Barbara L. Wolfe

Barbara Wolfe (Bobbi) is the Richard A. Easterlin Professor of Economics, Population Health Sciences, and Public Affairs and Faculty Affiliate at the Institute for Research on Poverty. Her research focuses broadly on poverty and health issues. Wolfe’s current projects examine whether housing voucher and public housing programs lead to better school performance of children in the household; how poverty influences critical brain areas among young children and these in turn influence school outcomes; the influence of growing up with a sibling who is adopted or who has a developmental disability or mental illness, or a sibling who dies, on outcomes as a young adult; and, a comparison of the effects of early childhood general health, physical health and mental health on long-term earnings and labor force participation.

CDE Research Area Affiliations:

Demography of Inequality; Health and the Life Course

Selected Publications:

Sims, Kaitlyn M., Yang Wang, and Barbara Wolfe. “Estimating impacts of the US EITC program on domestic violence.” Review of Economics of the Household (2024): 1-31.

Flores, Manuel, and Barbara L. Wolfe. “The Influence of Early-Life Health Conditions on Life Course Health.” Demography 60, no. 2 (2023): 431-459.