Greg Duncan | University of California, Irvine (original) (raw)
Papers by Greg Duncan
Using data from a randomized housing-mobilityexperiment, this paper examines the effects of neigh... more Using data from a randomized housing-mobilityexperiment, this paper examines the effects of neighborhood,poverty on the educational outcomes,of children as reported in school administrative records. We find that the opportunity for public housing residents to move from
... At the same time, alternative proce-Page 311. Lessons Learned and Future Directions for Resea... more ... At the same time, alternative proce-Page 311. Lessons Learned and Future Directions for Research on Neighborhoods 287 dures for measuring neighborhoods need to be nurtured. ... This approach was used in the Chicago and Yonkers Projects (Crain personal communication). ...
Social science research, 2015
This study estimates peer effects on alcohol use, drawing from a database of about 2000 randomly-... more This study estimates peer effects on alcohol use, drawing from a database of about 2000 randomly-assigned roommates on a college campus. The estimation of peer influences also takes into consideration ego's history of alcohol use and friendship with the peer. College students averaged an additional two-fifths of a binge drinking episode per month and an additional one-half of a drinking episode per month when randomly assigned a roommate who drank in high school than when assigned a roommate who did not drink in high school. An individual's prior history of alcohol use proves important. Peer effects on binge drinking as well as drinking for those who already drank in high school were about twice as large as average peer effects. When one did not have a history of alcohol use, negative peer influences were absent. Also important is the friendship between peers. When a peer is considered a best friend, the step-up effect (or positive interaction effect) increased by 1.25-1.61 ...
JAMA pediatrics, Jan 6, 2015
The Future of children / Center for the Future of Children, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 2007
Greg Duncan, Jens Ludwig, and Katherine Magnuson explain how providing high-quality care to disad... more Greg Duncan, Jens Ludwig, and Katherine Magnuson explain how providing high-quality care to disadvantaged preschool children can help reduce poverty. In early childhood, they note, children's cognitive and socioemotional skills develop rapidly and are sensitive to "inputs" from parents, home learning environments, child care settings, and the health care system. The authors propose an intensive two-year, education-focused intervention for economically disadvantaged three- and four-year-olds. Classrooms would be staffed by college-trained teachers and have no more than six children per teacher. Instruction would be based on proven preschool academic and behavioral curricula and would be provided to children for three hours a day, with wraparound child care available to working parents. The authors estimate that the annual cost of the instructional portion of the program would be about 8,000,withchildcareaddinguptoanother8,000, with child care adding up to another 8,000,withchildcareaddinguptoanother4,000. The program would fully subsidize...
Northwestern journal of law and social policy, 2009
Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs, 2001
between 1970 and 1990, the number of people in the United States liv- ing in high-poverty census ... more between 1970 and 1990, the number of people in the United States liv- ing in high-poverty census tracts (with poverty rates of 40 percent or more) nearly doubled, from 4.1 to 8.0 million. Children who live in poor urban neighborhoods are disproportionately likely to be members of racial and eth- nic minority groups and are also at greater risk for
We investigate in this paper the extent to which families receiving Aid to Families with Dependen... more We investigate in this paper the extent to which families receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) differ from other families in mental health and the way they organize their time, manage their households, and spend their money. Our data come from two nationally-representative sources covering different historical periods. The first gathered its information in the early 1970s; the
In this paper we sort through conflicting theory and evidence regarding the impacts of welfare re... more In this paper we sort through conflicting theory and evidence regarding the impacts of welfare reform on children’s well-being and development. Our conclusions regarding likely child impacts depend crucially on the ages of the children studied. In the case of elementary-school children, the picture is fairly positive. We find strong evidence that welfare reform can be a potent force for
The impact on success of motivation, risk aversion, social capital, and a host of other "non... more The impact on success of motivation, risk aversion, social capital, and a host of other "noncognitive" characteristics is assessed using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Our intragenerational analysis uses a sample of men first observed in their 20s, and relates these traits to labor-market attainments measured 15-25 years later. Our intergenerational analysis uses a sample of
Using data from a randomized housing-mobilityexperiment, this paper examines the effects of neigh... more Using data from a randomized housing-mobilityexperiment, this paper examines the effects of neighborhood,poverty on the educational outcomes,of children as reported in school administrative records. We find that the opportunity for public housing residents to move from
... At the same time, alternative proce-Page 311. Lessons Learned and Future Directions for Resea... more ... At the same time, alternative proce-Page 311. Lessons Learned and Future Directions for Research on Neighborhoods 287 dures for measuring neighborhoods need to be nurtured. ... This approach was used in the Chicago and Yonkers Projects (Crain personal communication). ...
