Social Policy

Social policies encompass the laws, programs, and public investments that affect our access to education, employment, housing, income support, immigration, and civic participation. In doing so, they affect the opportunities we have to advance in different domains of our lives. At Opportunity for Health, we study how these policies influence economic mobility, hopes for the future, and health. Our research shows that when social policies expand opportunities, health improves. When policies restrict opportunity or increase uncertainty about the future, health worsening. By combining rigorous empirical methods with real-world policy engagement, we generate evidence on how social policy can be designed and implemented to improve both opportunity and population health, especially for communities that have historically been excluded from the American Dream.