114th Annual Conference Saturday Short Course

The Saturday Short Course sponsored by the University of Michigan Office of Tax Policy Research entitled The Social Safety Net as an Investment into the Next Generation, will be led by Maya Rossin-Slater, Associate Professor, Stanford University. It will run from 11:00 to 12:30 pm, on Saturday, November 20.

This short course will discuss recent advances in the literature on the impacts of social safety net programs on families with young children. As a growing body of evidence indicates that the early childhood environment has lasting consequences on individuals’ long-term well-being, social safety net programs that support disadvantaged pregnant women and young children can be viewed as investments into the next generation. This short course will: (1) briefly describe the current policy landscape, (2) review several recent studies that identify causal impacts of different programs on children’s short- and long-term outcomes, and (3) discuss existing gaps in knowledge with a goal toward identifying fruitful areas for future research that are both rigorous and policy-relevant.