Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice and Social Policy, Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R Ford School of Public Policy, Professor of Social Work, School of Social Work, Center Director, Poverty Solutions, Faculty Associate, Survey Research Center and Faculty Associate, Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research

Biography
H. Luke Shaefer, Ph.D. is the Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice and Social Policy and Associate Dean for Research and Policy Engagement at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. He is also a professor of social work and the inaugural director of Poverty Solutions, an interdisciplinary, presidential initiative that partners with communities and policymakers to find new ways to prevent and alleviate poverty. Through his role at Poverty Solutions, Shaefer acts as a special counselor on anti-poverty policy to the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Shaefer’s research on poverty and social welfare policy in the United States has been published in top peer-reviewed academic journals in the fields of public policy, social work, public health, health services research, and history, and his work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and U.S. Census Bureau among other sources. He has presented his research at the White House and before numerous federal agencies, has testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and has advised a number of the nation’s largest human service providers.
His work has been cited in media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, The Economist, The Atlantic, and Los Angeles Times, and he has been featured on such programs as Marketplace and CNBC’s Nightly Business Report. His book with Kathryn Edin, “$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America,” was named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2015 by the New York Times Book Review, and won the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism among other awards. He was recently named to an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship.
Shaefer received his BA in politics from Oberlin College and AM and PhD from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration.
Funded Research
Publications
- Pilkauskas,Natasha, Michelmore,Katherine, Kovski, Nicole, Luke Shaefer. 2024. The expanded Child Tax Credit and economic wellbeing of low-income families. Journal of Population Economics 37(4):1-35.
- Luke Shaefer, Wiederspan, J , Rhodes, E . 2019. Why Social Workers Should Consider a Negative Income Tax. Journal of Poverty
- Luke Shaefer, Edin, Kathryn , Fusaro, Vincent , Wu, Pinghui . 2019. The Decline of Cash Assistance and the Well-Being of Poor Households with Children. Social Forces
- Luke Shaefer, Harris, David R., Collyer, Sophie , Duncan, Greg , Edin, Kathryn , Garfinkel, Irwin , Smeeding, Timothy M, Waldfogel, Jane , Wimer, Christopher , Yoshikawa, Hirokazu . 2018. A Universal Child Allowance: A Plan to Reduce Poverty and Income Instability Among Children in the United States. RSF 4(2):22-42.
- Helen G Levy, Luke Shaefer, Fusaro, Vincent A. 2018. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Lifetime Prevalence of Homelessness in the United States. Demography 55(6):2119-2128.
- Luke Shaefer, Edin, Kathryn . 2018. The Rise of Extreme Poverty in the United States. Inequality in the 21st Century
- Luke Shaefer, Allard, Scott W, Wathen, Maria V, Danziger, Sandra K. 2017. Neighborhood Food Infrastructure and Food Security in Metropolitan Detroit. Journal of Consumer Affairs 51(3):566-597.
- Luke Shaefer, Lapidos, A , Gwozdek, A . 2017. Factors associated with appointment-keeping in an American University's dental clinic system: toward practice-based population health. Public Health 151:59-62.
- Luke Shaefer, Kimberlin, S , Kim, Jiyoon . 2016. Measuring poverty using the Supplemental Poverty Measure in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, 1998 to 2010. Journal of Economic and Social Measurement 41(1):17-47.
- Luke Shaefer, Rodems, R . 2016. Left Out: Policy Diffusion and the Exclusion of Black Workers from Unemployment Insurance. Social Science History 40(3):385-404.
- Luke Shaefer, Phillips, E , Aksu, M , Lapidos, A . 2016. Is a mid-level dental provider model acceptable to potential patients?. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 44(5):426-434.
- Luke Shaefer, Danziger, Sheldon H., Seefeldt, Kristin, Danziger, Sandra K. 2016. Increasing Work Opportunities and Reducing Poverty Two Decades after Welfare Reform. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 35(1):241-244.
- Luke Shaefer, Danziger, Sheldon H., Seefeldt, Kristin, Danziger, Sandra K. 2016. From Welfare to a Work-Based Safety Net: An Incomplete Transition. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 35(1):231-238.
- Luke Shaefer, Lapidos, Adrienne , Gwozdek, Anne . 2016. Toward a better understanding of dental appointment-keeping behavior. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 44(1):85-91.
- Luke Shaefer, Kim, Jiyoon (June). 2015. Are Household Food Expenditures Responsive to Entry Into the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program?. Social Science Quarterly 96(4):1086-1102.
- Luke Shaefer, Edin, Kathryn . 2015. $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America.
- Luke Shaefer, Wiederspan, Jessica , Rhodes, Elizabeth . 2015. Expanding the Discourse on Antipoverty Policy: Reconsidering a Negative Income Tax. Journal of Poverty 19(2):218-238.
- Luke Shaefer, Phillips, Elizabeth , Gwozdek, Anne E. 2015. Safety Net Care and Midlevel Dental Practitioners: A Case Study of the Portion of Care That Might Be Performed Under Various Setting and Scope-of-Practice Assumptions. American Journal of Public Health 105(9):1770-1776.
- Luke Shaefer, Aksu, M , Phillips, E . 2013. U.S. Dental School Deans' Attitudes About Mid-Level Providers. Journal of Dental Education 77(11):1469-1476.
- Luke Shaefer, Shanks, Trina R., Song, X . 2013. Do single mothers in the United States use the Earned Income Tax Credit to reduce unsecured debt?. Review of Economics of the Household 11(4):659-680.
- Luke Shaefer, Edin, Kathryn . 2013. Rising Extreme Poverty in the United States and the Response of Federal Means-Tested Transfer Programs. Social Service Review 87(2):250-268.
- Luke Shaefer, Gutierrez, Italo . 2013. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Material Hardships among Low-Income Households with Children. Social Service Review 87(4):753-779.
- Luke Shaefer, Gould-Werth, Alix M.. 2013. Do Alternative Base Periods Increase Unemployment Insurance Receipt among Low-Educated Unemployed Workers?. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 32(4):835-852.
- Luke Shaefer, Ybarra, M . 2012. The welfare reforms of the 1990s and the stratification of material well-being among low-income households with children. Children and Youth Services Review 34(9):1810-1817.
- Luke Shaefer, Gould-Werth, Alix M.. 2012. Unemployment Insurance participation by education and by race and ethnicity. Monthly Labor Review 135(10):28-41.
- Luke Shaefer, Boudreaux, T . 2012. Private Charitable Giving During Economic Recessions. Families in Society 93(1):5-10.