasing the number of effective teachers likely means, among other t
45 | How to Reopen Schools Safely and With Minimal Disruptions
In mid-September, researchers from Mathematica partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of Education to run 400,000 simulations intended to inform school operating and closure strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The simulations predict the level of spread of COVID-19 infection in schools, taking into account a range of factors. These factors include school type and size, the community infection rate, school mask policies and other precautions, in-person opening strategies, and potential s
44 | Lessons from COVID-19 Impacts on Connecticut's Long-Term Care Facilities
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected people in long-term care settings, who only make up about 1 percent of the U.S. population but represented more than 40 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the United States in September. In Connecticut, that disproportionate impact was even more severe: as of July 30, about 72 percent of the state’s COVID-19-related deaths were among long-term care residents.
On this episode of On the Evidence, guests Patricia Rowan and Debra Lipson of Mathem
43 | Blending Performance Measurement and Program Evaluation in Government
Although performance measurement and program evaluation are both ostensibly about assessing the effectiveness of government, they have historically meant different things in terms of what gets assessed and who does the assessing. Performance measurement is more commonly associated with ongoing monitoring and reporting of program accomplishments and is typically conducted by program or agency staff. Program evaluation, on the other hand, is more commonly associated with periodic or ad hoc studies
42 | Early Lessons for Effective and Equitable Contact Tracing
As states and counties grapple with containing the spread of COVID-19, they have learned that the virus places novel demands on contact tracing efforts. Early experiences from states with contact tracing programs suggest that a successful contact tracing program needs to account for the economic circumstances of people infected, as well as their families; it needs to account for the emotional and psychological ramifications of learning you and your loved ones are at risk of infection; it also ne
41 | Examining Racial Disparities in School Discipline and Mental Health Care
Sarah Lieff wants to know if the Medicaid expansion, which made mental health services more affordable to low-income Americans in many states, resulted in greater access and improved quality of mental health treatment for those who need it. Rachel Perera is interested in the effects of investigations for civil rights violations related to racial discrimination in school discipline.
Both Lieff and Perera are continuing their doctoral research as Mathematica summer fellows. For this episode of O
40 | Two Lifelong Friends Explore Their Shared Past and Racial Differences
In early June, as communities across the country organized protests against racism in all its forms, Mathematica released a statement denouncing social injustice and affirming that black lives matter. This episode provides insight behind why Mathematica's CEO wanted to make that statement. It's also about how the events in late May and early June prompted two lifelong friends to talk about race in ways they hadn’t before.
The guests for this episode are Paul Decker and Chris Williams. Decker i
39 | A Better Pathway for Transition-Age Youth with Disabilities
This episode focuses on young people between the ages of 14 and 24 who have disabilities and must navigate a complex bureaucracy to access benefits and support services. Our guests are Dave Wittenburg and Kim Kaiser. Wittenburg, who is the disability area director at Mathematica, has an expertise in interventions to promote employment for people with disabilities, particularly interventions that serve youth as they transition into adulthood. Kaiser is an autism advocate, a certified peer support
38 | Health Policy Research, Racism, and a Pandemic
Before March 2020, a search for the keyword “coronavirus” would have turned up zero results on Mathematica’s website. Now the word and its sibling, COVID-19, appear in more than two dozen pages about contact tracing, wastewater testing, disease modeling, workforce planning, and more.
Owing to the wide-ranging effects of the novel coronavirus, Mathematica’s experts have sprung into action to understand its implications for primary care, child protective services, behavioral health, remote learn
37 | Addressing Structural Racism in Policy Research
In early 2019, the Urban Institute published a brief about addressing structural racism through research and policy analysis. The paper summarizes lessons, promising practices, and recommendations previously discussed in a roundtable with 23 research groups. At the time of publication, the paper’s authors did not know that communities across the country would soon be organizing protests against structural racism in the wake of a recent string of high-profile incidents in which people of color we
36 | Telehealth Transformation Under COVID-19 and the Implications for Equitable Care
In March, the COVID-19 pandemic forced organizations in the United States to adopt virtual and remote work wherever possible. This was especially true in health care, with hospitals and physician practices needing to clear their waiting rooms and minimize the risk of infections for patients and providers. As a result, Congress and the federal government removed many of the regulatory barriers—at least temporarily—that prevented patients from receiving care through video chats and phone calls.
