Research Teams

University of Pennsylvania

The Center for Guaranteed Income Research (CGIR) was established in 2020 at the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania to develop a common body of knowledge on unconditional cash-transfers.

At CGIR, leading academics and professionals in the space guide pilot guaranteed income programs and oversee their research planning and implementation processes. CGIR is headed by two Founding Directors; Dr. Amy Castro, an Assistant Professor of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Stacia West, who serves as a faculty fellow at the University of Pennsylvania in addition to her primary appointment as an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee.

CGIR conducts applied cash-transfer studies and pilot designs that add to the empirical scholarship on cash, economic mobility, poverty, and narrative change. Their investigations build on the existing literature of cash-transfers, as well as the evaluation practices and lessons learned from our prior research on guaranteed income and the gender and racial wealth gap.

Des Moines University

Des Moines University’s Public Health team will lead the local data collection efforts to explore basic income as a poverty reduction strategy. Des Moines University is dedicated to providing excellent, interdisciplinary public health practice through a commitment to innovative education, scholarship, service, and the advancement of public health.

Local Research Team:

• Dr. Rachel Reimer, PhD, MS
• Jeneane McDonald, PhD, MPH
• Yajaira Bolaños Flores, MPH