Initiatives
Learn more about our research by exploring our collection of Research Briefs & Resources, or get to know our faculty and graduate students by browsing Profiles & Conversations.
US Transportation & Infrastructure Development
The Opportunity Lab is launching a new body of research addressing critical questions surrounding transportation and infrastructure development in the United States. Led by Cailin Slattery and Nick Tsivanidis, both Assistant Professors of Economics at the Haas School of Business, O-Lab’s initiative on US Transportation & Infrastructure Development is anchored by projects focused on identifying drivers to the high cost of transportation development in the US (Slattery), and examining how building height auctions may allow governments to better capture increased land value in areas surrounding infrastructure development (Tsivanidis). The program is also seeding new graduate student research projects investigating how infrastructure development intersects with racial equity, environment, and more.
Innovations in Cash Assistance for Children
Innovations in Cash Assistance, a partnership between the Opportunity Lab, the Urban Institute, and the California Policy Lab, supports new research projects on the impact of the 2021 expansion of the Child Tax Credit. In addition to generating important findings on how this expansion of cash assistance benefitted families, the initiative has brought together a new consortium of researchers and stakeholders to develop new priorities for research on cash assistance, and how state and federal safety net policy can promote long-term economic security for families with children. Led at UC Berkeley by Hilary Hoynes, this initiative is providing important guidance for the next generation of research on child and family economic security.
Inequality and Place
The Initiative on Inequality and Place - also known as the Place-Based Policy Initiative - supports an emerging body of research focused on geographic disparities in income and employment within regions and across the country. In particular, the project focuses on understanding the extent to which locally- and regionally-targeted policies and investments can make a difference in reducing poverty, equalizing opportunity, and improving long-term outcomes for those living in persistently low-income areas.
Racial Equity in the Labor Market
Led by Ellora Derenoncourt and Claire Montialoux, O-Lab’s initiative on Racial Equity in the Labor Market focuses on the role of state and federal wage and employment policy in reducing racial disparities in the labor market and promoting greater equity of economic opportunity. The initiative is supporting multiple new research projects, steering new graduate-level portfolios, and offering an important new evidence base to guide the development of smart employment and safety net policy for a more equitable future.
Energy & Environmental Economics Mentoring Program
A partnership between the Opportunity Lab and the Energy Institute at Haas, the Energy and Environmental Economics Mentoring Program supports graduate student research on how environmental damages disproprortionately impact low-income communities and people of color, while providing first-generation and underrepresented undergraduates the opportunity to work closely with PhD students and faculty researchers.
Labor Science
O-Lab’s Labor Science Initiative established exciting new linkages between the fields of Computer Science, Machine Learning, Economics, Public Policy. The project built a new cohort of researchers who are fluent in the tools of both disciplines to develop new methods for analyzing labor markets and generate new insights about inequality in the workforce.