Robert A. Moffitt is a labor economist who has made fundamental contributions to research on poverty, inequality, and welfare programs and has applied those findings in public-service roles that guided the implementation of federal programs like the expanded Child Tax Credit.
Professional positions
- 1995–present: Professor (1995–2004) and Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Economics (2004–present), Johns Hopkins University
- 1984–1995: Associate (1984–1986) and full (1986–1995) professor of economics, Brown University
- 1978–1984: Assistant (1978–1983) and associate (1983–1984) professor of economics, Rutgers University
Notable publications
- Chase-Lansdale, P. Lindsay, Robert A. Moffitt, Brenda J. Lohman, Andrew J. Cherlin, Rebekah Levine Koley, Laura D. Pittman, Jennifer Roff, and Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal. 2003. “Mothers’ Transitions from Welfare to Work and the Well-Being of Preschoolers and Adolescents.” Science 299 (5612): 1548–1552.
- Fitzgerald, John, Peter Gottschalk, and Robert Moffitt. 1998. “An Analysis of Sample Attrition in Panel Data: The Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics.” Journal of Human Resources 33 (2): 251–299.
- Moffitt, Robert. 1992. “Incentive Effects of the U.S. Welfare System: A Review.” Journal of Economic Literature 30 (1): 1–61.
- Moffitt, Robert. 1983. “An Economic Model of Welfare Stigma.” American Economic Review 73 (5): 1023–1035.
Degrees
- PhD, economics, Brown University
- MA, economics, Brown University
- BA, economics, Rice University
In The ANNALS
- Volume 711, January 2024: “Legacies of the War on Poverty” (coauthored with Sung Ah Bahk and Timothy M. Smeeding)
- Volume 686, November 2019: Entitlement Reform (coedited with James P. Ziliak)
- Volume 680, November 2018: “The PSID and Income Volatility: Its Record of Seminal Research and Some New Findings” (coauthored with Sisi Zhang)
- Volume 650, November 2013: “The Great Recession and the Social Safety Net”
- Volume 621, January 2009: “Welfare Reform in the Mid-2000s: How African American and Hispanic Families in Three Cities Are Faring” (coauthored with Andrew Cherlin, Bianca Frogner, and David Ribar)
