Poverty Research & Policy

Author: Institute for Research on Poverty

The Poverty Research & Policy Podcast is produced by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) and features interviews with researchers about poverty, inequality, and policy in the United States.
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Language: en

Genres: Education, Science, Social Sciences

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Rourke O'Brien on the Impact of Spending by Different Levels of Government
Tuesday, 9 December, 2025

There has been a lot of research on the impact of levels of public expenditures on a variety of social outcomes, including health and economic mobility. But beyond the dollars spent, some researchers say that we should also be considering what level of government oversees that spending. For this episode, Dr. Rourke O'Brien joins us to discuss his recent work on measuring fiscal centralization, and its tangible effects on people's lives. Rourke O'Brien is Associate Professor of Sociology & and of Public Health & Health Policy at Yale University and previously served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He is also an IRP Affiliate.