IPR Research Areas and Centers
Birth Weight and Cognition
Education economists David Figlio and Jonathan Guryan discover that the effects of low birth weight on adult outcomes are set very early in life.
Rust Belt Resilience
Political scientist Daniel Galvin argues that past a certain point of integration, strong-party union linkages can help foster electoral resilience.
Not All Change is Progress
Law professor and IPR associate Bernard Black shows that recent efforts to improve public reporting by hospitals aren't always effective.
IPR's research falls broadly into the following program areas:
Cells to Society (C2S): The Center on Social Disparities and Health
IPR’s Cells to Society (C2S): The Center on Social Disparities and Health continues to examine how social, economic, and cultural contexts “get under the skin” and affect physical and mental health, as well as cognitive achievement, at the population level.
Education Policy
Vouchers, test scores, school funding, achievement gaps, and teacher effectiveness are just a few of the critical issues that schools across the nation face each day. In carrying out rigorous studies, IPR faculty also seek effective solutions to address such topics.
Politics, Institutions, and Public Policy
IPR faculty scrutinize how social, political, and institutional dynamics shape and constrain a nation’s policymaking. Their analyses encompass the roles of government, policymakers, the public, and the media, among others.
Performance Measurement and Rewards
IPR scholars have focused research and public policy analysis on the measurement and the rewarding of “performance” in government and nonprofit organizations in many areas, such as education, healthcare, policing, courts, and charities.
The Center for Improving Methods for Quantitative Policy Research (Q-Center)
The Center for Improving Methods for Quantitative Policy Research, or Q-Center, brings together faculty to improve methodological research and training in social policy research through interdisciplinary collaboration.
Child, Adolescent, and Family Studies
IPR faculty study the ways in which social, economic, and governmental policies and contexts at both the state and federal level affect family dynamics, outcomes, and the well-being of children from birth to young adulthood.
Poverty, Race, and Inequality
IPR researchers look at various causes of poverty, racism, and inequality and their consequences, including continuation of an influential line of research on the effects of public housing and residential policies on youth and adult outcomes.
Urban Policy and Community Development
IPR researchers examine the shifting landscape of urban life, considering myriad issues related to today’s urban experience. Additionally, faculty work on closely related projects in areas such as education, housing, welfare reform, and community policing.
