AREAS OF RESEARCH

Economic Security

SP2’s Centers and Faculty demonstrate the School’s expertise in income inequality, economic mobility, universal basic income, and the labor market impact of public policies.

Featured Centers

Center for Guaranteed Income Research

Center for Social Mobility and Prosperity

Femida Handy

FEATURED FACULTY

Femida Handy, PhD

Professor; PhD, York (Canada), 1995. Volunteering; volunteering & health; global philanthropy; corporate social responsibility; environmental habitus.

Headshot of Dr. Ioana Marinescu

FEATURED FACULTY

Ioana E. Marinescu, PhD

Associate Professor; PhD, London School of Economics, 2007. Imperfect competition in the labor market, antitrust, and competition policy as applied to the labor market; evaluation of the labor market impact of public policies, e.g. unemployment insurance and the minimum wage; unconditional cash transfers, the universal basic income; technology and structural changes in the labor market; green jobs.

Headshot of Dr. Castro Baker

FEATURED FACULTY

Amy Beth Castro, PhD

Assistant Professor; PhD, CUNY Hunter, 2014. Economic mobility; guaranteed income; innovation; how social policies produce gender and race disparities in housing and lending.

Meredith Doherty

FEATURED FACULTY

Meredith Doherty, PhD, LCSW

Assistant Professor; PhD, Graduate Center of CUNY. Financial burden of serious illness; cancer disparities; access to healthcare; healthcare-based social needs interventions; palliative care and oncology social work; dissemination and implementation science.

Penn Sp2 Headshots March 2024

FEATURED FACULTY

ChiaKo Hung, MA, MPA, PhD

Assistant Professor; PhD, Arizona State University. Nonprofit financial management, social entrepreneurship, philanthropy, fundraising management, collaborative governance, social equity, social impact.

Alice Xu

FEATURED FACULTY

Alice Xu, PhD

Assistant Professor; PhD, Harvard University. Inequality and social policy, urban and distributive politics, environmental politics, quantitative and spatial methods, Latin America, Global South.

Related News

The Los Angeles skyline is shown with a blue sky above and palm trees in the foreground

Report: Landmark guaranteed income program in City of Los Angeles produces “overwhelmingly positive” results

Groundbreaking study demonstrates impact of direct cash over a 12-month period, showing increased ability of recipients to exit intimate partner violence, decreased food insecurity, and improved quality of life across a number of additional domains.

Meredith Doherty speaks and points with one hand, sitting at a classroom table

Study by SP2 examines potential of direct cash for cancer patients from low-income households

The three-year randomized controlled trial by SP2 is examining the potential of direct cash assistance for patients from low-income households receiving care in Philadelphia, along with their families. The study is supported by funding from actor Bradley Cooper’s One Family Foundation and a grant awarded through the Independence Blue Cross Foundation Institute for Health Equity.

Photo of the Broad Canal in Cambridge, Massachusetts, shows a body of water with sidewalks and buildings on either side and a blue sky above

Report: Guaranteed income improved financial health for caregivers in Cambridge, MA

In a report authored by SP2's Center for Guaranteed Income Research, findings from the Cambridge Recurring Income for Success & Empowerment program reveal a positive relationship between unconditional cash and caregivers’ financial health, employment, and parenting practices.