As it continues to grow and develop, how can St. Louis ensure benefits are distributed equally throughout the region? Learn about how the Inclusive Growth in St. Louis event series with Center for Inclusive Growth and the advisory committee are addressing this concern.
Category: Media Mention
Beyoncé and the NAACP Are Providing Housing Assistance Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic (Links to an external site)
Disparate housing hardship among Latinx and Black households, results from the Socioeconomic Impact of COVID-19 Survey, are featured in this article.
Study: Women with young kids vanishing from the workforce in Israel (Links to an external site)
Director, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, was interviewed by i24News.
Housing inequality gets worse as the COVID-19 pandemic is prolonged (Links to an external site)
The big victims: One in six mothers working for small children has stopped working (Links to an external site)
Michal Grinstein-Weiss, director of SPI, was interviewed for a story in The Marker, the leading economic publication in Israel, about COVID-19 related job loss and the mental well-being of working mothers in Israel.
Israeli Employers Don’t Forecast Vaccine Will Bring Jump in Hiring (Links to an external site)
Results from the Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 Survey were published in Haaretz, an Israeli publication.
Uber made big promises in Kenya. Drivers say it’s ruined their lives. (Links to an external site)
NBC News cited a research done by Michal Grinstein-Weiss, director of SPI, to demonstrate the impact of the gig economy on financial hardship among low-income families.
Operation Food Search expands study of food for health benefits (Links to an external site)
St. Louis Business Journal mentioned a new study conducted by SPI, Operation Food Search(OFS), and Medicaid Health Plan. The study aims to determine the effect of Medicaid in promoting food security.
Moderna Monday – Another vaccine lifts the markets – Again (Links to an external site)
TheStreet cited Social Policy Institute findings of the effect of liquid assets on the likelihood of an individual to practice social distancing.
Women in St. Louis worry about their careers as they step back to care for their families (Links to an external site)
St. Louis Public Radio highlighted survey results from Social Policy Institute’s Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 Survey in the U.S. to elevate evidence that child care concerns are driving job losses and the ability to return to work during the pandemic. Atia Thurman, associate director from the Clark-Fox Policy Institute at Washington University added commentary about policy solutions.
Sustainable finance addresses social justice as COVID-19 raises the stakes (Links to an external site)
S&P Global Ratings, a division of S&P Global, cited Social Policy Institute findings related to COVID-19 and housing hardships in the U.S.
Long-term effects of the Coronavirus on the economic situation in Israel (Links to an external site)
Panet, an Israeli media site, cited SPI research of the long-term effects of the Coronavirus on the economic situation in Israel.
Financially stressed families save more with Medicaid, study shows (Links to an external site)
The University of Colorado Boulder announces SPI’s recent study showing that families with access to Medicaid are able to increase their savings.
Without work, savings – or future: the young people who pay the price of the crisis (Links to an external site)
13 News, an Israeli news channel, cited a study conducted by Michal Grinstein-Weiss, director of SPI.
Secular, ultra-Orthodox and Arab should spend NIS 2,000 – who will have a harder time? (Links to an external site)
Results from the Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 Survey in Israel about ethnic and racial disparities were featured in The Marker, an Israeli news outlet.
Most of those injured by the corona: ultra-Orthodox and Arab (Links to an external site)
Results from the Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 Survey in Israel about ethnic and racial disparities were featured in Israel National News, an Israeli news outlet.
More Arabs and ultra-Orthodox will be unemployed or experiencing difficulties (Links to an external site)
Results from the Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 Survey in Israel about ethnic and racial disparities were featured in Bizzness, an Israeli news outlet.
Research: 25% of ultra-Orthodox have difficulty making payments; 28% – food insecurity (Links to an external site)
Results from the Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 Survey in Israel about food insecurity were featured in Jewish Daily News, an Israeli news outlet.
Research: The Arabs and the ultra-Orthodox were hit harder by the economic crisis. (Links to an external site)
Results from the Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 Survey in Israel were featured in Ice, an Israeli news outlet.
An epidemic of food insecurity in Israel (Links to an external site)
Davar Today, a newspaper in Israel, interviewed Michal Grinstein-Weiss about the impact of COVID-19 on food insecurity in Israel. The data presented is based on the Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 Survey in Israel.
