About the Lecture Series

A renewed focus on government efficiency has drawn increased attention to the critically important public goods and services provided by federal, state and local governments, including education, health care, social assistance, public safety, and infrastructure. Efficient provision of these vital public goods and services is essential for shared prosperity.  

Achieving increases in government efficiency requires that agencies continually innovate, test, and implement more cost-effective ways of delivering public goods and services, improving outcomes for their communities. Yet many government agencies lack the capacity to innovate, test, and learn.

Partnerships with the research community can provide agencies with the capacity to innovate and improve government performance. In this lecture series, we’ll hear about successful research collaborations between federal, state, and local government agencies and faculty on the 86 campuses in the Social Science Research Council’s university consortium. These collaborations, which have led to improved outcomes for many communities, give us a roadmap for delivering on the promise of government innovation.

Next Event
Speakers
Lawrence Katz, Professor
Harvard University
Anna Harvey, President
Social Science Research Council
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Events in the Series

Neighborhood Effects, Housing Mobility, and Place-Based Policies: Evidence from Experiments and Quasi-Experiments

Lawrence Katz, Harvard University
February 27, 2025, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm EST, via Zoom
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Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence

Jens Ludwig, University of Chicago
April 24, 2025, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm EDT, via Zoom
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Repeated Evaluation Can Make Better Policy: The Case of Summer Youth Employment Programs

Sara Heller, University of Michigan
May 22, 2025, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EDT, via Zoom

Summer 2025 Lecture

Oeindrila Dube, University of Chicago
Date TBD, via Zoom
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