Leah R. Hamilton

Professor of Social Work and Senior Fellow at the Jain Family Institute, Appalachian State University

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About Leah

Hamilton researches economic justice, and as Principal Investigator of the Family Economic Policy Lab, she leads the evaluation of several cash transfer projects across the US. Her work has appeared in outlets like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and more.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | Member Spotlight | In the News | Publications

Contributions

The Federal Tax Plan that Leaves Watauga’s Kids Behind

Commentary, June 2025

In the News

Quoted by Glenn Daigon in "Is a National Guaranteed Income on the Horizon?," The Progressive Magazine, April 25, 2024.

Research discussed by Roger Hannigan Gilson, in "HudsonUp UBI program reports good outcomes in third year," The Times Union, February 29, 2024.

Research discussed by Alex Whittler, in "'In Her Hands' fund allows financially struggling Black women to dream again," Fox 5 Atlanta, November 2, 2023.

Quoted by Timothy Pratt in "‘It helps with my stress’: US basic income project shows signs of success," The Guardian, August 13, 2023.

Research discussed by Annie Lowrey, in "The Child Tax Credit Was a Little Too Subtle," The Atlantic , December 22, 2022.

Research discussed by Lydia DePillis, in "Pandemic Aid Cut U.S. Poverty to New Low in 2021, Census Bureau Reports," The New York Times, September 13, 2022.

Quoted by Carmen Reinicke in "With the support of the child tax credit, some parents launched businesses last year," CNBC, February 19, 2022.

Research discussed by Michael Casey, in "Vice President Harris and Treasury Secretary Yellen say child tax credit money still available through tax returns," PBS, February 8, 2022.

Quoted by E. Napoletano in "What’s Happening With The Child Tax Credit," Forbes, January 31, 2022.

Research discussed by Cory Turner, in "The Expanded Child Tax Credit Briefly Slashed Child Poverty. Here's What Else it Did," NPR, January 27, 2022.

Publications

"Staying Afloat: How Families Raising Children with Disabilities Used the Expanded Child Tax Credit" (with Laura Brugger, Caroline Parker, Allyson Baughman, Candace Jarzombek, Meg Comeau, and Stephen Roll). Journal of Disability Policy Studies (Forthcoming).

Finds that families raising children with disabilities used 2021 expanded CTC funds in ways that differed from families without children with disabilities, and they reported greater impacts of the CTC on their financial lives compared to other families.

"Does Frequency or Amount Matter? An Exploratory Analysis of the Perceptions of Four Universal Basic Income Proposals" (with Mathieu Despard, Stephen Roll, Dylan Bellisle, Christian Hall, and Allison Wright). Social Sciences 12, no. 3 (2023).

Explores whether predicted behavioral responses to four randomly assigned hypothetical cash transfer scenarios vary across the domains of amount and frequency; finds that respondents are more likely to associate monthly payments with work disincentives and lump-sum transfers with debt repayment.

"Does Social Work Education Prepare White Students to Recognize Privilege and Oppression Findings From a Rural Appalachian University Undergraduate Program" (with Tynecca Lynch, Keara Ndhlovu, Rachel L. Wright, Peter R. Fawson, Amanda Pulley, and Allison Wright). Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work 29, no. 1 (2025): 107–114.

Explores the mission of the social work profession and its preparation for students to work with marginalized communities upon graduation, using two standardized scales to measure White privilege awareness, heterosexism awareness, Christian privilege awareness, and sexism awareness among social work students. Finds that senior-level social work students reflected higher levels of awareness than entry-level social work students; however, the differences were not statistically significant.

"From Scarcity to Security: Participant Well-Being in the First 2 Years of a Basic Income Pilot" (with Victoria Choplin and Taylor Paputseanos). Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy 24, no. 1 (2024).

Finds that the HudsonUP program, a 5-year basic income initiative for low to mid-income residents of Hudson, NY, has improved the overall mental well-being of the participants by reducing the stress and anxiety associated with financial insecurity and helping them to meet their basic needs, pursue further education, and career opportunities.

"The Impacts of the Child Tax Credit on Financial Resilience and the Use of High-Cost Financial Resources: Evidence from a Panel Survey" (with Stephen Roll, Haotian Zheng, Yung Chun, and Mathieu Despard). Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research (2024).

Finds that the temporary expansion of the CTC in 2021 demonstrated substantial benefits in enhancing financial resilience among eligible families and reducing their dependence on high-cost financial resources.

"It Saved Us’: Parent Perspectives of the 2021 Expanded Child Tax Credit" (with Dylan Bellisle, Laura Brugger, Stephen Roll, Sophia Fox-Dichter, and Emily Pitman). SN Social Sciences 4, no. 26 (2024).

Uses a mixed-methods approach that combines logistic regression and qualitative content analysis to find that most panel-survey respondents reported that the CTC made it easier for them to support their families, afford utility bills, and cover housing costs.

"How Would Americans Respond to Direct Cash Transfers? Results from Two Survey Experiments" (with Stephen Roll, Sara M. Constantino, Selina Miller, Dylan Bellisle, and Mathieu Despard). Social Service Review 97, no. 1 (2023).

Examines the relationship between the structure of cash-transfer programs and their usage.

"The Child Tax Credit, Educational Investments, and the American Dream: A Moderated-Mediation Analysis" (with Jason Jabbari, Cameron Anglum, and Stephen Roll). Socius 9 (2023).

Leverages a probability-based panel survey of CTC-eligible families across 49 states to examine how parents’ investments in tutoring and college savings relate to the degree to which parents believe that their children will have better lives than they did.

"Student Debt Forgiveness and Economic Stability, Social Mobility, and Quality-of-Life Decisions: Results from a Survey Experiment" (with Jason Jabbari, Stephen Roll, and Mathieu Despard). Socius 9 (2023).

Conducts a survey experiment that asked participants with student debt to imagine a scenario in which the federal government forgave a certain amount of student debt, then had these participants report on how this would affect their decisions and behaviors. Results indicate that student debt is strongly influencing intended decisions and behaviors that can have large implications for household economic stability (e.g., emergency savings) and social mobility (e.g., saving for a down payment on a home).

"Exploring the Use of AI in Qualitative Analysis: A Comparative Study of Guaranteed Income Data" (with Desha Elliott, Aaron Quick, Simone Smith, and Victoria Choplin). International Journal of Qualitative Methods 22 (2023).

Concludes that AI like ChatGPT provides a powerful tool to supplement complex human-centered tasks, and predicts that such tools will become an additional tool to facilitate research tasks.