Research found 16% of job loss or layoffs reported payment difficulties
The story below is a translation from an article printed in Hebrew in Israel Today, the largest newspaper in Israel, on Oct. 5, 2020. A new study published here for the first time examined the effect of the first lockdown on households using 2,300 Israelis from June 4 to early July. The data show that […]
The world will no longer belong to the young: 18 – 39-year-olds were financially affected the worst from the Coronavirus
This story was written by Tali Heruti-Sover and originally published on Oct. 1, 2020 in The Marker in Israel. According to a study conducted by Prof. Michal Grinstein-Weiss at the beginning of the crisis, young people, generations Y and Z, suffer from high unemployment, have difficulty providing basic needs for themselves and their debts are large
Michal Grinstein-Weiss and Marla Blow: Masks aren’t the only answer to keeping workers safe (Links to an external site)
Michal Grinstein-Weiss, director, SPI, and Marla Blow, vice president, Center for Inclusive Growth, co-author an op-ed highlighting the need for better workplace policies to mitigate exposure to COVID-19. “By addressing longstanding inequalities that have undervalued essential workers, these measures would ensure that no one is put in a position of choosing health over a paycheck.”
Covid-19: Time to look at where we are going (Links to an external site)
SPI research about job loss is featured in this article on BizNews in which Alan Whiteside, OBE, Chair of Global Health Policy, BSIA, Waterloo, Canada & Professor Emeritus, University of KwaZulu-Natal, looks at the long-term impact of COVID-19.
Quarantine Envy Got You Down? You’re Not Alone (Links to an external site)
Some groups may also be better than others at resisting envy. A recent Brookings Institution study showed that African-American and Hispanic people, especially those with low incomes, remained more optimistic than their white counterparts, despite facing physical and economic challenges from the pandemic.
Low-income households falling further behind on student debt due to COVID-19 (Links to an external site)
Experts Warn of Potential Housing Crisis When Eviction Moratorium Lifted (Links to an external site)
In an interview with NBC 6, Michal Grinstein-Weiss discussed the housing crisis and looming evictions. She said, “We are already in a housing crisis in the U.S. and we were in one long before, and housing is really central for our people to recover from COVID-19.”
Pandemic boosts urgency of housing instability (Links to an external site)
The Columbian features SPI data in a story about housing hardship. “Nationally, a survey of low- to moderate-income households, conducted by the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, found that individuals are facing increased hardships such as evictions, delayed rent or mortgage payments, or unexpected utility payments and home repairs during the pandemic.”
It’s about to get a lot worse (Links to an external site)
SPI faculty director, Mat Despard, was interviewed in this Axios story about evictions: “We should be very concerned about what’s going to happen in August and beyond.”
Opinion: Medicaid expansion is ‘no-brainer’ during COVID-19 pandemic (Links to an external site)
SPI Op-ed featured in the Missouri Times: It’s a no-brainer in a pandemic. A yes vote gives health coverage to well more than 270,000 people, saves rural hospitals from failure, and brings $1.6 billion in federal dollars into Missouri, creating jobs.
Inspired by father who survived Holocaust, Wash U professor aims to help north St. Louis residents (Links to an external site)
Michal Grinstein-Weiss understands how trauma can have a lasting effect. Her father, Slomo Grinstein, survived the Holocaust by spending years hiding in the woods of Poland while his family was killed at concentration camps. “He always struggled a little bit between jobs — and [the Holocaust] doesn’t leave anyone, and he was never able to fully recover from the trauma,” said Grinstein-Weiss, who grew up in Israel and moved to St. Louis in 1999 to pursue a doctorate in social work. Now she’s the director of the Social Policy Institute at Wash U and working to research and develop policy to help black families in north St. Louis who have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus.
Tracking COVID-19 cases by zip code highlights inequity in St. Louis region (Links to an external site)
St. Louis on the Air, Sarah Fenske spoke with Washington University’s Dr. Laurie Punch and Michal Grinstein-Weiss, the director of Washington University’s Social Policy Institute and of the Centene Center for Health Transformation. Grinstein-Weiss recently looked into COVID-19 case counts in ZIP codes across the St. Louis region.
Grinstein-Weiss and Gupta: We don’t need a map to tell us where the pandemic hits hardest (Links to an external site)
Op-ed: Recent infection data from the city of St. Louis confirms it. In a map listing positive coronavirus cases by ZIP code, we see a greater concentration of cases in low-income and highly segregated ZIP codes in the city. Sadly, that data is not surprising.
United Way extends a financial life raft to employees who need it (Links to an external site)
United Way is offering TrueConnect, an employee financial wellness program, through a partnership with the National Fund for Workforce Solutions and Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis. It is available to for-profit and nonprofit employers with 100 or more employees.
