Kyle Moore was a fellow with the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis from 2016-2019. He currently works as an economist with the Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI) Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy. Prior to joining EPI, Moore was a senior policy analyst with the Joint Economic Committee’s Democratic Staff, where he authored reports on economic policy issues centered on race, class, age, and gender disparities for use by Members of Congress and the public. In 2019, Moore was a Dissertation Scholar at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. He is currently a PhD candidate at The New School for Social Research.
Moore’s research focuses on the intersection between racial economic disparities and health inequity across the life course, with particular focus on “upstream” structural causes of morbidity and mortality differences across race. As a SCEPA fellow, Moore researched the gender and racial disparities in physical job demands of older workers, labor market discrimination, and his work on the inequitable effects of raising the retirement age on blacks and low-wage workers was published in the academic journal, The Review of Black Political Economy.
“Taking courses within the Economics Department at NSSR and working at SCEPA and the Retirement Equity Lab set me up to take on this role in policy. Both sets of experiences were essential in shaping my understanding of the relationship between academic research and economic policy. NSSR’s Economics department is steeped in a tradition of political economy that’s constantly asking of its students, “What is the end (purpose) of economic study?” Without that framing, it’s possible to treat economic study as just a set of interesting data puzzles. The critical perspective that’s baked into the coursework at NSSR steers students towards discussions of social and economic inequality, and what we can do about that inequality. Working at SCEPA and ReLab allowed me to put the critical frame developed through courses in the department to practice, translating academic research into policy briefs and white papers using accessible (non-academic) language. I was able to produce a body of work on the intersection between race, aging, and retirement policy while there, developing some expertise on those subjects. I also gained valuable technical skills working with statistical software, government databases, and longitudinal surveys that I’ve used for my own research….”
- Kyle Moore
Michael Papadopoulos was a fellow with the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis from 2017-2020. He currently works as a Labor Economist at New York City’s Office of Labor Policy and Standards. In this role, he supports the implementation and enforcement of New York City’s labor laws and evaluates these policies’ impacts on workers’ outcomes. Prior to joining that office, he served as an Associate Economist with The Conference Board in New York City and received his Ph.D. in economics from The New School in 2020 with his dissertation, “Alternative Work, Bargaining Power and Labor Supply at Older Ages.”
As a fellow, Papadopoulos has been quoted in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and CNBC. He researched the labor market for older workers and institutions governing the bargaining process. He published a study that ties the growth in alternative work arrangements to lower reservation wages, a proxy measure for bargaining power, and research analyzing the effect that increased competition for jobs resulting from boomers' large birth cohorts had in decreasing their own wages.
In his first semester with SCEPA, Papadopoulos testified before the New York City Council, and in his last week he prepared tables for testimony before the United States Senate. Among the many unemployment reports he worked on, including 16 policy briefs and 5 refereed publications, Mike is responsible for creating our “U7,” a statistic measuring older people's labor market status.
“Working at SCEPA provided a unique opportunity to engage in research with a direct policy application. The research conducted at SCEPA focuses on recent labor market developments and always has an eye toward policy implications and recommendations.
With a diversity of research outputs, including academic papers, policy notes, memos directly addressed to journalists and policymakers, and annual presentations at ASSA and EEA conferences, students at SCEPA gain experience speaking to a wide variety of audience and conveying research in an accessible and concise manner. This also means that students not only publish rigorous academic work but also have their work covered in major media outlets.
The Schwartz Fellowship provides security in the knowledge that you will be able to develop this diverse skill set throughout one’s graduate career, and positions students strongly for both the academic job market and policy work.”
- Mike Papadopoulos
Aida Farmand is a PhD student in the economics department at the New School for Social Research and was a 2018-2021 fellow with the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. Her research focuses on the dynamics of the labor market, specifically factors that determine the bargaining process and labor power. Her other research interests include the impacts of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on the wages of ineligible workers and labor market outcomes of displaced older workers. Farmand received a BS in mathematics from the State University of New York at Albany.
“My experience with the SCEPA fellowship has taught me how to develop well-defined and relevant research questions and has provided me with the necessary tools to be able to conduct scholarly research on the topics I am passionate about. Through collaborations with SCEPA’s leadership and other colleagues, this fellowship helped me gain problem solving skills that are practical in any work environment. I am thankful for the opportunity to contribute to answers for some of the nation’s most prevalent economic policy problems.”
- Aida Farmand
Read about our current Fellows here. To learn more about the Fellowship and the application process, click here.
