Policy Research
Recent Grants
The Power of Measuring Social Benefits »
U.S. Fiscal Future and American Society »
MacArthur Research Network on an Aging Society »
Building Resilient Regions »
The Power of Measuring Social Benefits is a $35 million policy research initiative that seeks to test the hypothesis that effective social policies that invest in individuals in need or at risk not only improve their life chances, but in many instances benefit the larger society and generate public returns long after assistance has ended. The project is exploring the possibility that strengthening the case for social policymaking that is more firmly grounded in evidence of effectiveness and complementary benefits to society could challenge the widely-held belief that social spending is too often wasteful and ineffective. The Foundation’s grantmaking in this field aims to increase the number of social cost-benefit studies by developing work in at least ten timely and relevant areas of domestic policy, to strengthen methods and to improve measurement of social benefits.
Number of Grants:
22
Brookings Institution Economic Studies Program (Washington, D.C.)
$285,000 to conduct a cost-benefit analyses of the Cash for Clunkers and the homebuyer tax credit economic stimulus programs (over 18 months). (2010)
Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy (Washington, D.C.)
$750,000 to accelerate the federal government's use of cost-benefit analysis to strengthen evidence-based social policies (over three years). (2010)
Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy (Washington, D.C.)
$485,000 to support an expert advisory committee and a mid-term assessment of The Power of Measuring Social Benefits (over three years). (2009)
Harvard University Institute for Quantitative Social Science (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
$750,000 to conduct a cost-benefit analyses of behavioral experiments to develop consumer financial protections (over three years). (2009)
High/Scope Educational Research Foundation (Ypsilanti, Michigan)
$290,000 in support of a cost-benefit analysis of the Preschool Curriculum Comparison Study (over 18 months). (2009)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Economics (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
$2,600,000 to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of home energy conservation investments and greenhouse gas reduction (over three years). (2010)
National AIDS Housing Coalition (Washington, D.C.)
$200,000 to increase understanding of scientific evidence about the effectiveness of service-enriched housing in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. (2009)
National Bureau of Economic Research (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
$30,000 in support of the "Controlling Violence" conference. (2011)
National Bureau of Economic Research (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
$110,000 to prepare research and policy papers and convene a conference on the costs and benefits of crime control and crime prevention (over 18 months). (2009)
National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago (Chicago, Illinois)
$250,000 in support of the Crime Lab. (2009)
New York University School of Law Institute for Policy Integrity (New York, New York)
$115,000 to assess Federal agency plans related to cost-benefit analysis, in compliance with Presidential Executive Order 13,563. (2011)
New York University School of Law Institute for Policy Integrity (New York, New York)
$300,000 to introduce more sophisticated and balanced economic analysis into policymaking in a range of human services areas (over three years). (2010)
Office of Oregon Health Policy and Research (Salem, Oregon)
$1,000,000 to support a cost-benefit analysis of the impact of health insurance on low-income people in Oregon (over three years). (2009)
Pew Charitable Trusts (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
$1,500,000 to expand the use of cost-benefit analysis by states for setting policy direction and budget priorities (over three years). (2010)
Pew Charitable Trusts (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
$200,000 to support the Partnership for America's Economic Success. (2009)
University of Maryland Baltimore County Department of Economics (Baltimore, Maryland)
$200,000 to support the "Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis" (over four years). (2009)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)
$500,000 to implement a stated-preference survey of Americans' willingness to pay to eliminate child poverty by 2030 (over two years). (2009)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)
$400,000 to assess the long-term impact of participation in an Individual Development Account program (over 18 months). (2009)
University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
$1,275,000 to conduct a study of the impacts of housing assistance on educational outcomes (over two years). (2011)
University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Policy & Practice (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
$1,400,000 to expand the use of integrated data systems to support evidence-based policymaking (over three years). (2009)
Washington State Institute for Public Policy (Olympia, Washington)
$400,000 to expand the capacity of a cost-benefit model to measure net benefits of public investment (over 18 months). (2011)
Washington State Institute for Public Policy (Olympia, Washington)
$800,000 to advance the use of evidence and cost-benefit analysis in state government policymaking (over two years). (2009)
The Foundation is funding the creation of an expert, non-partisan independent committee jointly hosted by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Public Administration to develop the fact base and alternative policy scenarios for addressing the country’s deteriorating fiscal condition and to ensure a sound fiscal future. This project will produce several sets of baseline projections of the federal deficit and debt and realistic policy scenarios for addressing the burgeoning federal deficit and debt in light of the values, preferences, and expectations of the American people.
