Session 3:
An In Depth Look at Current Statistics: Economic Outcomes
Panel Biographical Statements
Stephen H. Bell, Ph.D.,is a Research Fellow in the Social and Economic Policy Division of Abt Associates Inc. in Bethesda, Maryland. He specializes in econometric impact evaluation of programs to assist disadvantaged workers and families and has helped design several large-scale randomized social experiments over the last 20 years. Recent work focuses on the National Head Start Impact Study, a landmark evaluation of early childhood assistance, and on studies of employment strategies for people receiving disability benefits in the U.S. and the U.K. Dr. Bell has published a number of scholarly articles and books, as well as a field guide to rigorous program evaluation commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
David Wittenburg (Ph.D., Economics, SyracuseUniversity), a senior researcher at MPR, is a labor economist who has written several articles on programs that affect low-income populations, especially adults and children with disabilities. Over the past several years, he has written a number of peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, government reports, and policy briefs that examine issues related to SSA disability programs, including recent reports that examine the overlap of disability programs with state welfare programs.
Robert Weathers, Ph.D., a senior researcher at Mathematica Policy Research, is a labor economist with experience studying programs and policies that affect the employment decisions of people with disabilities. His research focuses on the influence of public policy on the economic self-sufficiency of persons with disabilities, the measurement of disability in nationally representative surveys, and the use of nationally representative surveys to study the economic well-being of vulnerable populations. He has published research on these topics in peer-reviewed journals and has written user guides on the use of national survey data to study persons with disabilities. He is a consulting editor for the Journal of Disability Policy Studies, and is a member of the American Public Health Association, the Population Association of America, and the Society of Labor Economists. Prior to joining MPR in June 2006, he worked at the Cornell University Employment and Disability Institute from 2004 to 2006 and the Social Security Administration from 1999 to 2004.
Richard V. Burkhauser,is the Sarah GibsonBlandings Professor of Public Policy in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell University. His professional career has focused on how public policies affect the economic behavior and well-being of vulnerable populations, e.g., people with disabilities, older persons, low-skilled workers. He has published widely on these topics in journals of demography, economics, gerontology, as well as public policy. As Co-Principal Investigator of the Center for Economic Research on Employment Policy for Persons with Disabilities and the Co-Principal Investigator of the Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics, he has carried out an extensive program of technical assistance and presentations to government agencies, policymakers and consumers on the employment and economic well-being of people with disabilities. He was a U.S. Senate appointed member of the Ticket to Work/Work Incentives Improvement Act Advisory Panel (2000-2002) and is currently a member of the panel on the definition of disability for the Social Security Advisory Board.
Pamela Loprest, Ph.D., is a labor economist and Principal Research Associate at the Urban Institute. Dr. Loprest’s research focuses on low-wage labor markets and barriers to work among disadvantaged populations and policies to address these issues. Her recent work examines how to structure programs and policies to better support work among persons with disabilities and to help young people with disabilities in the transition to adulthood. She has also studied the status of former welfare recipients and barriers to work among recipients. She received her Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.