Center for Economic and Social Research

At CESR, our scientists, colleagues and staff pursue compelling, data-driven research in the social sciences and economics that further understanding, policy making and quality of life. In broad terms, our significant areas of interest include:

Aging
Children & Families
Development Economics
Education Economics
Financial Decision Making
Health, Health Disparities, and Socio-Economic Status
Inequality
Mobile Health
Self-Reporting
Subjective Well-Being
Work Disability

Behavioral and Health Genomics Center
BEST – Behavioral Economics Studio
BHO – Brain Health Observatory @ USC
CARE – Center for Applied Research in Education
CSS – Center for Self-Report Science
CSHI – Center for the Study of Health Inequality
IGEMS – Interplay of Genes and Environment Across Multiple Studies
Institute for Food System Equity
HALE – Center for Health and Labor Economics
LABarometer
Program for Children and Families
Program on Global Aging, Health, and Policy
SCRAP Lab – Section on Clinical Research in Aging and Psychology

The USC Understanding America Study (UAS) is creating an in-depth portrayal of the people in the U.S. – their daily lives and their opinions. This 15,000+ Internet panel is yielding insights and information of significant value to policy makers, government agencies, non-profit organizations, opinion pollsters, social science researchers, corporations, and more.

CESR Brochure

August – CARE in the News on Student Mental Health Impacts

A new report has led to a few news outlets picking up their work.  First, their Conversation piece is live!

EdSource story features them as well.

Dornsife News: $59 million boost enhances USC Dornsife’s Understanding America Study and nationwide research.

National Institute on Aging grants increase study participant diversity, add new data sources and fund new research on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.

June – Zachary Wagner

CURRENT RESEARCH FOCUS The cultural mechanisms through which social and economic inequalities are reproduced in the labor market.

WHY I STUDY WHAT I STUDY Because I believe positive social change requires rigorous empirical research.

WHAT FIRST INSPIRED ME TO PURSUE THIS FIELD My first class with my undergraduate mentor, Gabriel Rossman. He introduced me to the sociology of culture and later encouraged me to write a senior thesis.

RECENT FINDING Employers are much more likely to discriminate on the basis of class-based cultural traits when they are evaluating female applicants for customer-facing jobs.

I REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHY… Things change — Sociologists are far better at explaining why they stay the same.

WHAT I WANT TO KNOW NEXT The relationship between race- and class-based discrimination in U.S. hiring.

FAVORITE HIGH-TECH RESEARCH TOOL Stata

FAVORITE LOW-TECH TOOLS Sticky notes

MOTTO Leave it all on the field.

THIS FASCINATES ME ABOUT HUMAN BEHAVIOR Our tolerance for high levels of social and economic inequality.

HIDDEN TALENT Tap dancing

Seminar | The Distribution and Direction of Women’s Support Exchanges with Young Adult Children in Rural Mozambique

Sarah Hayford | The Ohio State University

Monday, October 28, 2024

12pm – 1pm
VPD 203 and Zoom
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Seminar | Interest-based Negotiation over Natural Resources: Experimental Evidence from Liberia

Darin Christensen | UCLA

Monday, November 4, 2024

12pm – 1pm
VPD 203 and Zoom
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Seminar | Epigenetic measures of biological aging across the life span and new quantifications of child development

Laurel Raffington | Max Planck Institute for Human Development

Thursday, November 7, 2024

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (US/Pacific Time)
Zoom link emailed to guests

Seminar | Do Minimum Wages Reduce Job Opportunities for Blacks?

David Neumark | UC Irvine

Monday, November 18, 2024

12pm – 1pm
VPD 203 and Zoom
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Grigory Franguridi | USC CESR

Monday, December 9, 2024

12pm – 1pm
VPD 203 and Zoom
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Sarah Townsend | USC Marshall School of Business

Monday, December 16, 2024

12pm – 1pm
VPD 203 and Zoom
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Dates: January 10-12, 2025 (Fri-Sun)

Venue: University of Southern California – SGM 124 and MCB

Duration: 3 days (6 half-day sessions, 9-12, 1-5)

Format: Invited talks, panel discussions, and social gathering

REGISTRATION

Censorship in sciences entails suppression of the investigation of scientific questions, or the publication or dissemination of scientific research, on the grounds that such knowledge would be dangerous, undesirable, or contrary to moral, political, or religious beliefs, attitudes or values adhered to by some segment of the population.

This conference brings together experts (both within and outside academia) to address a series of contentious issues about scientific censorship. When, if ever, does rejection of manuscripts for publication or grants for funding constitute censorship? How much of a role, if any, should ethical/moral issues play in deciding which scientific ideas to disseminate? What are the likely costs and benefits of institutionalized censorship, how do we decide, and who decides, when the benefits outweigh the costs?

When and how do university administrations and funding agencies, through either action or inaction, mask censorship by finding ostensibly “other” reasons to silence scientists? How does censorship of scientists or scientific ideas manifest? Is compelled speech a form of censorship, and, if so, how does it manifest in science?

By bringing together experts with widely varying perspectives on censorship from within the natural sciences, social sciences, philosophy, humanities, and law we aim to host a civil conversation regarding these different perspectives and sharpen the understanding of what is and is not scientific censorship and when it may and may not be justified.

Organizing committee: Anna Krylov (USC), Arie Kapteyn (USC, CESR), Margaret Crable (USC Dornsife, Communication), Michele Warnock (USC, CESR), Lee Jussim (Rutgers), Ivan Marinovic (Stanford)

Advisory board: Alexander Arnold (Heterodox Academy), Cory Clark (UPenn), Barry Honig (Columbia, AASL), Luana Maroja (Williams), Sean Stevens (FIRE), Abigail Thompson (UC Davis, AFA), Keith Whittington (Yale, AFA)

We’re excited to announce that CIPHER 2025 will be held at USC’s Capital Campus in Washington, D.C. on February 26 – 28.

In its seventh year, the Current Innovations in Probability-based Household Internet Panel Research (CIPHER) Conference continues to be the leading event for discussion, exchange, and learning about probability panels. The event again will bring together researchers and policy-makers from the United States and beyond for a wide-ranging conversation about innovations, challenges, and opportunities in this field.

Location and Format
The joint conference will take place February 26 – 28 at USC’s Capital Campus in Washington D.C. The preliminary program is as follows:

• February 26: UAS Data Use Workshop
• February 27: CIPHER and Reception
• February 28: CIPHER

David Dutwin, Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Chief Scientist of AmeriSpeak at NORC at the University of Chicago, will be delivering the keynote on transparency in survey research.
Conference Focus
As in previous years, the conference will focus on the innovations, challenges, and opportunities of population-representative probability-based online panels.

This year’s call for papers focuses on the following areas:

• Transparency and best practices in probability-based panel recruitment and retention;
• Survey methodology and practice;
• Experiments;
• Data management and linkages;
• Developments and analysis techniques;
• Applications of research;
• Combination of wearable devices data with self-reports;
• Contextual data;
• Naturally occurring data; and
• Machine learning.

UAS Data Use Workshop
In 2025, CIPHER will again offer the Understanding American Study (UAS) data use workshop. This is a half-day workshop for those interested in learning more about the UAS panel and its data and data products. The UAS is a probability-based online panel of over 15,000 respondents in the US, managed by the Center for Economic and Social Research at USC.

Conference Registration and Fees
CIPHER is free to attend in-person or virtually, but registration is required. To register for CIPHER and/or the UAS Data Use Workshop, please complete this form.