The Institute for Policy & Social Research is a faculty-driven research center supporting social scientists who focus on social problems and policy-relevant questions. IPSR fosters independent researchers and collaborative teams within our network of faculty affiliates and seven interdisciplinary research centers.

What's New

KU researcher leading project to quantify care economy, make stats available in central location

A University of Kansas professor is leading a new project to collect data on the care economy to quantify the often underrecognized work of providing care for others and make the information available in a central location to help policymakers, researchers, nonprofits and others access this vital economic data. “The Care Board” will gather existing statistics on the care economy and provide a dashboard for access to the data and produce new data on the work Americans do every day to provide care for their families and communities. The project is supported by a two-year, $762,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Misty Heggeness, associate professor of public affairs & administration and co-director of the Kansas Population Center in KU’s Institute for Policy & Social Research, is principal investigator for the project.
Link(s): https://news.ku.edu/2023/04/17/ku-researcher-leading-project-quantify-care-economy-make-stats-available-central-location

In‘zhúje‘waxóbe project featured at upcoming community event

Join the In‘zhúje‘waxóbe project leadership at 3 p.m. April 1 at Lawrence Public Library Auditorium for a public presentation on the In‘zhúje‘waxóbe / Sacred Red Rock project funded by the Mellon Foundation Monuments Project Initiative.
Link(s): https://news.ku.edu/2023/03/24/sacred-red-rock-project-featured-upcoming-community-event

Research on broadband in Kansas recommends statewide strategy to improve infrastructure

University of Kansas researchers have completed a two-year study of broadband access in Kansas. Their newly published report, "Broadband in Kansas: The Challenges of Digital Access and Affordability," documents extensive challenges within the current broadband landscape in the state and recommends a comprehensive strategy to address these challenges.
Link(s): https://news.ku.edu/2023/03/22/research-broadband-kansas-recommends-statewide-strategy-improve-infrastructure

Please visit IPSR's News page for more.

Research Spotlight

Research Released on the Cost of Not Expanding Medicaid in Kansas

Kansas is one of only 12 states that
have not expanded Medicaid under
the Affordable Care Act, despite the
federal government covering more
than 90 percent of the cost along
with additional federal incentives.
Kansas is now entirely bordered
by states that expanded Medicaid
following adoption of expansion in
Missouri and Oklahoma in 2021.

The REACH Healthcare Foundation provided funding to IPSR to study the impact of failure to expand Medicaid on Kansans. The research brief and report show that Kansans are spending more state resources on Medicaid, health care spending is increasing at a faster rate, and employee premiums for health care are increasing faster in Kansas than in states that expanded Medicaid. County mill levies for hospitals have also increased. There are many unexpected costs resulting from the state’s failure to expand Medicaid.

The 57th Edition of the Kansas Statistical Abstract is now available! The abstract is available EXCLUSIVELY online as a PDF file with individual pages available in Microsoft Excel and PDF. For more information and access to the data, please visit https://ipsr.ku.edu/ksdata/ksah/.

The Kansas Statistical Abstract was featured in a radio spot on the Jayhawk Radio Network, tune in or click the button below to play the clip now:

2023 Kansas Economic Policy Conference

Thursday, October 19, 2023

Please visit the conference site for details and registration.

Recent Publications

Ginther, Donna K., Davut Ayan, and David J.G. Slusky, The Unexpected Costs of Not Expanding Medicaid in Kansas, sponsored by the REACH Foundation, May 2022.

Ayan, Davut, Donna K. Ginther, and David J.G. Slusky, Economic Costs to Kansas Due to State’s Failure to Expand Medicaid, sponsored by the REACH Foundation, May 2022.

The Governor's Council on Tax Reform, Final Report, January 2022.

Ginther, Donna K., Genna Hurd, Xan Wedel, Thomas Becker, and Patricia Oslund, The Status of Women in Kansas, sponsored by United WE, January 2022.

Ginther, Donna K, Nancy Cayton Myers, Thomas Becker, Lindsay Elliot Jorgenson, "Growing New Ventures and Jobs in Kansas: An in-depth Review of Entrepreneurship Activities and Policies in Kansas and How We Compare." Institute for Policy & Social Research, The University of Kansas (January 2020).

Maynard-Moody, Steven with Charles Epp and Donald Haider-Markel,“Beyond Profiling: The Institutional Sources of Racial Disparities in Policing,” Public Administration Review (forthcoming).

Maynard-Moody, Steven, “Punishing the Poor.” Book review essay, Social Service Review, vol. 90, no. 4 (Dec 2016).

Maynard-Moody, Steven with Michael Musheno, “'Playing the Rules’: Discretion Social and Policy Context”. In Peter Hupe, Michael Hill, and Aurélien Buffat, eds., Understanding Street-Level Bureaucrats (Bristol, UK: The Policy Press, 2016).

For other publications please visit our Publications Page.