T
Early Lessons from COVID-19 Contact Tracing in Massachusetts
As Americans continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s clear that one key ingredient in managing the spread of the novel coronavirus is contact tracing, a longstanding disease control measure employed by state and local health department personnel.
In response to COVID-19, states and localities are rapidly deploying contact-tracing programs. But the scale and complexity of these efforts make launching an effective contact-tracing program a complicated undertaking.
This episode of O
35 | Oakland’s Life Coaching Strategy to Address Youth Violence
On this episode of On the Evidence, we discuss life coaching, a violence reduction strategy being used by the city of Oakland, California, to help young people who have been involved with the juvenile justice system. Mathematica studied youth life coaching as part of a larger evaluation of Oakland Unite, a city initiative that supports community-based violence prevention programs.
We interviewed the following guests:
Peter Kim, manager of Oakland Unite
Naihobe Gonzalez, senior researcher at Ma
34 | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Era of COVID-19
It’s increasingly clear that although the novel 2019 coronavirus does not discriminate in who it infects, it does harm some groups of people more than others. The emerging evidence suggests that people who are Black, are 65 and older, or have certain conditions, such as diabetes or hypertension, are more likely to become severely ill from COVID-19. But income and occupation also play a role. The current pandemic has exposed inequities in society where, for example, segments of the workforce do n
33 | Culturally Responsive Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic
As schools close in order to contain the spread of COVID-19, some students are in a better position to continue learning from home than others. Even when students aren’t grappling with the fallout of a pandemic, they face disparities in their educational experiences and opportunities due to their differences in family income, differences in racial, ethnic, or other important demographic characteristics, and differences in access to technology. Some state and local education leaders are proactive
32 | Can Algorithms Be Fair, Transparent, and Protect Children?
As technology improves organizations’ ability to collect, manage, and analyze data, it’s becoming easier to inform public policy decisions today in a range of areas, from health care to criminal justice, based on estimated risks in the future. On this episode of On the Evidence, I talk with three researchers who work with child welfare agencies in the United States to use algorithms—or, what they call predictive risk models—to inform decisions by case managers and their supervisors.
My guests a
31 | Building the Pipeline of Black Women in Economics
On this episode of On the Evidence, we check in with Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman and Fanta Traore a year after the group they co-founded, the Sadie Collective, held its inaugural conference about, for, and by black women in economics and related fields.
Find more information about the Sadie Collective here: https://www.sadiecollective.org/
30 | Customized Employment for Workers with Disabilities
Since the early 2000s, federal policy has encouraged customized employment strategies to help people with significant disabilities secure paid jobs. Through customized employment, the relationship between the job seeker and employer is personalized so that the needs of both are met through negotiation of the worker’s job duties and flexible work arrangements. About eight years ago, the nonprofit SourceAmerica launched a new program called Pathways to Careers that combined several types of custom
29 | Communicating About Your Policy Research
Today’s episode is about sharing and explaining policy research. After putting in the hours to collect the data, analyze the findings, and report on your results, how do you ensure that people outside of academia learn what you’ve found and understand why it matters?
My guests for this episode are economists Jennifer Doleac and Kosali Simon, who recently participated on a panel about interpreting and translating the relevance of policy research at a research conference hosted by the Associatio
28 | What the Next Generation of Policy Researchers Is Studying
Every summer, Mathematica welcomes a handful of doctoral students to spend 12 weeks at one of our nine office locations, working on an independent research project that intersects with one or more of Mathematica's focus areas. On this episode of On the Evidence, we feature six short interviews with the 2019 summer fellows about the research questions they pursued and what they have learned so far. In most cases, the fellows are joined by a mentor from Mathematica.
