Latest Publications
The Revival of Urban Enterprise Zones in New Jersey
By Adam Scavette Last summer, then acting New Jersey Governor Sheila Oliver signed legislation to devote $42.5 million toward restoring the state’s Urban Enterprise Zones (UEZ) to full operation for fiscal year 2022. In this [...]
Advancing Municipal Environmental Justice Action Planning
By Rachel Brown For more than 50 years, community leaders and researchers have been drawing attention to disproportionate environmental burden and health disparities in low-income and communities of color. Here in New Jersey and as [...]
Pandemic’s Impact on Women in NJ: Domestic Violence, Access to Healthcare and Housing
By Sarah Small and Debra Lancaster With so much economic precarity brought on by the pandemic, many women in New Jersey have been confronted with issues of homelessness and inaccessible healthcare. According to the US [...]
Population Density and New Jersey’s Two Largest Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups in 2020
Tia Azzi and Michael Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) Introduction This is the third brief that reports data on New Jersey from the 2020 decennial census. The first presents a summary dataset that R/Econ™ [...]
Understanding Awareness and Impact of the Community College Opportunity Grant and the Garden State Guarantee in Newark, NJ
By Elisabeth Kim, Ph.D., Bernie Lombardi, Ph.D., and Robyn Brady Ince, Ed.M. The Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC) and the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies at Rutgers University-Newark are working in partnership [...]
Challenges with Telehealth Adoption in Light of a Global Pandemic
Rajisha Shah, Aakanksha Deoli, MHA The COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant increase in telehealth volume and revolutionized healthcare regulatory guidelines for its use. Telehealth expanded access to care, especially during the pandemic, and made [...]
Guilt Tipping and the Inflated Default Tip
By Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) In a recent article, New York Times reporter Christina Morales writes about the spread of “tipping fatigue,” noting how electronic screens now recommend tips as high [...]
Using Creative Informatics and Artificial Intelligence to Address the Drug Addiction Crisis in New Jersey
Shiya John, Gavin Rozzi and Jim Samuel New Jersey has a persistent substance addiction problem which must be viewed in the context of laws, policies, and initiatives implemented to address it. The most recent numbers [...]
How has COVID Affected Women and Work in New Jersey? Our New Report Investigates
Sarah Small and Debra Lancaster Women’s work lives have been disrupted in profound ways during COVID-19: in their roles as frontline workers confronting the virus, as caregivers taking on even more unpaid care work at [...]
U.S. Census Bureau Classification of Arab Populations
by Tia Azzi, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) Introduction to the Arab Community Ethnic identity can be a complex topic, and one that is challenging to adequately capture in national surveys. The Middle East and [...]
Examining Discipline Disparities in New Jersey’s High Schools
By Elisabeth Kim, Ph.D. and Jamelia Harris, Ph.D. Background and National Trends There is substantial evidence that documents the profound and adversarial consequences of the overreliance on exclusionary discipline practices such as suspensions and expulsions [...]
Digital Services and Administrative Burdens
By Jessica Cruz and Vishal Trehan Why isn’t the participation rate for the government’s welfare programs at 100%? Why do only 82% of those eligible under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) receive benefits? Given [...]
Lowering Tax Rates on Motor Fuels: A Bad Idea That’s Gaining Momentum
By Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) Policymakers’ hearts are in the right place. Presently, the United Kingdom and a few U.S. states are enabling at least a temporary reprieve from fuel taxes [...]
Women’s Work in Frontline Industries: Essential Roles, Little Reward
Sarah Small and Deb Lancaster Frontline essential workers were lauded as heroes in 2020 during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but ultimately, little was done by way of supporting such workers. This meant that [...]
Adjustments to Municipal and County Population Counts in New Jersey for 2020
by Tia Azzi and Michael Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) According to the latest Census count, New Jersey's population peaked above nine million for the first time in 2020. More precisely, it had 9,288,994 [...]
From Emergency to Routine: Evaluating the Implementation of Technology for Government after COVID-19
Leonor Camarena, PhD and Federica Fusi, PhD New Jersey was one of the first states to recognize the significance that technological advancements can have on the workforce and larger community. In October 2018, Governor Murphy [...]
New Jersey’s Single-Family Housing Markets by County 2021
Naheed Azhar and Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) As the count of listings and asking prices flattened,[i] realtors and creditors predicted a rise in foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies as people were laid [...]
Use of Telehealth Among Essential Workers During COVID-19
Mriga Bansal and Naren Gopal Since December 2020, coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been a significant global health concern. In February 2020, the Centers for Disease Control [...]
What’s Up with Gasoline Prices?
By Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) Here we are in mid-March of 2022 and the average price of a gallon of regular grade gasoline in New Jersey is $4.335; a year ago [...]
Release of “Evaluating Evaluations” Report
Tracy P. Glova The New Jersey State Policy Lab today issued a report on evidence-based policymaking and program evaluation in New Jersey. “Evaluating Evaluations: Analyzing Evidence‐Based Policymaking in New Jersey and Insights from other Leading [...]
Enhancing Child Tax Credits’ Support of New Jersey’s Neediest Families
Sarah Small and Debra Lancaster Many New Jersey parents breathed a sigh of relief upon receiving their Child Tax Credit Payments in late 2021. Our new report at the Rutgers Center for Women and Work, [...]
Now is the Time to Save Oil in a Hurry
Robert B. Noland and Lewis Fulton The Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to a sharp increase in the price of oil in the last couple weeks. In New Jersey, a gallon of gasoline [...]
A Multi-Decennial Census Data Set for NJ, 2010 and 2020 (and More): A New Jersey State Policy Lab Offering
Maia de la Calle and Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) The New Jersey State Policy Lab started operating when some of the first local-level data were released from the 2020 Census. It, [...]
An Early 2022 Inflation Update for New Jersey
Michael Lahr, R/Econ™ In terms of both crude oil and natural gas production, Russia is second only to the United States worldwide. Moreover, about 8% of U.S. petroleum imports are from Russia.[1] For Europe, that share [...]
Report on Food Security and Organic Waste Reduction
Jeanne Herb The New Jersey State Policy Lab and the Organics Workgroup of the NJ Climate Change Alliance have partnered to inform the development of statewide public policy aimed at reducing food waste, contributing to [...]
Predictive Algorithms in the Public Sector
Vishal Trehan Some scholars, looking broadly at the impact of information and communications technologies (ICTs) on public administration, have argued that the use of ICT has led to structural changes in some public agencies, with [...]
The New Jersey Housing Crisis in a COVID Era
Katharine Nelson Affordable housing is increasingly scarce within the United States, and COVID-19 has dramatically exacerbated the simmering crisis in affordable housing. In New Jersey, the risk of eviction is greater than across the country, [...]
Emerging transportation modes: what are the implications for policy?
Robert B. Noland, Hannah Younes, Wenwen Zhang, Clint Andrews, and Leigh Ann Von Hagen Over the last decade, a variety of transportation solutions facilitated by new technologies have emerged. Of these, self-driving vehicles seem to [...]
Caring for Our Families during COVID-19: Costly Decisions for New Jersey Parents
Sarah Small and Debra Lancaster In the US and around the world, growing evidence indicates women have borne the brunt of the economic crisis and social upheaval triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. New Jersey [...]
Cannabis Legalization: A Baseline Study
Today, we’re releasing our report, Cannabis Legalization: A Baseline Study, as part of a project led by Dean Charles Menifield, one of the Policy Lab’s Co-Principal Investigators. This report explores education, health, and law enforcement [...]
Our First Report: Encouraging Activation of Vacant Commercial Properties
The New Jersey State Policy Lab is publishing our first report, Vacant Commercial Property in New Jersey: Causes and Solutions, written by Michael Hayes and Pengju Zhang. The economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic [...]
The New Jersey High School Experience: Differences in Freshman Year Science Course-taking
Vandeen Campbell, Ph.D. It is well established that careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields tend to offer higher wages (Carnevale, Cheah, & Hanson, 2015). Further, individuals who begin engaging in standard and [...]
New Jersey Intercounty Migration Trends, 2018-2019
by Tia Azzi and Michael Lahr, R/Econ™ The latest report from R/Econ™ examines the migration trends across counties within New Jersey between 2018 and 2019. This report uses Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data, rather than [...]
Is Telehealth Making Healthcare More Accessible For the LGBTQ+ Community?
Domonique Noel Across the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic has made a drastic impact on the lives of LGBTQ+[1] people in several unforeseen ways. One of those ways is in healthcare delivery, as an increasing number [...]
Equity in Government Budgeting
Marilyn Rubin Opening the core routines of budgeting to include an equity dimension can make government more responsive to all its residents and can provide a pathway to a more equitable society. In this project, [...]
Has New Jersey’s Housing Market Peaked? A New Year’s Assessment
By Michael L. Lahr, Director of Rutgers Economic Research Service (R/ECON™) What is the status of New Jersey housing markets? The bottom line has been more or less the same since June 2020: double-digit price [...]
Lessons from the Pandemic for Public Policy and Mental Health Resilience
Joel C. Cantor, Carl Van Horn, James Walkup, Dawne Mouzon, and Michael Yedidia Concern about mental health in the COVID-19 pandemic has been appropriately high. A recent review of a vast and diverse literature on [...]
