This course provides an introduction to key federal social programs—in the areas of health care, education, housing, labor markets, racial equity and income support—in the United States. The course begins by discussing the goals of social programs, principles of program design from public economics, and approaches to evaluating policy alternatives. The course then covers one substantive policy area each week, discussing the history and purpose of programs in that area, what research shows about their effects, and/or current debates or proposals for reform.
About the Instructor: Dr. Reber is Associate Professor of Public Policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, visiting UCDC for the term. She received her Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University in 2003. From 2003 to 2005, she was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholar in Health Policy Research at UC Berkeley. She is currently a visiting fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. Her research in education focuses on understanding the educational, social, and fiscal effects—both intended and unintended—of some of the most important policies of the 20th century: school desegregation, the Civil Rights Act, and the massive expansion of federal aid to K-12 education that Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act represented. In addition, she is conducting a randomized field experiment of two interventions designed to increase college enrollment among disadvantaged students. Her research in health economics examines the advantages and disadvantages of promoting competition in health insurance markets.