Education and Labor
CPR’s education and labor research focuses on inequalities, investments, and returns to human capital development throughout the life course. We study early childhood care and education, PK-12 education, higher education, and the labor market.
Our research centers on measuring the causes and consequences of policies on education and labor market opportunities and outcomes as well as understanding the experiences of individuals and communities in response to educational and labor market policies and practices.
Population Health
Our population health research aims to understand the multilevel and multidimensional causes and consequences of health outcomes, trends, and disparities across demographic groups, social groups, and institutional, geographic, and policy contexts.
Scholars in this area consider physical, mental, and behavioral health, disability, life expectancy, and premature mortality.
Social Policy and Inequality
Our social policy and inequality research addresses concerns around vulnerable populations and how policies and the institutions and environments in which they are enacted shape wellbeing and inequality.
Research in this area spans the life course, from the youngest to oldest members of society, to investigate the implications of social policies on economic wellbeing, health, disability, housing, food security, immigration, families, and criminal legal system involvement.
This work employs quantitative and qualitative methods and behavioral and social science approaches to understand the root causes of inequalities and policy efforts to address them.
Econometrics
CPR scholars in this area study, develop, and apply economic theory, data, and statistical methods to infer economic relationships.
On the theory side, scholars deal with the design, study, and evaluation of econometric tools. On the application side, scholars use these tools to understand and explain policy-relevant problems across multiple topics.
Energy, Environment and Food Systems
CPR scholarship in this area addresses complex issues in the domains of energy, environment, and food systems locally, nationally, and globally.
Scholars conduct research related to the processes and implications of climate change, environmental policies, innovation and diffusion of energy and environmental technology, and the complexities of food systems and policies.
Public Finance
CPR’s public finance research considers the causes and consequences of national, regional, and local policies related to tax revenue and expenditures.
Areas of inquiry include income and payroll taxes; the administration and design of property and land taxes; social insurance programs and pensions; fiscal and budgetary institutions; and budgeting mechanisms and mechanics.
Urban, Rural and Regional Studies
CPR’s local, national, and international research in this area aims to further our understanding of compositional, contextual, and structural changes and their implications for wellbeing and inequality across and within urban, rural, and regional contexts.
An overarching focus is on how policies generate unequal development, residential sorting, and spatial inequalities in wellbeing.