Find more information about Ma
27 | Child Food Insecurity and Home Delivered Food Boxes
The federal government funds a variety of national nutrition programs to combat hunger among children and families, and yet roughly 37 million Americans were food insecure in 2018, and 6 million of them were children, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
In some parts of the country, food insecurity is made worse by a lack of accessible and affordable options. That is, if you live in a rural area with limited public transportation and no major supermarkets nearby, you may re
26 | What If the U.S. Mandated Paid Family Leave?
One of the ways that the United States is an outlier among high-income industrialized nations is that it does not have a national paid family leave program. Some U.S. states and cities, however, have enacted paid family leave, and more are on track to do so in the next few years.
For this episode of On the Evidence, we speak with Jeff Hayes, the program director of job quality and income security at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and a scholar in residence at American University. Je
25 | Soda Taxes in U.S. Cities
Since 2015, a handful of U.S. cities have begun taxing soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages. With funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, economists from Mathematica, the University of Iowa, and Cornell University studied the impacts of those taxes on purchases, consumption, prices, and product availability. The project was the first to publish results on changes in children's consumption in U.S. cities with a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. It was also the first to publish result
24 | Low Cost Experiments in Local Government
On this episode of On the Evidence, we talk about using behavioral nudges and low-cost experiments in local government. Our guests are Brendan Babb, the chief innovation officer and innovation team director for the municipality of Anchorage, Alaska, and Emily Cardon, head of research for the Behavioral Insights Team (BIT) in North America.
To learn more about the case studies referenced in this episode, check out BIT's publications page (https://www.bi.team/our-work/publications/) and blog (htt
23 | Indigenous Communities and Policy Research
On this episode of On the Evidence, we talk about policy research by, about, and for indigenous communities. Our guests are Cheryl Ellenwood, a PhD candidate in the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona, and Laura Evans, an associate professor at the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance. We discuss efforts to build a community of policy researchers focused on issues important to indigenous communities, the need for more and better
22 | Nudging Students to Enroll in College
A growing body of research have found that small-scale behavioral nudge campaigns can get students to complete complex tasks, such as refiling for federal financial aid to attend college. But researchers don't yet know enough about why certain nudges have worked in the past or whether they would still work on a larger scale.
On this episode of On the Evidence, we talk with Jenna Kramer, an associate policy researcher at RAND Corporation, and Kelly Ochs Rosinger, an assistant professor in the D
21 | Policy Labs: Research for State and Local Government
State and local governments often lack the capacity to clean, manage, and analyze administrative data that could be useful for achieving political and policy objectives. Some places have established policy labs to leverage researchers' skills to identify trends in the data, evaluate programs, and provide insights for improving public policies.
On this episode of On the Evidence, we talk about the policy lab model with Kristin Klopfenstein, director of the Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab, an
20 | Opioid Use by Disability Insurance Applicants
Since 2007, the Social Security Administration has collected data on medication use among applicants for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). The administration can then use the medication data to identify opioid use among SSDI applicants. But the data set is so large and the data themselves are unstructured, with the majority of applicants reporting drug names in open-ended text fields, so the agency couldn't use the information to inform policy and programs.
On this episode of On the
19 | Paid Leave and Labor Force Detachment
Paid leave can help mothers return to work in the year that a child is born, but what about the next few years? On this episode of On the Evidence, we talk about the effects of paid leave on maternal labor force detachment up to four years after a child is born with Kelly Jones, an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at American University and a senior research economist at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
This episode is part of a series produced by Mathematica in sup
18 | Engaging Diverse Perspectives in Policy Research
For this episode of On the Evidence, my guests are Maria Cancian, the president-elect of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) and the dean of the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, and Matt Stagner, the current president of APPAM and a vice president at Mathematica. We talk about the theme of APPAM's fall research conference in Denver, which is “Rising to the Challenge: Engaging Diverse Perspectives on Issues and Evidence.”
17 | Embracing the Emotional Aspects of Policy Research
As social scientists set out to investigate public policy questions, it is vital that they take into account the history of issues and the way people’s emotions will shape interpretations and responses to research findings. That’s the message that Mathematica’s Matt Stagner hopes to convey in his presidential address at a fall research conference hosted by the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) in Denver.
