Lauren Eden Jones.

Applied microeconomics · Social policy

Lauren Eden Jones

How the social safety net shapes the lives of children and families, and how to build policy that works as intended.

I am an applied microeconomist and Associate Professor of Management (Term-Limited) at the University of Toronto Scarborough. I study how social safety net policies affect children, families, and businesses, revealing both their successes and their unintended costs. My work covers family tax credits, children's mental health, traffic safety and drunk driving, and, most recently, child care.

Government partnership is central to my work. I build mutually beneficial relationships with public agencies to ensure my research responds to real problems and has an impact on policymaking. I have partnered with Ohio, Colorado, Wyoming, and British Columbia on applied projects on basic income and child care policy.

Curriculum vitae (PDF) Read the research

Department of Management, University of Toronto Scarborough. Previously tenured Associate Professor, John Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio State University. Ph.D., Cornell University.

Portrait of Lauren Eden Jones

Research

Core areas of my research.

Child care

Child care markets and quality regulation

How quality rating systems, licensing, and subsidy rates shape the supply of care, provider burden, and access for low-income families.

Cash support

Family tax credits and cash benefits

Effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Canada's child benefits on household finances, spending, and the long-run health of women.

Child wellbeing

Children's mental health

How household earnings and medical treatment affect children's mental health designations and their educational and behavioural outcomes.

Safety

Traffic safety and drunk driving

Evaluations of child safety seat laws, sobriety checkpoints, and the link between opioid prescribing and fatal crashes.

Now

Child care quality policy, subsidies, and family access

A five-year study funded by the Administration for Children and Families (2024–2029) on how changes to Ohio's quality rating and subsidy policy affect family access, provider quality and burden, and school outcomes for low-income children. With Jamie O'Leary and Kelly Purtell.

Publications

Work in progress, peer-reviewed articles, and book chapters.

Working papers

    Published articles

      Book chapters

        Policy work

        Applied projects with governments and public agencies, and research funding.

        Ohio

        Preschool Development Grant needs assessment for the state

        Ohio Department of Children and Youth · 2023–2025

        Ohio

        Analysis of Ohio's Publicly Funded Child Care program

        Ohio Department of Job and Family Services · 2022

        Ohio

        Analysis of Ohio's child care workforce

        Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association · 2022

        Colorado

        Costs of child care licensing and quality

        The Colorado Lab · 2023–2024

        Wyoming

        Analysis of the state child care subsidy program

        Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy · 2021

        British Columbia

        Expert Panel on Basic Income: Covering All the Basics

        Province of British Columbia · 2020

        Selected funding

        YearsProjectAward
        2024–29Impacts of changes to QRIS policy and subsidy rates on family access, provider quality and burden, and school outcomesAdministration for Children and Families · PI$1,977,958
        2023–25Preschool Development Grant: Ohio's needs assessmentOhio Department of Children and Youth · PI$1,592,770
        2023–25Robust estimates of the prevalence of drinking and driving using secondary dataNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, NIH · PI$418,613
        2022Analysis of Ohio's Publicly Funded Child Care programOhio Department of Job and Family Services · PI$284,699
        2023–24Evaluation of the costs of child care licensing and quality in ColoradoThe Colorado Lab · PI$154,950

        Teaching & advising

        Courses in public economics, price theory, and inequality.

        University of Toronto

        Department of Management, UTSC

        • MGED25H · UndergraduateInequality and Redistribution
        • MGEC02H · UndergraduateTopics in Price Theory

        Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

        • PPG1002H · Master'sMicroeconomics for Policy Students

        The Ohio State University

        John Glenn College of Public Affairs

        • PUBAFRS 8050 · DoctoralGraduate Seminar in Public Economics
        • PUBAFRS 6040 · Master'sPublic Sector Economics
        • PUBAFRS 4030 · UndergraduatePublic Budgeting

        Department of Human Sciences, Consumer Sciences

        • CONSCI 7230 · DoctoralMeasurement and Analysis of the Economic Status of Consumer Units
        • CONSCI 5140 · UndergraduateHealth Economics
        • CONSCI 2910 · UndergraduateConsumer Problems and Perspectives

        Doctoral advising

        I have served on eight completed dissertation committees, chairing four. Former students have gone on to postdoctoral and faculty positions at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, UC San Francisco, Miami University, and Nankai University.

        Contact

        Email

        Office

        Instructional Centre 275
        University of Toronto Scarborough
        1095 Military Trail
        Toronto, ON M1C 5J9

        For policymakers

        I welcome conversations with government agencies interested in evaluating child care, tax credit, or income support programs.