Number of Grants:
17
AmericaSpeaks (Washington, D.C.)
$865,000 to convene a facilitated national discussion on the economic and long-term fiscal challenges facing the country and to bring informed citizen feedback on these issues to policymakers. (2010)
AmericaSpeaks (Washington, D.C.)
$35,000 to support a national discussion on the nation's long-term fiscal challenges. (2010)
FrameWorks Institute (Washington, D.C.)
$275,000 to support theme and messaging research for the U.S. Fiscal Future project. (2009)
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute (New York, New York)
$400,000 in support of the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network and the project Think 2040: Millennial Visioning to Tackle America's Long-Term Challenges (over two years). (2010)
Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
$320,000 to evaluate the impact of the AmericaSpeaks national discussion on the nation's fiscal challenges. (2010)
National Academy of Public Administration Foundation (Washington, D.C.)
$275,000 to support ongoing communications and engagement activities on the U.S. fiscal future. (2010)
National Academy of Public Administration Foundation (Washington, D.C.)
$100,000 in support of a supplemental website for the U.S. Fiscal Future project. (2009)
New America Foundation (Washington, D.C.)
$500,000 to support the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget for The Moment of Truth Project, which seeks a bi-partisan solution to the country's long-term fiscal challenges. (2011)
New America Foundation (Washington, D.C.)
$45,000 to produce a paper on the implications for ordinary Americans of a failure to address the Federal fiscal crisis. (2010)
Pew Charitable Trusts (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
$872,000 to support the State Health Care Costs study (over two years). (2011)
Public Agenda (New York, New York)
$106,500 to support the design, implementation, and analysis of benchmark survey research to understand the views of policymakers and opinion leaders on the nation's fiscal situation. (2010)
Public Agenda (New York, New York)
$340,000 to support opinion research and development of a citizen network relating to U.S. fiscal future. (2010)
Public Agenda (New York, New York)
$100,000 to support the design of research for tracking and evaluating the impact of the U.S. Fiscal Future project and initial design for a citizen network around the U.S. Fiscal Future report. (2009)
Research Foundation of the City University of New York (New York, New York)
$250,000 to research the state budget crisis (over 18 months). (2011)
University of Illinois at Chicago Institute of Government and Public Affairs (Chicago, Illinois)
$200,000 to support analytic modeling of the Illinois budget (over 18 months). (2010)
Urban Institute (Washington, D.C.)
$160,000 to assess whether or not budget proposals from the executive and legislative branches of government pass a fiscal responsibility test. (2010)
Urban Institute Tax Policy Center (Washington, D.C.)
$250,000 to examine the implications for states of federal tax reform. (2011)
The Research Network on an Aging Society is examining the effects that an increasingly-aging society will have on American institutions, policies, and social and political processes. Following a Foundation-funded examination in the 1990s of successful aging for individuals, this project considers how the nation will be affected over the long term by the dramatic and irreversible changes in the demographic profile of the American population that are underway. Recognizing that current policies and institutions are not designed to address the challenges and opportunities of this future America, in December 2007 we dedicated $4 million over three years to create the Research Network on an Aging Society, headed by Dr. Jack Rowe at Columbia University, to explore the issues that arise from these changing demographics. More at www.macfound.org/aging »
Number of Grants:
1
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (New York, New York)
$3,625,000 to support the Research Network on an Aging Society (over four years). (2010)
Number of Grants:
3
Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program (Washington, D.C.)
$750,000 to promote the understanding of and policy guidance about economic changes underway in American cities and metropolitan areas (over two years). (2009)
Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities (Coral Gables, Florida)
$30,000 in support of general operations. (2009)
University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, California)
$1,200,000 in support of the Research Network on Building Resilient Regions (over two years). (2010)
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