We can’t begin to make progress on social problems until we understand them, and that’s the role of policy research.
Gregory Acs is an Institute fellow in the Health, Income, and Benefits Policy Division at the Urban Institute. Previously, he served as the vice president for Urban’s Tax and Income Supports Division and Income and Benefits Policy Center, where his research focused on social insurance, social welfare, and the compensation of workers. Before returning to Urban in 2012, he served as unit chief for Labor and Income Security in the Congressional Budget Office’s Health and Human Resources Division and as vice president of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. His recent work examines economic and social mobility and economic security, with a focus on low-income working families. Acs has studied young women’s employment patterns to determine the paths women take to obtain jobs paying enough to leave them better off working than on welfare. He has also examined the well-being of children across living arrangements, the ways welfare policies influence family composition, the status of families leaving welfare, and how policies affect the incentives families face as they move from welfare to work. Acs has a PhD in economics and social work from the University of Michigan.
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