On the Evidence interviewed Stagner about his upcoming address,
16 | A Progress Report on States' Use of Data and Evidence
The nonprofit Results for America publishes an annual progress report documenting best and promising practices in how state governments use data and evidences in budget, policy, and management decisions to achieve better outcomes for their residents.
On this week's episode of On the Evidence, we talk with Jed Herrmann, vice president of state and federal policy implementation at Results for America, about the latest Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence, released on Friday, Oct. 4.
15 | The Relationship Between Changing Work Schedules, Child Care, and Child Well-Being
Our economy has always had jobs that fit outside the conventional 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, schedule, but with the rise of telework, on-demand scheduling apps, "irregular work," and the Gig Economy, more workers not only find themselves earning their paychecks in the early morning, at night or on weekends; but their hours may change on a frequent basis.
Finding safe and high quality child care that accommodates non-standard or changing work schedules is a familiar challenge for many workers,
14 | How Can We Help Workers with Medical Conditions Stay Employed?
Each year, more than two million workers leave the labor force, at least temporarily, because of an injury or illness that prevents them from working. Their absence from work takes a toll on the workers and their families, their employers, and the government programs they often rely on for income and other supports.
Some research suggests that if government programs could identify and assist workers early, the employees would be more likely to stay at work or return to work after a short abse
13 | What Doctors Need to Fulfill the Promise of Electronic Health Records
A decade ago, the federal government pushed for the widespread adoption of electronic medical records. Now those records are here and they're ubiquitous, but the transition hasn't been smooth. On this week's episode of On the Evidence, we talk with two of Mathematica's in-house experts on electronic health records, Genna Cohen and Llew Brown. We discuss what the research says about challenges in adopting electronic health records, as well as what to do about them.
Find an edited Q&A blog featur
12 | "Forever Chemicals" in Drinking Water and Their Potential Effects on Health
Forever chemicals, a nickname for polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) known for their durability, are a class of chemicals that sometimes appear in tap water but aren’t widely understood or subject to much federal regulation. What we do know is that these substances appear in items we encounter on a daily basis, such as Scotchgard and dental floss, and have been linked to a number of health problems. Recent research also suggests that these chemicals are becoming more common in
11 | Siloed, Incomplete and Neglected: The Trouble with State Administrative Data
At a time when private companies can mine online user data for new, sophisticated insights about their customers, public-sector agencies — particularly those charged with serving clients with low incomes and some of the most urgent needs — are struggling to keep up with their own data practices. Although public agencies collect reams of valuable information that could be used to improve residents’ health and well-being, they rarely have the ability to study, interpret, and use the data the same
10 | Federal Efforts to Overhaul the Way We Pay for Primary Care, Explained
Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it would invite medical practices to voluntarily participate in new payment models for primary care in the Medicare program. The initiative is called Primary Cares, and its goals are to reduce Medicare spending and improve both the quality of and access to primary care for Medicare beneficiaries—especially for those with complex, chronic conditions and serious illness. CMS officials believe that the new payment
9 | It Shouldn’t Read Like a Crime Novel: Trying to Summarize Police Research
For researchers to influence policy, their work must ultimately reach people making or implementing policy, and yet a gap often exists between the two communities. Rebecca Neusteter witnessed this gap when she was the director of research, policy, and planning at the New York Police Department (NYPD). Peer-reviewed journals often published articles about policing—and even policing in New York City—but her office did not have subscriptions to those journals and lacked easy, affordable access to t
8 | To Help Philadelphia’s Workforce, This Nonprofit Had to Take a Look at Itself First
A few years ago, staff at Philadelphia Works, the city’s Workforce Development Board, decided that they wanted an outsider’s perspective to assess their workforce system and to assist them with more effectively helping residents. They partnered with Mathematica to study and address issues keeping them from providing the most effective services in the most efficient way possible.
In this episode of On the Evidence, we take a look at early efforts to redesign and streamline the daily operations
7 | Boston Invites Community to Set a 'Civic' Research Agenda
The Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, a research and development lab for city hall, develops new and creative ways to provide better services for the city’s residents. About a year ago, the office published the first volume of its Civic Research Agenda. In some respects, the document follows the trend of federal agencies publishing learning or evidence-building agendas. But Boston’s Civic Research Agenda doesn’t look like a formal government document: it’s colorful, with large font,
6 | What Do We Know About Patients with High Costs and High Needs?
