The SBS Speakers Series for 2023-2024 features speakers from the NYU Social Sciences (e.g.
psychology, sociology, political science, economics, and anthropology) who are investigating
critical public health problems from their disciplinary perspective. This speaker series is intended
to foster a broader discourse about the role of social sciences in promoting public health.
All events are held at 708 Broadway and lunch is served.
Past Speakers
2023
10/18/23 12:30-2:00 PM, Room: 301 - Dr. Laura Wherry "Covering the Undocumented:
The Effects of A Large-Scale Prenatal Care Intervention
Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for public insurance for prenatal care in most
states, despite their children representing a large fraction of births and having U.S.
citizenship. In this paper, we examine the short- and long-term effects of a policy that
expanded Medicaid pregnancy coverage to undocumented immigrants using a novel
dataset that links California birth records to Census surveys and administrative records
on mortality, earnings, educational attainment, and public program participation. Using
these records, we identify siblings born to immigrant mothers before and after the
policy. Implementing a mothers' fixed effects design, we find that the policy increased
coverage for and use of prenatal care among pregnant immigrant women, and
increased average gestation length and birth weight among their children. Later in life,
these children experience better educational outcomes, are less likely to have children
at young ages, and receive fewer public support.
11/14/23 12:30-2:00 PM, Room: 801 - Dr. Angela Hawken "Applied Research from
the Marron Institute: A Think-Do Tank at NYU
This presentation will introduce the Marron Institute and provide a brief overview of its
programming areas. Two projects will be described in greater detail. Marron’s Urban
Expansion program works with rapidly growing cities, worldwide, using satellite imagery
and artificial intelligence to help them develop inclusively and sustainably, with a focus
on informal settlements. The team works with communities to prepare plans for orderly
expansion that supports service infrastructure; the team’s field work in Ethiopia and
subsequent evaluation of health and other outcomes in target cities will be described.
The presentation will also feature the Litmus program’s work in criminal justice, with a
focus on Graduated Reintegration, an approach to improving the transition from prison
to the community through early release from prison coupled with housing, employment,
and health-services support. The presentation will share lessons learned from pilot
counties, which spurred legislative reform in multiple states and subsequent innovation-
and-testing with the implementing state agency. The presentation will conclude with a
summary of data tools developed for partner agencies, including in New York City.
2024
2/2/24 12:30-2:00 PM, Room: 801 - Dr. Jacob Faber "Exploring the Roles of Segregation by Location and Lender on Racial Inequality Mortgage Access" A rich, multidisciplinary literature has established wide racial disparities in access to home mortgage finance. This paper leverages data on over 74 million mortgage applications submitted between 2007 and 2017 to investigate the intersecting roles of segregation across geographies and segregation across lending institutions in shaping these disparities. While the literature has largely focused on spatial inequality as a driver of racial inequalities in mortgage approval rates, my results suggest that inequality across lending institutions may be an even more important contributor.
3/12/24 12:30-2:00, Room: 801 - Dr. Erin Godfrey "Experiences with Intervention in the Juvenile Legal and Child Welfare System" Decades of research confirms the urgent need to change the juvenile legal and child welfare system’s response to young people in ways that reduce risk and promote health and wellbeing. The need for reform is especially pressing for girls, gender expansive youth, and youth of color. In this talk, I review the situation facing system-involved young people and describe recent intervention approaches I have taken with partners inside and outside of the system to create setting- and system-level change in these institutions. I also describe the importance of authentic partnerships and the role that NYU’s institutes and centers can play in fostering this work.
4/16/24 12:30-2:00 PM, Room: 801 - Dr. Ingrid Gould Ellen "Does Opportunity Come with Trade-Offs? The Impact of Small Area Fair Market Rents on Search Outcomes" Despite having a mobile subsidy, housing choice voucher holders tend to live in a small set of high-poverty neighborhoods. In an attempt to broaden choices, HUD recently required a set of local housing agencies to switch from setting rent ceilings at the level of the metropolitan area to setting them at the ZIP Code level. We examine the impact of this policy shift, including the potential unintended consequence of undermining progress on the other key weakness of the program (the large share of voucher recipients who fail to successfully use them). In brief, we find that the adoption of ZIP Code level rent subsidies helped new voucher holders lease homes in neighborhoods with higher rents and lower poverty rates, but we find little evidence that they affected the success new recipients had in using their vouchers within three years of implementation.