The Challenges Associated with Making “Good” Public Policy
Stuart Shapiro The New Jersey State Policy Lab is dedicated to improving public policy through careful analysis of data and program evaluation. As many of our first projects near their conclusion though it is important [...]
Bridging the Digital Divide in Native American Communities
Jennifer Spiegel The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the importance of online connectivity in society today. Yet there is still a digital divide as inequitable access to broadband services prevents underserved communities from benefiting from vital [...]
A Primer on Housing Markets with a Bird’s Eye View on New Jersey’s
By Michael L. Lahr, R/ECON™ Housing markets are not just geographically separated, they are socially stratified too (in combination the two generate what is termed, “housing market segmentation”). Properties in a region can differ radically [...]
Vacant Commercial Property in New Jersey: Causes and Solutions
Michael S. Hayes and Pengju Zhang The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated changes in investment decisions throughout the economy. For example, the growth in virtual work and e-commerce has likely negatively impacted the demand for some [...]
Bicycle Lanes: Motivating Active Transportation
Tia Azzi, R/ECON Not all bike lanes are created equal. New Jersey is trying to encourage bicycling as a main form of transportation by enhancing existing ways and expanding bike lanes. But only about 0.3% [...]
The New Jersey High School Experience: Opportunities for High-leverage Mathematics Course Taking
Elisabeth Kim, Ph.D. and Vandeen Campbell, Ph.D. Mathematics has long been considered essential to success in secondary and post-secondary education and in a labor market increasingly reliant on 21st century skills (Aughinbaugh, 2012; Kim et al., [...]
Interstate Migration: A Lost Cause for New Jersey?
Tia Azzi For many years, New Jersey has lost population via net in- and out-migration. From 2011 through 2019, this has resulted in the state hemorrhaging a total of more than $23.6 billion in net [...]
Will online shopping for groceries persist after the pandemic?
Hannah Younes, Robert B. Noland, and Wenwen Zhang The pandemic altered the way we shop for food. People in the U.S. started to shop for more groceries while decreasing their consumption of take-out food. For [...]
Public Safety, Health, and Youth School Experiences: Legalizing Recreational Marijuana in New Jersey
Charles E. Menifield While the legalization of recreational marijuana will benefit state finances, policy-makers must consider potential negative externalities associated with the sale of legalized marijuana. In a forthcoming report funded by the New Jersey [...]
Digital Equity for K-12 Students
By Stephanie Holcomb, Jessica Cruz-Nagoski, Andrea Hetling, Gregory Porumbescu, Vishal Trehan The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the important role efforts to promote digital access, literacy, and skills play in promoting a more equitable society. This lesson [...]
Evidence-Based Policymaking on the Federal Level
Jennifer Spiegel 12-06-21 “Evidence-based policymaking” seems to be all the rage with think tanks, lawmakers, and governmental agencies, but what does it mean, really? Evidence-based policymaking uses the best available research and data to target [...]
Organic Waste Management in New Jersey: Reducing Food Waste and Improving Food Equity
Tracy Youngster is a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Rutgers University Ecology & Evolution Graduate Program. Organic Waste Management background When organic waste, like food, enters a landfill, it releases methane which is a potent [...]
Which Sector is Leading New Jersey’s Pandemic Recovery?
November 30, 2021 Maia de la Calle, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) In the past few weeks, discussions on the “Great Resignation” and labor shortages have permeated news cycles. These phenomena, characterized by (1) record-high [...]
Equity in Government Budgeting
Marilyn Rubin In this project, we are looking at how city and state governments in the United States are using their budgets to advance equity for all residents. Opening the core routines of budgeting to [...]
The Benefits of Not Commuting to Work
Robert B. Noland and Wenwen Zhang The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in major changes in how people work and travel. Our research suggests that some of these changes are likely to endure. While not every [...]
NJ Inflation and You, Imperfect Together?
Michael L. Lahr, R/ECONTM November 15, 2021 Inflation has found its way to the front pages of newspapers for the first time in decades. From New Jersey’s perspective though, national reports of inflation are greater [...]
The New Jersey High School Experience
Jamelia Harris, Ph.D. and Vandeen Campbell, Ph.D. Background and National Trends The connection between expanding access to high-quality and rigorous coursework and improving postsecondary outcomes is well established within the literature. According to the U.S. [...]
The New Jersey Policy Lab at Six Months
Stuart Shapiro It was six months ago that the New Jersey Policy Lab started operations after being awarded a grant from the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education. So it seems like [...]
