Presentation to CA lawmakers on Targeted Universalism

Assistant Director Stephen Menendian presented the targeted universalism policy framework before the California Assembly's Blue Ribbon Commission on Early Childhood Education on May 3 at the capitol building in Sacramento. He explained how this framework differs from a traditional universal or targeted approach, and explained how it is better designed to achieve equity outcomes. Video of the event and his PowerPoint presentation can be viewed on this page.

Hilary Hoynes argues for anti-poverty program SNAP

Hilary Hoynes, a member of the Haas Institute's Economic Disparities cluster, presented compelling arguments to a packed audience at the UC Center Sacramento last month in support of SNAP, which is the second largest anti-poverty program for children in the United States. During the talk, Hoynes addressed the important placement of SNAP as a central part of the US safety net for all citizens, current policy issues and concerns, and details on short-term and long-term health effects of the program. Research consistently shows that SNAP leads to reductions in food insecurity in the short term, with much broader and further reaching benefits. Hoynes was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for her work in economics.

Videos and reflections from the two public events framed around the film Gattaca that were organized by Haas Institute research clusters are now available online. Gattaca was a sci-fi movie produced more than 20 years ago whose themes surrounding ethical questions of human reproductive and gene-editing technologies have become especially pertinent in recent years due to scientific advances that have brought into reality some of the practices in the film. Read more about the events here, and here.

Listen to the special edition of Life of the Law podcast here.