Since 2007, the Social Security Administration has collected data on medication use among applicants for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). The administration can then use the medication data to identify opioid use among SSDI applicants. But the data set is so large and the data themselves are unstructured, with the majority of applicants reporting drug names in open-ended text fields, so the agency couldn't use the information to inform policy and programs. On this episode of On the E...
Nov 09, 2019•20 min
Paid leave can help mothers return to work in the year that a child is born, but what about the next few years? On this episode of On the Evidence, we talk about the effects of paid leave on maternal labor force detachment up to four years after a child is born with Kelly Jones, an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at American University and a senior research economist at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. This episode is part of a series produced by Mathematica in suppo...
Nov 08, 2019•12 min
For this episode of On the Evidence, my guests are Maria Cancian, the president-elect of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) and the dean of the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, and Matt Stagner, the current president of APPAM and a vice president at Mathematica. We talk about the theme of APPAM's fall research conference in Denver, which is “Rising to the Challenge: Engaging Diverse Perspectives on Issues and Evidence.”
Nov 06, 2019•27 min
As social scientists set out to investigate public policy questions, it is vital that they take into account the history of issues and the way people’s emotions will shape interpretations and responses to research findings. That’s the message that Mathematica’s Matt Stagner hopes to convey in his presidential address at a fall research conference hosted by the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) in Denver. On the Evidence interviewed Stagner about his upcoming address...
Oct 30, 2019•21 min
The nonprofit Results for America publishes an annual progress report documenting best and promising practices in how state governments use data and evidences in budget, policy, and management decisions to achieve better outcomes for their residents. On this week's episode of On the Evidence, we talk with Jed Herrmann, vice president of state and federal policy implementation at Results for America, about the latest Invest in What Works State Standard of Excellence, released on Friday, Oct. 4. F...
Oct 04, 2019•18 min
Our economy has always had jobs that fit outside the conventional 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, schedule, but with the rise of telework, on-demand scheduling apps, "irregular work," and the Gig Economy, more workers not only find themselves earning their paychecks in the early morning, at night or on weekends; but their hours may change on a frequent basis. Finding safe and high quality child care that accommodates non-standard or changing work schedules is a familiar challenge for many workers, but...
Sep 25, 2019•22 min
Each year, more than two million workers leave the labor force, at least temporarily, because of an injury or illness that prevents them from working. Their absence from work takes a toll on the workers and their families, their employers, and the government programs they often rely on for income and other supports. Some research suggests that if government programs could identify and assist workers early, the employees would be more likely to stay at work or return to work after a short absence...
Sep 11, 2019•30 min
A decade ago, the federal government pushed for the widespread adoption of electronic medical records. Now those records are here and they're ubiquitous, but the transition hasn't been smooth. On this week's episode of On the Evidence, we talk with two of Mathematica's in-house experts on electronic health records, Genna Cohen and Llew Brown. We discuss what the research says about challenges in adopting electronic health records, as well as what to do about them. Find an edited Q&A blog fea...
Aug 14, 2019•34 min
Forever chemicals, a nickname for polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) known for their durability, are a class of chemicals that sometimes appear in tap water but aren’t widely understood or subject to much federal regulation. What we do know is that these substances appear in items we encounter on a daily basis, such as Scotchgard and dental floss, and have been linked to a number of health problems. Recent research also suggests that these chemicals are becoming more common in ...
Jul 31, 2019•21 min
At a time when private companies can mine online user data for new, sophisticated insights about their customers, public-sector agencies — particularly those charged with serving clients with low incomes and some of the most urgent needs — are struggling to keep up with their own data practices. Although public agencies collect reams of valuable information that could be used to improve residents’ health and well-being, they rarely have the ability to study, interpret, and use the data the same ...
Jul 17, 2019•25 min
Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it would invite medical practices to voluntarily participate in new payment models for primary care in the Medicare program. The initiative is called Primary Cares, and its goals are to reduce Medicare spending and improve both the quality of and access to primary care for Medicare beneficiaries—especially for those with complex, chronic conditions and serious illness. CMS officials believe that the new paym...
Jun 19, 2019•38 min
For researchers to influence policy, their work must ultimately reach people making or implementing policy, and yet a gap often exists between the two communities. Rebecca Neusteter witnessed this gap when she was the director of research, policy, and planning at the New York Police Department (NYPD). Peer-reviewed journals often published articles about policing—and even policing in New York City—but her office did not have subscriptions to those journals and lacked easy, affordable access to t...
Jun 05, 2019•36 min
A few years ago, staff at Philadelphia Works, the city’s Workforce Development Board, decided that they wanted an outsider’s perspective to assess their workforce system and to assist them with more effectively helping residents. They partnered with Mathematica to study and address issues keeping them from providing the most effective services in the most efficient way possible. In this episode of On the Evidence, we take a look at early efforts to redesign and streamline the daily operations of...
