Ph.D. and M.A. in economics, Yale University; B.A. in economics, Claremont McKenna College
This researcher is available for interviews.
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More ExpertsLynn Karoly (she/her) is a senior economist at RAND and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research has examined human capital investments, social welfare policy, child and family well-being, and labor markets. Much of her recent child policy research has focused on early childhood care and education (ECCE) programs with studies of their use and quality, publicly subsidized programs such as Head Start, compensation and professional development for the ECCE workforce, quality rating and improvement systems, ECCE cost and financing, and birth through five (B–5) systems. In other work, she recently led an evaluation of recent reforms to CalWORKs, California's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Related research includes an assessment of causal impacts of the major U.S. means-tested cash, in-kind, and human capital investment programs and a comprehensive synthesis of the 1990s welfare reforms.
Karoly has applied benefit-cost analysis and related economic evaluation tools to social programs including early childhood interventions and youth development programs. Other studies have focused on the future of the workforce and workplace in the United States, state-level immigration policies, self-employment behavior, and labor markets in the Middle East. Karoly served as director of RAND's Office of Research Quality Assurance and director of RAND Labor and Population. Her professional service includes serving as the 2017 president of the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis and editorial roles for the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis and The Journal of Human Resources. Karoly received her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University.
Karoly, Lynn A., Aaron Strong, and Christopher Joseph Doss, Vermont Early Care and Education Financing Study: Estimated Costs, Financing Options, and Economic Impacts, RAND Corporation (RR-A2213-1), 2023
Jill S. Cannon, M. Rebecca Kilburn, Lynn A. Karoly, Teryn Mattox, Ashley Muchow, and Maya Buenaventura, Investing Early: Taking Stock of Outcomes and Economic Returns from Early Childhood Programs, RAND (RR-1993), 2017
Lynn A. Karoly, Gail L. Zellman, and Michal Perlman, "Understanding Variation in Classroom Quality Within Early Childhood Centers: Evidence from Colorado’s Quality Rating and Improvement System," Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28(4), 2013
Lynn A. Karoly, "Toward Standardization of Benefit-Cost Analyses of Early Childhood Interventions," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, 3(1), 2012
Marianne P. Bitler and Lynn A. Karoly, "Intended and Unintended Effects of the War on Poverty: What Research Tells Us and Implications for Policy," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 34(3), 2015
Jeffrey Grogger and Lynn A. Karoly, Welfare Reform: Effects of a Decade of Change, Harvard University Press, 2005
Melanie A. Zaber, Lynn A. Karoly, and Katie Whipkey, Reimagining the Workforce Development and Employment System for the 21st Century and Beyond, RAND Corporation (RR-2768), 2019
Lynn A. Karoly and Constantijn W. A. Panis, The 21st Century at Work: Forces Shaping the Future Workforce and Workplace in the United States, RAND Corporation (MG-164), 2004
Interviews: Associated Press; Chicago Tribune; CNN; KPCC AirTalk; Marketplace Morning Report; San Diego Union-Tribune; San Francisco Chronicle; San Jose Mercury News; USA Today; Wall Street Journal
Commentary: The Center for High Impact Philanthropy; The Guardian; Los Angeles Times; Social Policy Report of the Society for Research in Child Development