In this week’s episode of On the Evidence, we discuss a major question surrounding health care reform: What do we do about the small share of patients who represent a much larger share of overall health care use and costs? For this conversation, I brought in three guests from Mathematica’s deep bench of health care experts—Purvi Sevak, Ann O’Malley, and Dana Jean-Baptiste, who have each studied high-need, high-use patients and efforts to improve their care.
We also have a condensed Q&A version
5 | The Case for Increasing the Number of Black Women in Economics
Black women are underrepresented in the field of economics, and for those who enter the profession, being one of a few can be lonely. On this episode of On the Evidence, host J.B. Wogan talks with Anna Opoku-Agyeman and Fanta Traore about the Sadie Collective, a group they helped form, which seeks to increase the number of black women in economics and is named after the first African American to earn a PhD in economics.
4 | Do Suspensions Affect Student Outcomes?
Almost seven years ago, the School District of Philadelphia revised its student discipline policy, instructing schools not to suspend students for certain types of nonviolent behavior, such as failing to follow classroom rules or making obscene gestures. To examine what happened after the school district made the change, Mathematica’s Johanna Lacoe teamed up with Matthew Steinberg, an education researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. What they found provides the strongest evidence to date
3 | A How-to Guide on Using Evidence in City Policymaking
A growing number of cities are interested in using data and research in decision making. Kat Klosek, director of applied research at the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University, talks about a free step-by-step guide she wrote for policymakers who want to incorporate data and evidence in their work.
We also have a condensed Q&A version of the conversation available here: https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/commentary/how-to-guide-on-using-evidence-in-city-policymaking
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2 | How a County Engaged More Clients in Employment Assistance
Across Colorado, county agencies struggle to get residents on public assistance to attend work orientation sessions that are required for receiving benefits. Adams County staff studied the problem, piloted a solution and assessed the results. Jon McCay, part of Mathematica’s evidence-based technical assistance team, explains the process Adams County staff used to improve client engagement.
We also have a condensed Q&A version of the conversation available here: https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/c
1 | What If More Local Governments Invested in Outcomes?
On this episode of On the Evidence, Andrew Kleine, the former budget director of Baltimore City, talks about his new book, “City on the Line,” his account of what happened when Baltimore adopted an evidence-based approach to its budget process. Mathematica’s J.B. Wogan and Matt Stagner interviewed Kleine for the episode. Topics discussed on the episode: Outcome Budgeting, Logic Model Budgeting, Pay-for-Success Financing, and Collective Impact.
We also have a condensed Q&A version of the convers
Mathematica Launches New Podcast: On the Evidence
The show will investigate and promote the use of data and evidence to address social challenges through conversations with pioneers in their fields.
Find condensed Q&As based on each episode here: https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/on-the-evidence-podcast
White Paper Discussion of the Week
White Paper Discussion of the Week by MATHEMATICA
A Meta-Analysis of 15 Within-Study-Comparisons | JPAM Featured Article
Chaplin et al. (2017) tests the efficacy of regression discontinuity (RD) by comparing RD causal estimates at the treatment cutoff to those from Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) that are also estimated at this same cutoff. The study identifies 15 previously completed within-study-comparisons (WSCs) that explicitly examined this issue by assuming the RCT results are unbiased and then comparing them to RD results.
The differences between these results can be thought of as estimates of bias due
Program Evaluation <3's Technology
Mark Lafferty and Dan Friend describe Mathematica's work evaluating social programs across the country, and discuss the tools we use to perform these high-quality evaluations at scale including Mathematica's RAPTER© system.
Mel Podcast
Mel Podcast by MATHEMATICA
Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning for International Development Programs
Experts from Mathematica, USAID, and the Rockefeller Foundation discuss how data and evidence can be used to drive decision making.
