Highlighted Publications




 

Gandhi, Olenski, and Shi (2026) ask whether predictable nursing home inspections weaken incentives to provide consistently high-quality care. Using federal inspection records, daily staffing data, patient assessments, and Medicare mortality records, they find that nursing homes reduce effort when an inspection is unlikely and increase effort as the next inspection becomes more likely. These changes matter for patients: a one-standard-deviation increase in facility effort is a

Kleinman (2026) studies whether making it easier to sign up for public benefits increases SNAP enrollment among older adults who already receive SSI. She uses American Community Survey data and compares states that adopted a simplified enrollment system to those that did not. Using a difference-in-differences approach, she finds that easier sign-up leads to higher participation. SNAP enrollment rises by about 8–10 percentage points, or roughly 17–24 percent above the starting

Bendtsen (2026) examines whether reducing administrative burdens increases the take-up of social benefits. He analyzes data from 51 field experiments covering 187 treatment effect sizes across multiple countries and programs. Using a meta-analytic framework, he compares interventions that reduce learning demands (information) versus compliance demands (assistance), and distinguishes between application and actual receipt outcomes. He finds that interventions raise application

Orr (2026) asks whether evidence-based policy clearinghouses give reliable advice to local policymakers when program impacts vary across places. He examines data from six large multisite randomized controlled trials in education and youth programs, drawing on site-level impact estimates and cross-site variation reported in prior studies. Using a Bayesian model, he evaluates how often a clearinghouse rule based on statistically significant average effects leads to correct loca

This study evaluates how effective behavioral interventions—such as reminders, simplification, and personalization—are at increasing the...

This study examines whether converting local government services into not-for-profit corporations improves service performance. Using...