A non-partisan research + policy institute based at
@Harvard
focused on improving economic opportunity. Led by Raj Chetty, John Friedman, & Nathaniel Hendren.
We’re Opportunity Insights, a nonpartisan research + policy institute located at
@Harvard
. Led by economists Raj Chetty,
@John_N_Friedman
&
@NHendren82
, our mission is to translate insights from scientific research into policy change via an interdisciplinary approach to
#BigData
The tragic loss of George Floyd – like Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and countless others -- is a troubling reminder of the systemic racial inequities that afflict our nation. [1/4]
#COVID19
has unleashed an unprecedented economic crisis. To understand the full scope of the impact and target recovery efforts, policymakers need data on a daily basis. To meet this need,
@oppinsights
built a real-time economic tracker with support from the
@gatesfoundation
.
Join Professor Chetty on March 6th at the
@HarvardGSD
for a talk demonstrating how new insights from big data can shape the way we think about architectural and urban planning, community development, affordable housing policy, and pathways out of poverty.
Don't want to wait years to estimate the effects of an intervention? Our new paper develops a method to estimate long-term impacts rapidly and precisely by combining short-term proxies. [1/4]
Today,
@OppInsights
released new research on admissions practices at highly selective, “Ivy-Plus” colleges and their role in shaping upward mobility and socioeconomic diversity in top leadership roles in the U.S. Two ways to engage and learn more below.
Raj Chetty,
@John_N_Friedman
, &
@nhendren82
are excited to train the next generation of social scientists to study inequality, through our pre-doc research fellowship! Underrepresented groups in economics especially encouraged to apply. Due 2/28:
@econ_ra
Introducing the
#OpportunityAtlas
! Our free, interactive resource-constructed in collaboration w/
@USCensusBureau
-offers the unprecedented ability to look within our cities to see where, & for whom, opportunity exists:
Mobility scholars! Submit your paper to our second annual conference on economic opportunity by August 18! Will include a panel discussion on how colleges and universities shape economic opportunity.
Black and White children - even those who grow up on the same block, with the same family incomes - go on to lead very different lives due to the differential barriers they face. [2/4]
Are you interested in empirical economics and working alongside our faculty members to analyze data and develop statistical models?
Applications for our pre-doctoral fellowship are now open:
Applications due 10/28 @ 5 PM ET
#EconRA
#Econjobs
Raj Chetty,
@john_N_Friedman
, &
@nhendren82
are excited to train the next generation of social scientists to study inequality, through our pre-doc research fellow program! Underrepresented groups in economics especially encouraged to apply: cc:
@econ_ra
As of the 2010 Census, more than 20% of Black men from low-income families were incarcerated on a given day. Black men that grew up in high-income families were more likely than White men to experience downward mobility. [3/4]
Another
@Harvard
semester begins! Raj Chetty's course "Using Big Data to Solve Economic and Social Problems" (now Econ 50) is open to all students and requires no prerequisites. Join us to learn how big data can be used to address some of the biggest challenges of our time!
Our Economic Tracker meets the immediate needs of policymakers in assessing
#COVID19
recovery efforts. Until now, government statistics with a lag time of up to several weeks were the best available metrics. monitors the state of the economy in real-time.
Is your high school cliquish? Is your hometown integrated by class? How do these and other measures of social capital impact children’s chances of escaping poverty? Explore new data on social capital for every ZIP code, high school, and college at .
Applications for our AY21-22 pre-doc hiring round will open on September 10, 2021. Please check our "Join our Team" page on that date for more information on how to apply.
How does your social network impact your life trajectory? We are releasing new research on social capital and economic mobility in a pair of papers on Monday. Stay tuned!
We're proud to announce that
@TheEconomist
named our co-founder Nathaniel Hendren one of the eight best young economists of the decade! Congratulations,
@nhendren82
! ($)
A central part of Opportunity Insights’ mission is to train the next generation of researchers and policy leaders on methods to study and improve economic opportunity and related social problems.
Raj Chetty joined
@HiddenBrain
to discuss which neighborhoods in America offer children the best chance to rise out of poverty? And what is the role of education?
How important is your hometown zip code? Can it determine your salary? Your future success? This week, we look at the persistent power of place and education. | Zipcode Destiny 🔊
Are you a scholar focused on understanding economic opportunity and intergenerational mobility? Submit your paper to be considered for presentation at our second annual Conference on Economic Opportunity!
