October 2021 North America Newsletter
Good morning,
This month, J-PAL North America joins economics and medical communities around the country in celebrating Dr. Marcella Alsan, economist, physician, and co-chair of J-PAL North America’s US Health Care Delivery Initiative, for receiving a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship. Dr. Alsan received the award for her seminal work in “investigating the role that legacies of discrimination and resulting mistrust play in perpetuating racial disparities in health.” We are thrilled to see her work recognized and supported in this way and look forward to seeing how Dr. Alsan’s research agenda will continue to identify and measure variations in trust as determinants of health.
In this newsletter, we also feature new research results funded by J-PAL North America that documented nationwide patterns of racial and gender discrimination among major US employers. Supporting and amplifying research that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion is central to J-PAL North America’s mission. As a research center in the field of economics, we seek to generate evidence that can help address structural inequities in existing systems and policies. In turn, we also benefit from the insights this evidence offers into how we can improve the equity of our own recruitment and hiring practices.
While we welcome the role that economics research can play in this space, we also recognize that the economics field is historically inequitable. To reduce the structural barriers impeding underrepresented minority scholars in economics, we launched the Economics Transformation Project (ETP). In the coming year, ETP will support underrepresented minority high school and undergraduate students, with a focus on equipping them with the necessary information, skills, mentors, and networks to progress in economics. I invite you to visit our new webpage to learn more, and if you are interested in getting involved, please get in touch by replying to this email or reaching out to ETP team lead, Jatnna Amador.
Liz Zuckerberg
Director of Finance and Operations, J-PAL North America
Marcella Alsan on her recent MacArthur Fellowship award and researching racial disparities in health
In an affiliate spotlight on the J-PAL blog, Marcella Alsan, co-chair of J-PAL North America’s US Health Care Delivery Initiative, discusses her recent recognition as a 2021 MacArthur Fellow, a fellowship often referred to as a “MacArthur Genius” grant. This award honors her seminal work on addressing racial disparities in health care, including J-PAL funded research on the impact of provider race on preventive health take-up among Black men. She recounts the surprising way in which she found out she was a fellowship recipient and considers what impact this award will have on her work in the future as she continues to investigate how historical injustices impact the health care system today.
New research results document systemic patterns of employment discrimination
A recent study funded by J-PAL North America documented systemic patterns of employment discrimination by examining the submission of more than 80,000 fictitious resumes to 108 Fortune 500 companies. Researchers Patrick Kline (UC Berkeley), Evan Rose (University of Chicago), and Christopher Walters (UC Berkeley) share reflections and insights from their research in an interview on the J-PAL blog. In this post, the researchers discuss the key findings and implications of their paper, as well as the design of their experiment, its applicability in redressing employment rights violations, and future directions for collaboration between economists and labor law experts.
Leveraging learning agendas to catalyze policy relevant research
J-PAL staff reflect on the critical role that learning agendas have played in driving policy relevant research in this blog post, following the recent preview of a White House Office of Management and Budget’s government-wide learning agenda. J-PAL North America’s experience with the State and Local Learning Agenda has demonstrated the importance of learning agendas on reinforcing a focus on constant improvement and learning in policymaking, bridging silos, and catalyzing innovation on priority policy questions. The development and implementation of the OMB learning agenda will illustrate how learning agendas can catalyze innovation.
Featured Evaluation Summary: Evaluating the impact of Moving to Opportunity in the United States
A randomized evaluation of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Moving to Opportunity project tested the impact of offering housing vouchers to families living in high-poverty neighborhoods. They found that families offered vouchers were more likely to move to lower-poverty neighborhoods, and those that moved were safer and happier. For children under thirteen, moving to a low-poverty neighborhood also increased their rates of college attendance and led to higher incomes. This evaluation demonstrates that moving out of high poverty neighborhoods can improve lives, particularly for families with young children.
Featured Research Resource: Define intake and consent procedure
Far from a simple administrative step, decisions about a study’s intake and consent process are critical for the success of a study. This process can affect statistical power, bias, and the validity of the research through effects on the composition of the consented study sample, the intake/consent rate, and the attrition rate. Consent processes can also influence the behavior or morale of study participants, implementing partners, and key study staff. This research resource guides researchers through designing consent procedures, particularly in areas that the Common Rule does not provide explicit guidance or regulation.