The New Jersey Housing Crisis in a COVID Era – Project Update
Samantha Roth Samantha Roth is a Master of Public Administration Student at the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University-Newark. She is a research assistant with support from the New Jersey Policy Lab [...]
Organics Waste Team Update and History of Food Waste in New Jersey
Abigail Brown Abigail Brown is a Master of Public Policy Student at the Rutgers University Bloustein School. She is a member of the New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center Climate Corps and, with support from [...]
Applying for Public Benefits Using a Smart Phone: Trends and Challenges
Jessica Cruz More Americans have access to the internet than ever before, but mode of access may vary depending on who you are and where you live. According to a survey done by the [...]
The Interaction of Unemployment, Mental Health, and Re-Employment
Joel C. Cantor, Carl Van Horn The COVID-19 pandemic has been a source of unprecedented stress and uncertainty across the US and globally. And we know that some groups including minorities, women, and older individuals have [...]
Unemployment by Income in New Jersey: A Pandemic Labor Force Surge?
Maia de la Calle & Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) As national media coverage focuses on the pandemic’s impact on individual states’ economies, New Jersey, one of the COVID-19 hotspot states at [...]
How has transportation been affected by COVID-19?
Robert B. Noland and Wenwen Zhang Over the last year and a half, the transportation system in New Jersey and throughout the country has seen dramatic impacts due to the pandemic. The lockdowns in effect [...]
New Jersey Reflections on Philadelphia’s Sugary Beverage Tax
Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) In a state such as New Jersey, where the cost of living is about a third more than the national average, childcare costs are largely out [...]
The New Jersey High School Experience: Promoting Freshmen On-track through Postsecondary Success for Cohorts of Secondary School Students
Vandeen Campbell Ninth grade is a critical year for getting adolescents on a path to secondary and postsecondary success. For underperforming secondary schools and districts looking to turnaround the trajectory of their freshman cohorts, offering [...]
Cannabis Use in New Jersey
Charles Menifield In 2010, the state of New Jersey legalized marijuana for medical purposes with the passage of S. 119 - The Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act. In November 2018, the New Jersey State Senate [...]
The NJ Housing Crisis in a COVID-Era: Mapping Strategic Processes
Kyle Farmbry Among the many challenges brought by COVID-19, the pandemic is exposing the vast scope of our housing affordability crisis. This crisis has been brewing for some time, and policy responses such as moratoria [...]
Organic Waste Management: An opportunity for New Jersey policy leadership
Anna Heckler Organic waste, which includes food scraps, yard trimmings, and other biodegradable materials, contributes to 30% of United States (US) municipal solid waste and 14% of US methane emissions (EPA, 2021; Gunders, 2017). Food [...]
U.S. Census: How are States Impacted Financially
Amal Muse Every decade, across the United States, the federal government collects comprehensive data on every individual based on basic population characteristics including age, sex, marital status, household composition, family characteristics, and household size. [...]
The Post-Pandemic Economy: The Nation and New Jersey with a Focus on the Public Sector
Jennifer Spiegel & Michael Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) The short-term prospects for the state’s economy remain quite exuberant. This is despite the arrival of the delta variant of COVID-19 in July 2021, [...]
How States Can Improve Unemployment Insurance during the Pandemic
Jennifer Spiegel The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic downturn has brought about record job losses and the highest number of new unemployment claims since 1982. In mid-March 2020, new unemployment claims nationwide totaled [...]
New Jersey Gets about 75 cents on Each Dollar that It Sends to Washington
Maia de la Calle and & Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) R/Econ, the Rutgers Economic Advisory Service, has just completed a new report that compares the amount of federal tax dollars [...]
Digital equity – what it is, how it’s defined in the field, how it’s related to public policy, and why it matters in NJ
Jessica Cruz As technology advances and COVID-19 continues to force activities to be virtual, there is an increasing divide between those who can and cannot go online. The people who are most affected by [...]
US Treasury Department Provides Coronavirus Relief Grants to State & Local Government
Jennifer Spiegel To help Americans recover from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress has authorized the U.S. Treasury Department to set up coronavirus relief grants to state and local governments for economic [...]
Applying an Equitable Lens to Evidence-Based Research
Jennifer Spiegel Over the past few years, a heightened awareness of the importance of racial equity and justice has permeated the political conversation. American institutions, businesses, and communities are taking a closer look at [...]
Promoting Equity Through State Budgets
Marilyn Rubin One of the most powerful levers that governments have to advancing equity for all residents is their budgets, “the medium through which [flows] the essential life of support systems of public policy” (Wildavsky [...]
Welcome to the New Jersey Policy Lab Blog
Stuart Shapiro New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the union. It is also one of the most diverse. As one of my colleagues is fond of noting, New Jersey is often a [...]