#econtwitter
#education
#housing
#labormarkets
Today, we released a paper describing a new method to protect privacy when conducting research on sensitive data. This was developed as part of a collaboration with researchers at the
@uscensusbureau
and
@Harvard
Privacy Tools Project.
To the
@nberpubs
Summer Institute in-person attendees: Join
@Oppinsights
’ Prof. Raj Chetty and collaborators as they present new evidence on shrinking race gaps and growing class gaps in intergenerational mobility at 4 pm on 7/25. Public Econ Schedule:
Which neighborhoods offer kids the best chance of upward mobility? To answer this, we worked with
@USCensusBureau
to construct the
#OpportunityAtlas
, a free interactive map that traces the childhood roots of adult outcomes:
At Opportunity Insights, training the next generation of researchers and policy leaders is central to our mission.
Interested in learning more?
Check out all of the lecture material and videos from Raj Chetty's
@Harvard
course here:
📣We are expanding the CMTO pilot evaluation from Seattle-King County, WA to three new sites across the country to provide critical evidence as to whether similar effects on moves are observed in other community contexts. The new expansion sites will be called CMTOx.
With the
#OpportunityAtlas
, mayors can analyze possible opportunity gaps in their cities down to the neighborhood level. In our new blog, read how historically- and data-conscious initiatives are taking shape in
@cityoftulsagov
with the help of the Atlas:
🚨We're looking for a Data Engineer to join our Research team! Do you have significant experience creating and managing applications with the cloud, data automation, and integrating data from multiple sources? We want to hear from you!
Why do low-income Americans live 10 years less than high-income Americans? Join our team as we embark on new research to study the determinants of health inequality using big data. Apply here:
The Economic Tracker was developed by the team at
@dhanalytics
. In a little over a month, they worked with our researchers to turn real-time
#data
into an accessible economic resource:
Today,
@OppInsights
released new research showing how economic mobility has changed by parent income, race, and gender across counties in America, analyzing data on 57 million children born between 1978 and 1992.
🔗
On Nov 21-22, we will host our 3rd annual conference on economic opportunity. Opening remarks from Raj Chetty and a keynote from
@DrHenrikKleven
on optimal policy and taxation when the goal is equality of opportunity! Submit papers by 9/18.
#econtwitter
Claudia’s work has transformed our understanding of the sources of gender disparities -- as well as how to address them -- and has inspired so many to follow in her path. OI wishes
@profcgoldin
a huge congratulations - we are so fortunate to work with you!
Following the pandemic-era recession, high-income employees have largely returned to work while the low-wage workforce has contracted by about 20%. Read
@BSteverman
's coverage of the new results in
@business
:
Our research shows that low-income children whose families move to better neighborhoods grow up to have higher earnings and more educational attainment than those who stay in lower opportunity areas.
OI is hosting a conference on economic opportunity for junior scholars with keynote speaker Ed Glaeser! The conference will take place in Cambridge, MA on October 21st. Submit papers here by August 1st:
Opportunity Insights Policy Associate Laura Moore joined our team last summer after working as senior education advisor at the City of
#Nashville
(1/5)
New op-ed in today’s
@nytopinion
, which uses data from our Economic Tracker to show how a real-time data approach to economic policy can harness newtools of the information age to lift up all Americans. [1/11]
Tomorrow at 10AM EST Professors Chetty,
@JacksonmMatt
, and
@stroebel_econ
will join
@meharpist
of
@Nature
in conversation about recent research on social connections and economic mobility. Register to attend here:
What is your radius of opportunity? Research released today illustrates the access children have to new labor markets depending on their race, income, and where they grew up. Read the new paper here: .
How much does where you grow up determine the labor markets to which you’re exposed in adulthood? New paper with
@bsprungkeyser
,
@nhendren82
and Sonya Porter provides some new evidence on the incidence of local labor market conditions. A thread…
(1/n)
Today marks the launch of
@PolicyImpacts
, an independent research and policy organization dedicated to improving government decision-making through rigorous, standardized policy evaluation. [1/7]
We are excited to introduce you to Policy Impacts, a new research and policy organization dedicated to improving government decision-making through rigorous, standardized policy evaluation. [🧵- 1/9]
We're excited to announce
@LynnOvermann
has joined Opportunity Insights as our Senior Data Strategist! Lynn is tasked with building data partnerships to expand our understanding of the factors that accelerate, or impede, economic mobility.
Our spring 2023 newsletter is out! Read about our latest research developments, how our evidence is shaping policy and practice, as well as other updates from the OI team:
Raj Chetty, John Friedman, and Nathaniel Hendren are happy to announce the appointment of Kristen Watkins as the Chief Operating Officer of Opportunity Insights!
