In the News
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Ziliak quoted by CNN on food insecurity trends in U.S.
UKCPR Director James Ziliak is quoted in a new CNN article that examines food insecurity trends in the U.S. The CNN report notes that food insecurity among families with children declined in 2021 following a spike in 2020 during the pandemic. Read more.
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Ziliak quoted in New York Times on historic SNAP benefits increase
UKCPR Director James Ziliak is quoted in an Aug. 15 New York Times article about an historic increase in benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which will see average benefits for needy families rise by 25 percent. Read full story.
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Tax Policy Conference to focus on effects on low-income families
A Web conference on Tax Policy for Low-Income Americans will be co-hosted by UKCPR Director James Ziliak and Bradley Hardy, associate professor of public policy at Georgetown University, on Aug. 27. The conference is sponsored by the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin. Read full story.
Mission Statement
The University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research (UKCPR) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit academic research center established in 2002. Our research informs evidence-based policy on the causes, consequences, and correlates of poverty, inequality, and food insecurity in the United States.
UKCPR is a member of the Collaborative of Poverty Centers sponsored by the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison with underwriting from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The other member poverty centers are located at Columbia University, Howard University, Stanford University, University of California-Davis, University of California-Irvine, University of Michigan, and University of Washington. The goal of the CPC is to improve the effectiveness of public policies to reduce poverty and inequality and their impacts on the well-being of the American people.
Spotlight
Christopher Bollinger is the Sturgill Endowed Professor of Economics in the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky.
Chris’s research focuses on econometrics, labor, and applied microeconomics, with a particular emphasis on measurement error in large datasets used extensively by researchers. His research looks at how response errors and non-responses affect the measurement of statistics such as earnings, participation in poverty alleviation programs, and crime.
Chris’s work has appeared in top-tier journals such as the Journal of the American Statistical Association, The Review of Economics and Statistics, and the Journal of Econometrics.
In addition to his research, Chris has also provided administrative leadership as a faculty member at UK. He has served as director of the Center for Business and Economic Research, which produces the annual Kentucky Economic Outlook, and he is currently executive director of the Kentucky Research Data Center, which is part of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Federal Statistical Research Data Center network.
Most recently Chris was recognized for his research accomplishments by being named a 2021-22 UK Research Professor.
Read more about Chris on his faculty page.