معرفی
Greg J. Duncan is a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Education, where he conducts groundbreaking research on poverty, child development, and educational policy. Previously spending 25 years at the University of Michigan working on the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), Duncan has established himself as a leading expert in economic mobility and the impacts of poverty on children's life chances. His current position at UC Irvine represents a continuation of his long-standing commitment to understanding how economic conditions shape developmental trajectories.
Duncan's research interests center on the economic mobility of the U.S. population, with particular focus on how early childhood represents a sensitive period for both the damaging influences of economic deprivation and the beneficial impacts of policy-induced income increases. His work has evolved from studying environmental influences on child development to examining the comparative importance of skills and behaviors developed during childhood, including early academic skills, cognitive and emotional self-regulation, and health. A significant portion of his recent work involves the Baby's First Years study, a randomized trial assessing impacts of income supplements on cognitive development of infants born to poor mothers.
The trajectory of Duncan's publications reveals a consistent focus on poverty, child development, and policy interventions, with increasing emphasis on experimental approaches in recent years. His 2022-2024 publications predominantly feature findings from the Baby's First Years study, examining how unconditional cash transfers affect various aspects of child development, maternal behavior, and family investments. This represents a methodological shift toward more rigorous causal inference in the field of poverty research, moving beyond correlational studies to experimental evidence.
- Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize (2013)
- Member of National Academy of Sciences (2010)
- Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2001)
- President of Society for Research in Child Development (2009-2011)
- President of Population Association of America (2008)
- Society for Research in Child Development Award for Distinguished Contributions to Public Policy and Practice (2015)
Duncan has led numerous significant research projects, most notably the Baby's First Years study, which recruited 1,000 mothers and newborns across four diverse U.S. communities (New York City, greater New Orleans, the Twin Cities, and the Omaha metropolitan area). This NIH-funded project examines whether monthly unconditional cash gifts ($333 vs. $20) during the first 52 months of a child's life impact cognitive development. Duncan has also contributed to major policy reports, including the National Academies' 2019 report on reducing child poverty by half in ten years and their 2023 report on reducing intergenerational poverty.
Duncan leads the Baby's First Years research team, an interdisciplinary collaboration of experts in poverty and child development working with neuroscientists at each study site to measure children's brain development at 48 months. This project represents one of the first randomized trials examining how poverty reduction affects early childhood brain development, combining quantitative data collection with qualitative interviews to provide comprehensive insights into how low-income mothers experience and utilize unconditional cash transfers.
