At RSF's November 2021 meeting of the board of trustees ten research projects were approved in the foundation’s programs on Future of Work; Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; and Social, Political, and Economic Inequality. Four of these grants were co-funded by the JPB Foundation.

Following is a list of the recent trustee approved research grants. Please click on each one below for a brief description of the research project.

Future of Work

David Autor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Matthew Notowidigdo, University of Chicago, will examine the labor market effects of a sector-based training program for low-wage workers from under-resourced communities - $137,963.

Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration

Crystal S. Yang and Marcela Alsan, Harvard University, and Damon Jones, University of Chicago, will test the effects of signaling solidarity with non-Hispanic Black Americans on their beliefs about the health care system and their health care seeking behaviors. - $115,000.

Social, Political, and Economic Inequality

John Anders, Trinity University, and Craig Carpenter, Michigan State University, will examine the impact of a parent’s place of birth on both their own and their children’s adult labor market and health outcomes. - $170,881. This grant is funded in part by the JPB Foundation.

William Bianco, Indiana University, Rachel Blum, University of Oklahoma, and Joshua McCrain, University of Utah, will examine how political responsiveness and accountability are shaped by legislative polarization, preexisting inequalities, and the economic and health crises due to the COVID-19 pandemic. - $138,832.

Natacha Blain and Suzanne Le Menestrel, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, will identify policies and programs with the potential to reduce long-term intergenerational poverty. - $150,000.

Erica Chenoweth, Harvard University, and Jeremy Pressman, University of Connecticut, will examine the geographic variation in racial justice protests in the wake of the George Floyd killing and the political impact of those protests and counterprotests. - $164,485. This grant is funded in part by the JPB Foundation.

Martin Gilens, University of California, Los Angeles, will investigate the effects of deep canvass organizing on a decarceration policy proposal. - $142,531. This grant is funded in part by the JPB Foundation.

Sarah Halpern-Meekin and Katherine Magnuson, University of Wisconsin, Madison, will examine how mothers view and spend monthly cash assistance payments and how payments affect parenting values and finances. - $166,385.

Hilary Hoynes and Jesse Rothstein, University of California, Berkeley, will examine the extent to which reliance on the tax system to distribute pandemic aid affected existing economic inequalities. - $174,443. This grant is funded in part by the JPB Foundation.

Sandra Susan Smith, Harvard University, will conduct a qualitative study to better understand why prosecution of nonviolent misdemeanor offenses might lead to increased criminal justice system involvement. - $143,341.