Jane Waldfogel | Scholars Strategy Network

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About Jane

Waldfogel’s work’s main focus is the impact of public policy on child and family well-being. She carries out research on a range of topics including the measurement of poverty, food insecurity, work-family policies, the effects of the Great Recession on parents and children, and inequality in school readiness and school achievement, both within the United States and across countries.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

New Measures Reveal the True Impact of America's Anti-Poverty Programs

Key Findings Brief, April 2014

Fifty Years after the War on Poverty, the Safety Net for America's Families with Children is Frayed

Key Findings Brief, September 2013

In the News

Jane Waldfogel's research on paternity leave discussed by Claire Cain Miller, "How Mark Zuckerberg’s Example Helps Fight Stigma of Family Leave," New York Times, December 2, 2015.

Guest to discuss antipoverty programs on National Public Radio, Jane Waldfogel, September 16, 2015.

Guest to discuss paid parental leave on National Public Radio, Jane Waldfogel, June 19, 2015.

Jane Waldfogel quoted on health care sector jobs by Dionne Searcey, Eduardo Porter, and Robert Gebeloff, "Health Care Opens Stable Career Path, Taken Mainly by Women" New York Times, February 22, 2015.

Jane Waldfogel's research on the actual impact of using the Supplemental Poverty Measure discussed by Rob Garver, "Economists Say Paul Ryan Misrepresented Their Research," The Fiscal Times, March 4, 2014.

Jane Waldfogel's research on the true measurement of poverty rates in the U.S. discussed by Eduardo Porter, "In the War on Poverty, a Dogged Adversary," New York Times, December 17, 2013.

Jane Waldfogel's research on the real effects of the "War on Poverty" (with Christopher Wimer, Liana Fox, Irwin Garfinkel and Neeraj Kaushal) discussed by Zachary A. Goldfarb, "Study: U.S. Poverty Rate Decreased over Past Half-Century Thanks to Safety-Net Programs," Washington Post, December 9, 2013.

Publications

"The Great Recession and the Risk for Child Maltreatment" (with Jeanne Brooks-Gunn and William Schneider). Child Abuse and Neglect 37, no. 10 (2013): 721-729.

Analyzes the effects of the Great Recession and finds that declining consumer confidence was associated with increases in high frequency maternal spanking.

An Equal Start? Providing Quality Early Education and Care for Disadvantaged Children (edited with Ludovica Gambaro and Kitty Stewart) (University of Chicago Press, 2014).

Presents new evidence from a range of countries on how they address the challenge of ensuring that all children – including disadvantaged children – receive high quality early childhood education and care.

"State-Level Variation in the Cumulative Prevalence of Child Welfare System Contact, 2015–2019" (with Youngmin Yi, Frank Edwards, Jane Waldfogel, Christopher Wildeman, and Natalia Emanuel). Children and Youth Services Review 147 (2023).

Provides new estimates of spatial and racial/ethnic variation in children’s lifetime risks of child welfare system involvement, as well as relative risks of these events. Discusses In the U.S., state-level investigation risks ranged from 14% to 63%, confirmed maltreatment risks from 3% to 27%, foster care placement risks from 2% to 18%, and risks of parental rights termination from 0% to 8%, with great racial/ethnic variation in all of these.

"Paid Family Leave, Fathers' Leave-Taking, and Leave-Sharing in Dual-Earner Households," (with Christopher J. Ruhm, Ann Bartel, Maya Rossin-Slater, and Jenna Stearns ), National Bureau of Economic Research, November 2015.

Argues that fathers in California are 46 percent (relative to the pre-treatment mean) more likely to take leave in the first year of their children’s lives when that leave is available - but these effects are much larger for fathers of sons than for fathers of daughters, and almost entirely driven by fathers of first-born children and fathers in occupations with a high share of female workers.

"The Effects of California’s Paid Family Leave Program on Mothers’ Leave-Taking and Subsequent Labor Market Outcomes" (with Christopher J. Ruhm and Maya Rossin-Slater). Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 32, no. 2 (2013): 224-245.

Analyzes the effects of California’s paid family leave program and finds that it led to increased leave-taking, particularly among women who had the least access to leave previously.

"The Safety Net for Families with Children" in Legacies of the War on Poverty, edited by Martha J. Bailey and Sheldon Danziger (Russell Sage Foundation, 2013), 153-178.

Reviews research on the impact of the War on Poverty’s effort to strengthen the social safety net for low-income families, considering programs in three areas: food and nutrition; cash assistance; and income support.

"Inequality in Early Childhood Outcomes" (with Bruce Bradbury, Miles Corak, and Elizabeth Washbrook), in From Parents to Children: The Intergenerational Transmission of Advantage, edited by John Ermisch, Markus Jantti, and Timothy Smeeding (Russell Sage Foundation, 2012), 87-119.

Provides a comparative analysis of inequality in school readiness across four countries – Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and United States.

"Britain’s War on Poverty" (Russell Sage Foundation, 2010).

Evaluates Britain’s anti-poverty strategy – which significantly increased single-parent employment, raised incomes for low-income families, and improved child outcomes – focusing on how the British government accomplished this and what the United States can learn from the British experience.