Financial Well-being: Measuring Financial Perceptions and Experiences in Low- and Moderate- Income Households (Links to an external site)
Abstract As the gig economy plays an increasingly important role in the labor market, there is a need to understand the economic factors that influence participation in this sector. In this paper, we investigate how saving the federal tax refund affects gig economy participation for low-income online tax filers in the six months following tax […]
Research Wire (Links to an external site)
Bufe, S., Roll, S. P., Kondratjeva, O., Hardy, B., & Grinstein-Weiss, M. (2019). Does Savings Affect Participation in the Gig Economy? Evidence from a Tax Refund Field Experiment (SPI Working Paper 19-1). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Social Policy Institute.
Investments with Returns: a Systematic Literature Review of Health-focused Housing Interventions (Links to an external site)
Centene Center for Health Transformation Faculty Director Matthew Kreuter, PhD has been recognized as one of the world’s most influential researchers by Stanford University in a recent study published in PLOS Biology.
Centene Center’s Matthew Kreuter, PhD on List of Most Influential Scientists (Links to an external site)
Centene Center for Health Transformation Faculty Director Matthew Kreuter, PhD has been recognized as one of the world’s most influential researchers by Stanford University in a recent study published in PLOS Biology.
Financially Stressed Families Save More with Medicaid, Study Shows (Links to an external site)
Financially burdened families’ savings get a shot in the arm with access to Medicaid, according to a new study from CU Boulder, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Washington University in St. Louis and Diego Portales University in Chile.
The Power of Mobile Phones for Low-Income Populations: Dr. Tess Thompson to Highlight Findings at American Public Health Association Annual Meeting (Links to an external site)
Tess Thompson, PhD, a faculty researcher at the Centene Center for Health Transformation, has been selected to share her findings during a Poster Session at the American Public Health Association’s 2019 Annual Meeting and Expo being held Nov. 2 through 6 in Philadelphia, Pa.
Social Policy Institute Launches to Help Advance the Influence of Research at Washington University in St. Louis (Links to an external site)
On September 24, the Social Policy Institute, a new university-wide initiative dedicated to addressing pressing social issues through empirical research, dissemination of evidence-informed policy, and training in social policy, launched at Washington University in St. Louis.
BMC Public Health Publishes Centene Center Research on Efforts to Boost Participation in a Family-Centered Pediatric Obesity Intervention Program (Links to an external site)
The Centene Center for Health Transformation™ announces its first published academic research paper based on interviews conducted with parents on how to better engage members in Raising Well, Envolve’s family-centered pediatric obesity intervention program.
Social Policy Institute launches at Washington University (Links to an external site)
University-wide institute to advance the influence of research in innovating policy solutions
Julie O’Brien to Address the Health Impact of Unmet Basic Needs in Low-Income, Diabetic Populations at Medicaid Health Plans of America Annual Conference (Links to an external site)
Julie O’Brien, PhD will join other esteemed panelists at this year’s Medicaid Health Plans of America (MHPA) Conference to discuss research findings on health and unmet basic needs conducted by the Centene Center for Health Transformation.
Tess Thompson, PhD Awarded American Cancer Society Grant to Help Improve Breast Cancer Outcomes (Links to an external site)
Centene Center for Health Transformation faculty researcher Tess Thompson, PhD has been named the recipient of a Mentored Research Scholar Grant in Applied and Clinical Research (MRSG-19-086-01-CPPB) from the American Cancer Society.
CNBC Features Centene Center’s Dan Ariely’s Insight About Making the Most Out of Your Money (Links to an external site)
Centene Center Faculty Director and behavior economics researcher, Dan Ariely, PhD, MA, recently discussed spending habits and how to feel richer on CNBC.
Credit counseling can lead to significant reduction in consumer debt (Links to an external site)
People who take advantage of nonprofit credit counseling services have statistically significant reductions in consumer debt, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
How Dan Ariely Sees the Future of Financial Advice (Links to an external site)
Centene Center Faculty Director and behavior economics researcher, Dan Ariely, PhD, MA, talks with ThinkAdvisor about the future of financial advice and how he sees the role of financial advisor evolving over time. He discusses why the usual motivator of paying people can backfire, as well as why people make irrational decisions regarding their money. Rusoff, J. W.
Social Policy Institute receives $385,000 grant (Links to an external site)
The newly established Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis has received a $385,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase & Co. as part of the company’s $125 million, five-year global commitment to promoting customers’ financial health.
New consumer protection director to speak June 12 (Links to an external site)
Kathy Kraninger, who was named director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) six months ago, spoke about the bureau’s new directions and initiatives in savings policy in Hillman Hall’s Clark-Fox Forum. Michal Grinstein-Weiss, professor in Brown School and SPI director, will oversee a panel focused on the importance of savings in economically vulnerable communities.