Research and Data Priorities for Improving Economic and Social Mobility Proceedings of a Workshop (2022) / Chapter Skim
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7 Moving Forward: The Role of Policy and Key Takeaways
7 Moving Forward: The Role of Policy and Key Takeaways
Pages 85-96
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From page 85... ...
asked planning committee members to identify key takeaways from the discussions and to share their thoughts on where the field should go from here. THE ROLE OF POLICY In this session, Edelberg and Greenstein engaged in a back-and-forth conversation with each other and with workshop participants about the role of policy in reducing income inequality and poverty, and in increasing inter- and intragenerational upward mobility.
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From page 86... ...
In 2021, a fully refundable child tax credit was in effect due to the pandemic, but it is unclear what will happen in the future. Further research in this area has real potential to impact policy outcomes in the years ahead, he said.
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From page 87... ...
There are a range of programs that support human capital investments, she said, including those that support early childhood education; student loan programs; and efforts to protect workers, such as paid leave and closing the wage gap. Ensuring access to high-quality early childhood education, she said, is a "no-brainer." Head Start and Early Head Start aim to reduce poverty by providing comprehensive preschool programs to meet the emotional, social, health, nutritional, and psychological needs for children from low-income families.
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From page 88... ...
The chances of enacting a policy such as the refundable child tax credit would be "materially enhanced" if new research could demonstrate positive mid- and long-term effects on children and insignificant effects on parental employment. Work Requirements A number of the social policies aimed at improving upward mobility contain work requirements, said Edelberg.
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From page 89... ...
Citing evidence from the Arkansas Medicaid program, Greenstein said these requirements appear to have little noticeable effect on employment but have a major effect on people becoming uninsured or unable to access needed benefits. While the courts have struck down work requirements for Medicaid, there is reason to believe that work requirements will continue to be a major focus of debate in the social program structure.
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From page 90... ...
He said that there are people in Washington who are "happy to help" make the connection between the people doing the research and the people making the policy. Finally, Greenstein said that engaging university communications staff can help draw attention to research findings; "often it takes getting one journalist" to take an interest and "all of a sudden you're in the middle of the policy debate." Differing Goals of Policies Policies in this area, said Coile, can look similar but be directed at different goals, such as reducing poverty, reducing inequality, or increasing social mobility.
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From page 91... ...
This may be one reason for the dearth of major methodological innovations in quantitative sociology, he said; although there have been many tweaks to existing methodologies, there have not been revolutionary developments along the lines of the introduction of path analysis of the log linear models in the 1970s. However, the lack of a comprehensive study has also led to increased interest in the area and new efforts to create data infrastructure and data linkages -- the importance of which, Snipp said, was "impossible to overstate." Recalling the discussion from the data infrastructure session, Snipp said that some parts of the federal government wanted to make data more available while others wanted to restrict access; who will prevail in this disagreement will not be up to the social scientists or even to the agencies, as this is ultimately an issue
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From page 92... ...
Snipp reminded the workshop participants about the National Academies consensus study underway on "The Scope, Components, and Key Characteristics of a 21st Century Data Infrastructure"5; the study will explore the possibility of developing a consistent set of standards across all federal statistical sources, think about ways of incorporating data from the private sector and state and local governments, and so on. Harris identified several future needs for mobility research.
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From page 93... ...
Logan added that there are currently many ways to define and think about mobility -- for example, occupational, wealth, and income mobility -- and a theory that can integrate these different types and examine the relationship between them is needed. Harris recalled the integrative model that Grusky presented and said that this is "a goal that mobility research should aspire to." At the same time, there is a need to identify and explore the complexities of a model of mobility; as with any type of integrative model, she said, "you just sort of chip away at it." Coile agreed with Harris and indicated that the conversation about the integrative model was "an exciting development." Coile also said that the "convergence" across the fields of sociology and economics was a welcome development, both with regard to causality and the greater attention being paid to models, theory, institutions, and contextual factors.
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From page 94... ...
First, she said, there is a need for clarity about what is meant by "mobility." The word mobility is often used to refer only to upward mobility; there are a number of policies designed to give people the opportunities and the resources necessary to move up the mobility ladder. However, policies designed to improve mobility can also be directed at making the rungs on the ladder closer together and potentially moving people at the top of the distribution down.
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From page 95... ...
. By taking these questions seriously and providing straightforward answers, Edelberg said that researchers can shift the policy discourse, provide answers to those who want them, and provide "cover" to policy makers who are being confronted with ill-informed arguments.
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