Lisa Gennetian

Dr. Lisa Gennetian is the Pritzker Professor of Early Learning Policy Studies and Professor of Public Policy at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy. Her research focuses on child poverty, behavioral economics, and policy interventions such as unconditional cash transfers. She co-leads the Baby’s First Years study, a multi-state randomized trial evaluating cash transfers for low-income mothers. Her work bridges poverty scholarship with behavioral economics to design interventions enhancing family engagement in early childhood programs (beELL initiative). She also directs research on Hispanic families’ economic self-sufficiency at the National Center for Research on Hispanic Families.

Her research highlights disparities in net worth poverty’s impact on child development, particularly for Black and Hispanic families. Notable projects include frameworks for Black reparations to address child well-being and analyses of state policies affecting Latino families’ access to social services. Dr. Gennetian’s studies emphasize causal mechanisms linking economic instability to developmental outcomes, leveraging experimental and longitudinal data.

Her work spans publications in Nature Human Behaviour, Demography, and Children and Youth Services Review. She collaborates with practitioners to improve program design, such as light-touch behavioral nudges for parent engagement. Grants include NIH-funded studies on maternal stress and infant brain activity, and USDA-funded research on food insecurity.