Past Grants

John Friedman, Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, and David Deming will direct the research and publications program of Opportunity Insights. They will assess the impact of the quality of neighborhoods on economic opportunity; work with approximately 500 colleges and universities to understand why some schools are more effective than others at promoting upward mobility; and examine the intergenerational transmission of disability for families supported by Social Security Disability Insurance. The project’s findings will appear in a series of papers, short articles, and interactive web-based maps and tables.

Brian Jacob will explore the extent to which career and technical education (CTE) courses taken in high school can prepare students for employment later in life. By linking more than ten years of data on all students enrolled in Michigan public schools to records on employment and earnings, he will describe and estimate the effects of CTE on an individual’s job market outcomes. The project’s findings will appear in a report, a series of papers, and briefings for state-level policymakers.

Seth Center will lead an effort to promote the application of military and diplomatic history to national security policy. He will commission research and host events in order to inject insights offered by historians into current policy debates, train practitioners on how to apply historical analysis, and provide academic historians an opportunity to understand how their work could better meet the needs of policymakers.

Thomas Kent will research and write a book exploring how the United States could respond to Russian information-warfare operations. He will undertake research and conduct field work in order to create a taxonomy of potential responses to Russia’s efforts and examine the efficacy and ethics of these options.

Aaron Yelowitz will identify the pathways to stable employment and earnings that exist for less educated individuals. Using data from the American Community Survey, he will identify individuals who did not graduate from college but have earnings that exceed those of college graduates in their geographic area in order to better understand the occupational pathways that can provide individuals with decent incomes. The project’s findings will be presented in a report and a series of policy briefs and articles.

William Glasgall will lead an effort to encourage state governments to adopt fiscal practices conducive to economic growth. Working with scholars at eight universities across the country, the research team will review the budgets of all fifty states for each of the next two years. They will examine how states forecast revenues; employ budget maneuvers, such as asset sales, to balance their books; report on and manage legacy costs, including public employee pension funding; maintain rainy day funds; and make budgetary information accessible to the public. The project’s findings will appear in an annual survey of state fiscal practices, fifty individual state report cards, and a series of single-issue reports about budgeting practices.

Svante Cornell will research and write a book that explores the unfolding dynamics in the three-way competition among Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey to shape the future of the Middle East. He will conduct field work in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Ankara, and possibly Tehran and analyze secondary literature on the region’s history as well as on the internal drivers of the foreign policies of these countries.

Selim Koru will research and write a monograph examining the evolution of nationalism in Turkey. He will conduct interviews with Turkey’s political elite, business leaders, government officials, and public intellectuals; analyze the Turkish-language literature on Islamist and nationalist politics and the English-language academic literature on nationalism; and survey the emerging Turkish-language literature by thinkers on the new Turkey.

Ian Easton will research and write a book exploring how the Chinese government articulates and evaluates its competitive strategy toward the United States. He will conduct interviews and examine Chinese-language documentation of Beijing’s policy goals, strategies, and outcomes. He will explore how China’s leaders think about great power competition, define their aspirations, operationalize their strategies, and measure their progress.