Publications

Traffic safety is a critical concern in New Jersey where annual traffic crashes typically exceed 200,000, according to the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), with many of them resulting in non-fatal injuries that have lifelong impacts on victims. Currently, this data is not easily accessible. Researchers, advocates, and the public have an interest in […]

Over our next five blog posts, we will highlight selected preliminary findings from our work surveying members of the New Jersey public on their support across different areas of sentencing reform in the state. The first area concerns the public’s support for the creation of a new mitigating sentencing factor for defendants who are survivors […]

On Wednesday, September 1, 2021, heavy rain from Tropical Storm Ida caused the Elizabeth River in New Jersey to overflow its banks. Elizabeth’s largest source of low-income housing, the Oakwood Plaza Apartment complex, adjacent to the river, was flooded with up to ten feet of water, trapping many residents in their ground-floor apartments. Four people […]

In the face of escalating climate instability, eroding soil, and economic precarity, the integration of regenerative practices into agricultural systems is emerging as a vital model for ensuring agriculture’s continued viability. Thanks to financial support from the New Jersey State Policy Lab and a collaboration with the Organic and Regenerative Farming Board of New Jersey, […]

Paid family leave is an essential social policy that provides families with economic security while bonding with a new child. The United States has no federal policy on paid leave, providing only certain eligible employees up to 12 weeks unpaid, job-protected leave for family and medical reasons. For many workers, unpaid leave is a financially untenable […]

From 2016 through 2022, all teacher education candidates in New Jersey were required by statute to complete a specific performance assessment, the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA), in order to gain certification. edTPA is a complex performance assessment that requires candidates to share lesson plans, a video from the classroom they teach, and the assessments […]

Breast cancer is widely known as a disease that affects thousands of women within the United States and is the second leading cause of death due to cancer in New Jersey (Department of Health, 2020). Current research discovered that it disproportionately affects Black women, making them 40% more likely to die to due to breast […]

For many immigrants in New Jersey, the challenge of accessing medical care is twofold: for some, health insurance is out of reach entirely; for others, having coverage does not guarantee they can afford care, find a provider, or get to an appointment. In the U.S., about 47 million immigrants (14% of the total population) live […]

Decades of research show a clear pattern that waste services are not always distributed equally amongst states, municipalities, townships, and even residents. Robert Bullard’s Dumping in Dixie first exposed the history of how landfills and waste facilities were often placed near Black communities in the U.S., not by accident, but through discriminatory zoning and political […]

New Jersey has an innovative Assisted Living Program (ALP) designed exclusively for seniors living in subsidized public housing. ALPs help older adults remain in their communities when they experience cognitive and physical decline over time, by providing hands-on assistance with personal care, medications, nursing, and social services, with the objective of preventing or delaying placement […]

Our research looks to assess if and to what extent New Jerseyans support four areas of sentencing reform in the state. To examine this research question, we employ a particular type of methodology, an experimental online survey, to assess the attitudes of a sample of the public from New Jersey. This means that the participants […]

R/ECON’s economic forecast for New Jersey as of mid-2025 continues to show a slowing trajectory. Annual GDP growth is projected at just 0.5% for 2025, significantly lower than in prior forecasts and markedly below the national rate of 1.5%. Growth will slow slightly to 0.4% in 2026 before rebounding to 1.2% in 2027, though still […]