May 22, 2019•29 min
The Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, a research and development lab for city hall, develops new and creative ways to provide better services for the city’s residents. About a year ago, the office published the first volume of its Civic Research Agenda. In some respects, the document follows the trend of federal agencies publishing learning or evidence-building agendas. But Boston’s Civic Research Agenda doesn’t look like a formal government document: it’s colorful, with large font, ...
May 08, 2019•30 min
In this week’s episode of On the Evidence, we discuss a major question surrounding health care reform: What do we do about the small share of patients who represent a much larger share of overall health care use and costs? For this conversation, I brought in three guests from Mathematica’s deep bench of health care experts—Purvi Sevak, Ann O’Malley, and Dana Jean-Baptiste, who have each studied high-need, high-use patients and efforts to improve their care. We also have a condensed Q&A versi...
Apr 24, 2019•34 min
Black women are underrepresented in the field of economics, and for those who enter the profession, being one of a few can be lonely. On this episode of On the Evidence, host J.B. Wogan talks with Anna Opoku-Agyeman and Fanta Traore about the Sadie Collective, a group they helped form, which seeks to increase the number of black women in economics and is named after the first African American to earn a PhD in economics.
Apr 09, 2019•25 min
Almost seven years ago, the School District of Philadelphia revised its student discipline policy, instructing schools not to suspend students for certain types of nonviolent behavior, such as failing to follow classroom rules or making obscene gestures. To examine what happened after the school district made the change, Mathematica’s Johanna Lacoe teamed up with Matthew Steinberg, an education researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. What they found provides the strongest evidence to date ...
Mar 27, 2019•16 min
A growing number of cities are interested in using data and research in decision making. Kat Klosek, director of applied research at the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University, talks about a free step-by-step guide she wrote for policymakers who want to incorporate data and evidence in their work. We also have a condensed Q&A version of the conversation available here: https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/commentary/how-to-guide-on-using-evidence-in-city-policymaking jW4lpAx...
Mar 12, 2019•17 min
Across Colorado, county agencies struggle to get residents on public assistance to attend work orientation sessions that are required for receiving benefits. Adams County staff studied the problem, piloted a solution and assessed the results. Jon McCay, part of Mathematica’s evidence-based technical assistance team, explains the process Adams County staff used to improve client engagement. We also have a condensed Q&A version of the conversation available here: https://www.mathematica-mpr.co...
Feb 26, 2019•16 min
On this episode of On the Evidence, Andrew Kleine, the former budget director of Baltimore City, talks about his new book, “City on the Line,” his account of what happened when Baltimore adopted an evidence-based approach to its budget process. Mathematica’s J.B. Wogan and Matt Stagner interviewed Kleine for the episode. Topics discussed on the episode: Outcome Budgeting, Logic Model Budgeting, Pay-for-Success Financing, and Collective Impact. We also have a condensed Q&A version of the conv...
Feb 11, 2019•35 min
The show will investigate and promote the use of data and evidence to address social challenges through conversations with pioneers in their fields. Find condensed Q&As based on each episode here: https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/on-the-evidence-podcast
Feb 06, 2019•2 min
White Paper Discussion of the Week by MATHEMATICA
Aug 28, 2018•15 min
Chaplin et al. (2017) tests the efficacy of regression discontinuity (RD) by comparing RD causal estimates at the treatment cutoff to those from Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) that are also estimated at this same cutoff. The study identifies 15 previously completed within-study-comparisons (WSCs) that explicitly examined this issue by assuming the RCT results are unbiased and then comparing them to RD results. The differences between these results can be thought of as estimates of bias due to ...
Mar 26, 2018•13 min
Mark Lafferty and Dan Friend describe Mathematica's work evaluating social programs across the country, and discuss the tools we use to perform these high-quality evaluations at scale including Mathematica's RAPTER© system.
Mar 07, 2018•32 min
Mel Podcast by MATHEMATICA
Jan 30, 2018•35 min
Experts from Mathematica, USAID, and the Rockefeller Foundation discuss how data and evidence can be used to drive decision making.
Dec 04, 2017•40 min
The Negative Income Tax Experiments Presented by Chuck Metcalf, Retired Mathematica President and Chief Executive Officer
Nov 30, 2017•41 sec
In the podcast, Associate Director Alex Resch and Senior Fellow Peter Schochet discuss and explain some key differences between RCT-YES and the RCE Coach . They discuss which tool is best matched to educators with varying levels of experience conducting evaluations, who might use these tools and how.
May 25, 2017•6 min
In a new article for the Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research, experts from Mathematica Policy Research reveal why some patients might reject physician recommendations even if they are grounded in good evidence. Listen to Mathematica researchers Cara Stepanczuk and Nyna Williams discuss this issue in this episode of the “Policy in Perspective” podcast.
Mar 07, 2017•7 min
In this episode of Mathematica’s “Policy in Perspective” podcast, listen to Mathematica Senior Fellows, James Verdier and Carol Irvin, discuss policy challenges and innovations in providing coordinated care and community supports to people with disabilities and frail older adults. This work supports the contributions of Mathematica’s Center for Studying Disability Policy to the evidence on today’s most critical issues in disability policy.
Feb 22, 2017•10 min
