A Nonpartisan Economic and Social Policy Research Organization

… a well-run public [health insurance] plan could constrain private spending because private insurers would have to compete on price. —Linda Blumberg in The New York Times, Jan. 8.

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The Urban Institute

GATHERS data,

CONDUCTS research,

EVALUATES programs,

OFFERS technical ASSISTANCE overseas, and

EDUCATES Americans on social and economic issues

— to foster sound public policy and effective government.

January 14, 2009

2008 Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey

Just two years after Massachusetts enacted the nation’s boldest plan to bring health insurance to its residents, an Urban Institute survey shows that nearly every major demographic group is within a few percentage points of full coverage.

Read more about the summary report
Read more about the methodology report

Recession and Recovery

Rising unemployment, pinched budgets, gyrating markets, falling home prices, frozen credit -- an economy in deep recession inflicts widespread pain. Six new briefs show how Americans have fared during and after downturns since the 1970s, what might be ahead, and how government programs aid those in distress. Read more

Policymaking and the New President

Urban Institute experts offer their advice on evidence-based policymaking and the domestic issues ahead for President Obama and the 111th Congress.

Len Burman on tax and budget policy in year one
Elizabeth Boris on financial relief and community service
Margery Austin Turner on housing segregation and diversity
Robert I. Lerman on expanding apprenticeship
Eric Toder on tax priorities
Harry Hatry on governing for results
Margery Austin Turner on rental housing
Jesse Jannetta, Nancy LaVigne, Amy Solomon, and Laura Winterfield on ex-offenders
Charles Cadwell on foreign aid

Jeffrey Rohaly, director of tax modeling for the Tax Policy Center (TPC), unpacks and explains how the Center’s state-of-the-art microsimulation model works. This powerful tax model allowed TPC to produce the only comprehensive and objective analysis of the 2008 presidential candidates’ tax plans—revealing each plan’s effects on economic growth, the national debt, and families’ tax burden.

Read the interview

recent interviews:
|| Rudolph Penner || G. Thomas Kingsley || Richard Johnson || more ||

Assessing Child Support Arrears in Nine Large States and the Nation (Research Report) January 14, 2009

Demographic Survey Results from Nine-State IV-D Programs (Research Report) January 14, 2009

Boundaries Between Nonprofits and Business Are Increasingly Blurred, Scholars Say (Press Release) January 14, 2009

Providing Maternity Care to the Underserved (Research Report) January 14, 2009

more new research

Most-requested publications (last 30 days)

Get up to speed on the key issues facing the nation and the new administration.

ten centers focus on critical research areas

Public Housing
and the
Legacy of Segregation

Margery Austin Turner, Susan J. Popkin, and Lynette Rawlings

more titles from UI Press

Policy Jargon Decoder
Fact Sheets: data at a glance
Issues in Focus: facts and findings on key issues
Data Methods
UI Databases: justice and charitable statistics, transfer income model, family data and more