Read more:
We're excited to announce that
@John_N_Friedman
will join Wojciech Kopczuk (
@wwwojtekk
) as Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Public Economics.
Read more:
Last month, we launched , a new Economic Tracker using data from private companies to construct a dataset measuring economic indicators (consumer spending, employment, job postings, educational progress) at a granular level in near real-time. [1/4]
Our launch comes as Raj Chetty returns to
@Harvard
as the inaugural William A. Ackman Professor of Economics. We’re thrilled to join a community dedicated to working across disciplines - from economics to sociology to statistics - to find solutions to pressing social issues.
.
@HeartlandFwd
used our data to analyze economic opportunity disparities in the Heartland—and some ideas for how to fix them—in a new research report out today. Learn more here:
We will be hosting an informational Zoom session on Friday, Sept. 24 at 3:30 pm EST directed towards anyone interested in applying for OI's pre-doctoral fellowship program. Please register here:
On June 21st, Prof. Chetty will receive the John von Neumann Prize in Budapest, Hungary. Info about the award and lecture Prof. Chetty will deliver below!
Award:
Event info:
Registration:
Check out Professor Chetty on
@Freakonomics
where he and
@StevenDLevitt
discuss some of the many factors that contribute to kids' long-term outcomes, from schools and teacher quality to neighborhoods and, of course, social capital.
📣 On June 8 @ 2 pm ET we are hosting an info session for students interested in learning more about career paths in the
#socialsciences
and in
#economics
more specifically. Students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds are particularly encouraged to attend!
We will be hosting an informational zoom session on Wednesday, September 8th at 3:30 pm EST directed towards anyone interested in applying for OI's pre-doctoral fellowship program. Please register here:
We are looking forward to joining Dr. Chetty and
@janetadamy
at
@WSJ
#FutureofEverything
for a robust conversation on how economic inequality is a challenge America can - and must - address.
📅Tonight at 8 PM ET
Registration is free:
Want to learn how America can address economic inequality? Tune in at 8 pm tonight for my interview with Raj Chetty of
@OppInsights
at the
@WSJ
Future of Equality forum. Register here
New public measures of social capital document the relationship between economic connectedness and upward mobility. Watch a panel of experts discuss the new research on 08/03:
Calling all aspiring economists! Spring applications for our Pre-Doctoral Fellowship are now open! Applications are due on Feb 21th at 5pm ET! We expect to share our decisions by the end of April. Learn more about the position here:
@econ_ra
"[Econ 50]is one of the best courses I have taken at
@Harvard
.I hadn't been interested in taking economics before, but the fact that this class started with issues I care about and taught the rest through them made it awesome."
Take a look at the syllabus:
Raj Chetty is presenting the
#OpportunityAtlas
at the
@AAEA_Economics
T.W. Schultz Memorial Lecture this Friday in
@hiltonatlanta
Grand Ballroom C. A reception will follow the presentation. For more info visit:
A key asset for our work is the
#OpportunityAtlas
, a digital map constructed in collaboration w/
@uscensusbureau
& funded w/support from
@RWJF
. It provides data on kids' outcomes in adulthood for every Census tract & demograhic group:
Calling all rising juniors and seniors: applications are now open for our six-week summer course in partnership with
@predoc_org
! Learn more and apply here:
In our new blog, Laura Moore says that to improve upward mobility broadly in America, we must have a concerted focus around improving black opportunity generally and for black men specifically:
📧Want to be among the first to hear about new Opportunity Insights research? Add your name to our mailing list ➡️⬅️ Don't worry, we will never spam you! We only use this list for new releases and important announcements!
What is the federal government’s role in ensuring all families live in neighborhoods that support their well-being and their children’s ability to thrive?
Sarah Oppenheimer joins
@jhmilner
on the
@urbaninstitute
's podcast to discuss.
Listen here ➡️⬅️
We will continue to add new data to make this tool more useful to policymakers, researchers & the public. We’ll also be hosting webinars and sending our analysis of what we are seeing in the Tracker. Sign up here to receive our updates: [END]
Prof. Chetty was deeply grateful to receive honorary degrees from
@wesleyan_u
and
@AlfredU
this Spring. Excited to see the impact this generation will have in creating opportunity for all. Congrats to the graduates!
LISTEN: Our
@dawill333
discusses economic mobility—and how research tools can help improve outcomes for families— on
@pewtrusts
' new "Race and Research" podcast episode.