Poverty Research & Policy

Neighborhood violence is often talked about as being a result of poverty or random threat but, in this podcast, University of Wisconsin–Madison sociologist Robert Vargas says that those characterizations can be very inaccurate. Instead, based on his extensive ethnographic research in a Chicago neighborhood, Vargas explains we can’t understand problems of violence or disadvantage without understanding the political histories and structures of those neighborhoods.

Does foster care lead to worse academic achievement for kids? In this podcast, Lawrence Berger discusses a Wisconsin study he conducted with other IRP colleagues that explores the relationship between foster care and academic achievement using linked child welfare and Department of Public Instruction data.