Researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and other universities recently published the findings of a four-year study called Baby’s First Years, which looked at the impact of “poverty reduction on family life and infant and toddlers’ cognitive, emotional, and brain development.”

First up today, Wednesday host Carousel Bayrd talks with sociologist Sarah Halpern-Meekin about the study and what it reveals about how cash support helps kids.

Then, we learn about the successes of the child tax credit and its future in Congress with professor Timothy Smeeding.

Sarah Halpern-Meekin is associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies and the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research focuses on family, adolescence, social policy and the welfare state, class and inequality, and qualitative methods.

Timothy Smeeding is the Lee Rainwater Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He was director of the Institute for Research on Poverty from 2008 to 2014. He is the author of many books, including SNAP Matters: How Food Stamps Affect Health and Well Being (Stanford University Press, 2015).

Cover photo by Ben Wicks on Unsplash

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