The Negative Income Tax Experiments
The Negative Income Tax Experiments Presented by Chuck Metcalf, Retired Mathematica President and Chief Executive Officer
Tools for Evidence Podcast Takes a Closer Look at RCT-YES and the RCE Coach
In the podcast, Associate Director Alex Resch and Senior Fellow Peter Schochet discuss and explain some key differences between RCT-YES and the RCE Coach . They discuss which tool is best matched to educators with varying levels of experience conducting evaluations, who might use these tools and how.
How Does the Doctor-Patient Relationship Affect Decision Making?
In a new article for the Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research, experts from Mathematica Policy Research reveal why some patients might reject physician recommendations even if they are grounded in good evidence. Listen to Mathematica researchers Cara Stepanczuk and Nyna Williams discuss this issue in this episode of the “Policy in Perspective” podcast.
Innovations in care coordination and supports for people with disabilities
In this episode of Mathematica’s “Policy in Perspective” podcast, listen to Mathematica Senior Fellows, James Verdier and Carol Irvin, discuss policy challenges and innovations in providing coordinated care and community supports to people with disabilities and frail older adults. This work supports the contributions of Mathematica’s Center for Studying Disability Policy to the evidence on today’s most critical issues in disability policy.
How Behavioral Insights Can Help Policymakers Improve Programs
Mathematica researcher, Irma Perez-Johnson, shares her experience using behavioral insights to improve public programs.
Divorce and Women’s Retirement
Mathematica Senior Researcher Dana Rotz discusses a new study of how changes in marriage and divorce in the United States have affected employment and retirement for women.
Who Has More Effective Teachers?
Mathematica senior researchers Eric Isenberg and Jeffrey Max discuss their findings from a new study that addresses a key question in education policy: do low-income students have equal access to effective teachers?
America’s Investment in Health IT
In recognition of National Health IT Week, Mathematica Senior Fellow Emerita Marsha Gold and Senior Researcher Yael Harris explore the rollout and implementation of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, a major federal initiative to support the development and use of electronic health information technology to help reform care delivery and, ultimately, improve health outcomes.
Reporting on Pathways to Health Coverage
More Americans now have access to publicly subsidized health coverage through expansions in Medicaid, the federal insurance marketplace, and state health insurance exchanges. But how much do we know about who is enrolling, how they are enrolling, and when? This podcast describes California’s experience reporting on the ways in which people obtain health insurance, offering lessons for other states that are launching comparable reporting efforts.
The Changing Role of Public Health in a Post-ACA Era
In conjunction with National Public Health Week, Mathematica Senior Vice President and Director of Health Research Christopher Trenholm and Senior Fellow Judy Bigby discuss the changing role of public health programs in an era of health care reform.
Delivering Good Data in Developing Countries
Mathematica Senior Researcher Kristen Velyvis and Senior Fellow Sarah Hughes discuss the challenges of collecting high quality data from resource-poor environments. They describe specific examples of potential data collection barriers and suggest approaches that can help mitigate these challenges at each stage of the survey process.
Helping Accountable Care Organizations Learn from One Another
Researchers Sonya Streeter and Craig Schneider discuss Mathematica’s key role in a major effort in U.S. health care reform—the development of accountable care organizations, which are networks of providers designed to deliver more efficient, higher quality care for Medicare beneficiaries.
Improving Health Care for Children: Lessons from the States
Mathematica Senior Fellow Henry Ireys and senior researchers Grace Anglin and Joe Zickafoose describe the CHIPRA Quality Demonstration Grant Program—the largest federal effort in the past decade to improve health care for children—and the lessons it offers for states and others that have a stake in providing quality care for children.
Does the PARCC Test Succeed in Predicting College Outcomes?
A Mathematica report shows that students’ scores on the existing high school assessment in Massachusetts predict college performance as well as scores on a new test that was recently developed by a consortium of states to align with Common Core standards. Mathematic education policy experts Brian Gill and Ira Nichols-Barrer discuss the national implications of these findings.
The Future of Family Caregiving
Mathematica Senior Fellow Debra Lipson examines the political and economic forces that have shaped policymaking on family caregiving over the past two decades and identifies key areas for potential progress.