Institution profile
Mathematica
US-based policy research firm that has executed many of the federal government's randomized evaluations in welfare, education, and health policy.
5
Experiments
1968–2018
Year span
0 / 5
Positive findings
0
Null findings
Top policy areas
- Education · 2
- Basic Income · 2
- Libraries · 1
Experiments from Mathematica
- Mixed
New York Public Library — Teen Learning Labs Impact Study
New York Public Library / Brooklyn Public Library / Queens Public Library / Mathematica evaluation · New York City, USA · 2018 · Libraries
Effect: Active participants showed +0.18 SD improvement in self-reported academic engagement, +0.25 SD on digital skills assessment, and a 9 percentage point increase in expressing college aspirations vs. matched comparison. School attendance effects were small (~1 day/year) and non-significant. No effect on standardized test scores.
- Mixed
National Job Corps Study
Mathematica Policy Research (Schochet, Burghardt, Glazerman) · United States (national) · 1995 · Education
Effect: At 4 years post-assignment: 12% increase in earnings ($22/week); 1.6 percentage point increase in employment; significant reduction in criminal behavior during the program years; criminal behavior effects faded after the program ended; credential attainment significantly higher in treatment group
- Mixed
Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) National RCT
Mathematica Policy Research / US Department of Labor · United States · 1994 · Education
Effect: Adult women: +$1,500 earnings at 30 months (+12%); adult men: no statistically significant effect; out-of-school youth: negative effect during training; female youth: small positive effect
- Mixed
Seattle/Denver Income Maintenance Experiment (SIME/DIME)
SRI International / Mathematica / US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare · Seattle, Washington and Denver, Colorado, USA · 1971 · Basic Income
Effect: Husbands reduced hours by ~7%; wives by ~17%; female heads of single-parent households by ~12%. Marital dissolution rates were notably higher in the treatment arm — roughly 36–42% higher than control among black and white families — a finding that surprised researchers and became politically controversial. Effects on educational enrollment were positive (modestly increased schooling among adolescents in treatment families).
- Mixed
New Jersey Negative Income Tax Experiment
Mathematica / Office of Economic Opportunity / University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty · Trenton, Paterson, Jersey City, and Passaic, New Jersey; and Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA · 1968 · Basic Income
Effect: Husbands reduced hours worked by approximately 5–6%; wives reduced hours by 20–30% (off a low base); overall family labor supply fell by 5–8%. Effects were considerably smaller than the policy debate had assumed but were measurable and statistically significant.