Social science research, 2015
This study estimates peer effects on alcohol use, drawing from a database of about 2000 randomly-... more This study estimates peer effects on alcohol use, drawing from a database of about 2000 randomly-assigned roommates on a college campus. The estimation of peer influences also takes into consideration ego's history of alcohol use and friendship with the peer. College students averaged an additional two-fifths of a binge drinking episode per month and an additional one-half of a drinking episode per month when randomly assigned a roommate who drank in high school than when assigned a roommate who did not drink in high school. An individual's prior history of alcohol use proves important. Peer effects on binge drinking as well as drinking for those who already drank in high school were about twice as large as average peer effects. When one did not have a history of alcohol use, negative peer influences were absent. Also important is the friendship between peers. When a peer is considered a best friend, the step-up effect (or positive interaction effect) increased by 1.25-1.61 ...
JAMA pediatrics, Jan 6, 2015
The Future of children / Center for the Future of Children, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 2007
Greg Duncan, Jens Ludwig, and Katherine Magnuson explain how providing high-quality care to disad... more Greg Duncan, Jens Ludwig, and Katherine Magnuson explain how providing high-quality care to disadvantaged preschool children can help reduce poverty. In early childhood, they note, children's cognitive and socioemotional skills develop rapidly and are sensitive to "inputs" from parents, home learning environments, child care settings, and the health care system. The authors propose an intensive two-year, education-focused intervention for economically disadvantaged three- and four-year-olds. Classrooms would be staffed by college-trained teachers and have no more than six children per teacher. Instruction would be based on proven preschool academic and behavioral curricula and would be provided to children for three hours a day, with wraparound child care available to working parents. The authors estimate that the annual cost of the instructional portion of the program would be about 8,000,withchildcareaddinguptoanother8,000, with child care adding up to another 8,000,withchildcareaddinguptoanother4,000. The program would fully subsidize...
Northwestern journal of law and social policy, 2009
Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs, 2001
between 1970 and 1990, the number of people in the United States liv- ing in high-poverty census ... more between 1970 and 1990, the number of people in the United States liv- ing in high-poverty census tracts (with poverty rates of 40 percent or more) nearly doubled, from 4.1 to 8.0 million. Children who live in poor urban neighborhoods are disproportionately likely to be members of racial and eth- nic minority groups and are also at greater risk for
We investigate in this paper the extent to which families receiving Aid to Families with Dependen... more We investigate in this paper the extent to which families receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) differ from other families in mental health and the way they organize their time, manage their households, and spend their money. Our data come from two nationally-representative sources covering different historical periods. The first gathered its information in the early 1970s; the
In this paper we sort through conflicting theory and evidence regarding the impacts of welfare re... more In this paper we sort through conflicting theory and evidence regarding the impacts of welfare reform on children’s well-being and development. Our conclusions regarding likely child impacts depend crucially on the ages of the children studied. In the case of elementary-school children, the picture is fairly positive. We find strong evidence that welfare reform can be a potent force for
The impact on success of motivation, risk aversion, social capital, and a host of other "non... more The impact on success of motivation, risk aversion, social capital, and a host of other "noncognitive" characteristics is assessed using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Our intragenerational analysis uses a sample of men first observed in their 20s, and relates these traits to labor-market attainments measured 15-25 years later. Our intergenerational analysis uses a sample of