About the Authors

Bruce D. Meyer

Bruce D. Meyer, the McCormick Foundation Professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, studies poverty and inequality, tax policy, government safety net programs such as unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, food stamps, and Medicaid, and the accuracy of household surveys. His most recent work includes research on trends in poverty and inequality, the consequences of disability, the effects of Medicaid, and the accuracy of household surveys.

Meyer received his BA and MA in economics from Northwestern University and his PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been at the University of Chicago since 2004. From 1987 to 2004, Meyer was a professor in the Economics Department at Northwestern University. He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard University, University College London, and Princeton University, a member of the Institute for Research on Poverty, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a faculty fellow at the Institute for Policy Research. He is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. Meyer has also served as an advisor to the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Human Resources Development Canada, Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, and Mathematica Policy Research.

James X. Sullivan

James X. Sullivan directs the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) at Notre Dame and is a Professor of Economics and the Gilbert F. Schaefer College Chair. He has been a visiting scholar at the National Poverty Center and a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, Harris School. His research examines the consumption, saving, and borrowing behavior of poor households, and how welfare and tax policy affects the well-being of the poor. In 2012, with fellow Notre Dame Professor William Evans, Professor Sullivan founded LEO, which is a research center that works with service providers to identify effective and replicable solutions to reduce poverty in America. Sullivan received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University.