About Policy Impacts
Over the past 50 years, researchers have made great strides in analyzing public policy. With better data and improved research methods, we know more than ever about the impacts of government spending.
But despite these advances, it remains surprisingly challenging to answer basic questions about which policies have been most effective.
The difficulty arises because methods for evaluating policy effectiveness are not standardized. This makes it challenging, if not impossible, to compare and contrast across different policies.
Within the social sciences, methods of analysis vary widely from topic to topic.
College scholarships are most often judged based on their cost per enrolled student, whereas pre-school spending is analyzed using cost-benefit analysis. Tax policy changes are often evaluated using technical metrics such as the marginal excess burden.
These varying approaches make it difficult to conduct apples-to-apples comparisons across policies. Decision-makers are unable to fully utilize the powerful research currently available to inform policymaking and public investments.
With that problem in mind, we formed Policy Impacts.
Policy Impacts seeks to promote a unified approach for policy evaluation. We seek to promote the Marginal Value of Public Funds, a standardized metric for policy evaluation. We have created the Policy Impacts library, a collaborative effort to track the returns to a wide range of government policies.
Our Team
Nathaniel Hendren
Co-DirectorNathaniel Hendren is a Professor of Economics at MIT and Co-Director of Policy Impacts.
Ben Sprung-Keyser
Co-DirectorBen Sprung-Keyser is a Ph.D. student in Economics at Harvard University and Co-Director of Policy Impacts.
Ellen Stuart
Research AffiliateEllen Stuart is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Sydney
Jack Kelly
Pre-Doctoral FellowJack is a Pre-Doctoral Fellow at Policy Impacts
Sarah Aaronson
Pre-Doctoral FellowSarah is a Pre-Doctoral Fellow at Policy Impacts
Sethu Odayappan
Pre-Doctoral FellowSethu is a Pre-Doctoral Fellow at Policy Impacts
Aidan Creeron
Pre-Doctoral FellowAidan is a Pre-Doctoral Fellow at Policy Impacts
Jamie Emery
Pre-Doctoral Fellow (Alumni)Jamie Emery was a Pre-Doctoral Fellow at Policy Impacts from 2021-2023
Charlie Hutchinson
Pre-Doctoral Fellow (Alumni)Charlie Hutchinson was a Pre-Doctoral Fellow at Policy Impacts from 2022-2023
Get in Touch
Data / technical assistance:
[email protected]
Media and Interview Requests:
Nathan Hendren —
[email protected]
If you would like to contact one of our researchers:
[email protected]
Address
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
50 Memorial Drive
Cambridge
MA 02142
Are you a Researcher or Academic?
Building the Policy Impacts Library is a collaborative effort.
We are always adding new research to the library and encourage researchers to submit their work.
If you want to learn more about how the MVPF might apply to your work, please get in touch.