Robert A. Moffitt, Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins University and active participant in federal and state policy gatherings on welfare reform and other social policy issues, paid a week-long visit to IESR this early June, from 3rd to 5th, 2019.
During the visit, Robert Moffitt gave a lecture on “The Measurement of Poverty” to our faculty and students. Professor walked everyone through the common definitions of “poverty”, reviewed some poverty rates across different countries around the world, and explained how anti-poverty programs can sometimes create so called “poverty traps”. As Robert Moffitt notes, the way “basic need” is defined and acted upon across different societies vary significantly, therefore it is a social question rather a scientific one. In the course of implementing any anti-poverty program, R. Moffitt stressed out the importance of focusing on 1) fulfilling the very objective of reducing poverty, 2) avoiding poverty traps, and 3) targeting poverty on a societal, rather than just on individual or family level.
Robert Moffitt's lecture “The Measurement of Poverty”
The week of Robert Moffitt’s visit also saw the Labor Workshop that was jointly organized together with IESR. Professor gave a presentation “Estimating Marginal Treatment Effects: An Application to U.S. Welfare Programs and Labor Supply” where he discussed the U.S. welfare system and labor supply issues. Other presentations included:
“Employment Structure in China from 1995 to 2015: Demographic and Technological Change”, by Zhao Zhong, Professor of Renmin University of China
“Rising Household Income Inequality and Instability-- Putting the Pieces Together”, by Sisi Zhang, Associate Professor of IESR
“Microfinance Can Raise Incomes: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in China”, by Shu Cai, Associate Professor of IESR
“Household Balance Sheets and Consumption Response to Income Shocks”, by Yunho Cho, Assistant Professor of IESR
“Expenditure Cascades: Evidence from the Bush Administration Tax Reforms”, by Jinseong Park, Assistant Professor of IESR
Labor Workshop at IESR
During his visit, professor R. A. Moffitt also had a chance to discuss with our dean and professor Shuaizhang Feng about the common labor issues that both of the economists are deeply concerned with. The issues of low-income population and poverty, low-birth rates and other populations problems were one of the key topics that Robert Moffitt and Shuaizhang Feng discussed in great depth.
Robert A. Moffitt and Shuaizhang Feng
All our faculty and students were really excited about having such an incredible opportunity to meet Robert Moffitt and learn out his knowledge and insight into labor economics, especially the issue of poverty, that professor accumulated over the long years of research. We already cannot wait for the next visit!
About Robert A. Moffitt
Robert A. Moffitt's bio taken from JHU website.
