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Faculty

 Jens Ludwig, Ph.D.

Jens Ludwig

- Biography
- Publications

Biography

Jens Ludwig is the McCormick Foundation Professor of Social Service Administration, Law, and Public Policy at the University of Chicago, Co-Director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab, a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and co-director of the NBER's Working Group on the Economics of Crime.

His research in the area of social policy focuses on urban poverty, education, crime, and housing, and has been funded by the Smith Richardson, Joyce, Spencer, Annie E. Casey and William T. Grant foundations, as well as by government agencies such as the National Institute of Justice, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In the area of urban poverty, he has participated since 1995 on the evaluation of a HUD-funded randomized residential-mobility experiment known as Moving to Opportunity (MTO), which provides low-income public housing families the opportunity to relocate to private-market housing in less disadvantaged neighborhoods. He is currently serving as the Project Director for the NBER's long-term evaluation to learn more about how MTO affects outcomes for program participants on average 10 years after random assignment in the areas of work, social program participation, schooling, mental and physical health, risky and delinquent behavior, and family formation and functioning.

His research on education covers a range of topics from early education to school-to-work transitions, and includes recent projects on the effects of family resources on children's outcomes and the consequences of court-ordered school desegregation on youth involvement with crime. His co-authored article on race, peer norms and education with Philip Cook was awarded the 1997 Vernon Prize for best article by the Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM).

Professor Ludwig has also been actively involved in research on a variety of crime issues, particularly on the topic of gun violence. He is the co-author with Duke University professor Philip J. Cook of an evaluation of the federal Brady Act published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, as well as of the book Gun Violence: The Real Costs (2000, Oxford University Press), and co-editor with Cook of Evaluating Gun Policy (2003, Brookings Institution Press). His research on gun violence and gun control has been published in leading scholarly and scientific journals, has been presented to state legislatures and committees in California, Kansas, and Minnesota, and has been featured in articles and reports by the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time Magazine, NPR, CBS, NBC, and CNN.

Prior to coming to the University of Chicago he was Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University. He is currently a member of the editorial boards of Criminology, the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, and the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, has served as the Andrew Mellon Visiting Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, as a visiting scholar to the Northwestern University / University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research, and as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School, and is an elected member of APPAM's policy council (board of directors). In 2006 he was awarded APPAM's David Kershaw Prize for distinguished contributions to public policy by the age of 40.

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Publications
  • Duncan, G.J., Ludwig, J. & Magnuson, K.A. In press. Reducing poverty through preschool interventions. The Future of Children.
  • Cook, P.J., Ludwig, J.,Venkatesh, S. & Braga, A. In press. Underground gun markets. The Economic Journal. (Also published as NBERWorking Paper 11737.)
  • Ludwig, J. & Kling, J. 2007. Is crime contagious? Journal of Law and Economics. (Also published as NBER working paper 12409.)
  • Ludwig, J.& Miller, D.L. 2007. Does Head Start improve children's life chances? Evidence from a regression discontinuity approach. Quarterly Journal of Economics 122(1): 159-208. (Also published as NBER Working Paper 11702 and IRP DP 131-05.)
  • Ludwig, J. & Mayer, S.E. 2006.‘Culture' and the inter-generational transmission of poverty: The prevention paradox. Future of Children 16(2): 175-196.
  • Harcourt, B.E. & Ludwig, J. 2006. Broken windows: New evidence from New York City and a five city social experiment. The University of Chicago Law Review 73(1): 271-320.
  • Cook, P.J. & Ludwig, J. 2006. The social costs of gun ownership. Journal of Public Economics 90(1-2): 379-391.
  • Ludwig, J. & Duncan, G. 2006. "Promising solutions in housing and the community." In Deviant peer contagion, eds. K. Dodge, J. McCord & T. Dishion. Duke Series in Child Development and Public Policy.
  • Cook, P.J. & Ludwig, J. 2006. "Assigning deviant youth to minimize total harm." In Deviant peer contagion, eds. K. Dodge, J. McCord & T. Dishion. Duke Series in Child Development and Public Policy.
  • Cook, P.J. & Ludwig. J. 2006. Aiming for evidence-based gun policy. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 25(3): 691-736.
  • Ludwig, J. & Marcotte, D. 2005. Anti-depressants, suicide and drug regulation. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 24(2): 249-272.
  • Peters, J., Cook, P.J. & Ludwig, J. 2005. Gun crime and gun control: The Hawaiian experience. The University of Chicago Legal Forum 55-90.
  • Ludwig, J. 2005. Better gun enforcement, less crime. Criminology and Public Policy 4(4): 677-716.
  • Cook, P.J., Ludwig, J. & Braga, A. 2005. Criminal records of homicide offenders. Journal of the American Medical Association 294(5): 598-601.
  • Jacob, B. & Ludwig, J. 2005. "Can the federal government improve education research?" In Brookings papers on education policy, ed. D. Ravitch, 47-88. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
  • Holzer, H.J. & Ludwig, J. 2005. Measuring discrimination in education: Are methodologies from labor and housing markets useful? Teacher's College Record.
  • Kling, J.R., Ludwig, J. & Katz, L.F. 2005. Neighborhood effects on crime for female and male youth: Evidence from a randomized housing voucher experiment. Quarterly Journal of Economics 120(1): 87-130.
  • Ludwig, J., Duncan, G.J. & Pinkston, J. 2005. Housing vouchers and economic self sufficiency: Evidence from a randomized experiment. Journal of Public Economics 89: 131-156.
  • Ludwig, J. & Miller, M. 2005. Interpreting the WIC debate. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 24(3): 691-701.
  • Duncan, G.J., Magnuson, K.A. & Ludwig, J. 2004. The endogeneity problem in developmental studies. Research in Human Development 1(1&2): 59-80.
  • Cook, P.J. & Ludwig, J. 2004. Does gun prevalence affect teen gun carrying after all? Criminology 42(1): 27-54.
  • Cook, P.J. & Ludwig, J. 2004. Principles for effective gun policy. Fordham Law Review 73(2): 589-613.
  • Ludwig, J. 2003. Evaluating gun-policy evaluations. Criminology and Public Policy 2(3): 411-419.
  • Cook, P.J. & Ludwig, J. 2003. Fact-free gun policy? University of Pennsylvania Law Review 151(4): 1329-1340.
  • Cook, P.J. & Ludwig, J. 2003. "Pragmatic gun policy." In Evaluating gun policy, eds. J. Ludwig & P.J. Cook, 1-40.Washington, DC: Brookings.
  • Cook, P.J. & Ludwig, J. 2003. "The effects of gun prevalence on burglary": Deterrence vs. inducement. In Evaluating gun policy, eds. J. Ludwig & P.J. Cook, 74-120.Washington, DC: Brookings. (Also published as NBER working paper #8926.)
  • Raphael, S. & Ludwig, J. 2003. "Do prison sentence enhancements reduce gun crime? The case of Project Exile." In Evaluating gun policy, eds. J. Ludwig & P.J. Cook, 251-286.Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
  • Cohen, J. & Ludwig, J. 2003. "Policing crime guns." In Evaluating gun policy, eds. J. Ludwig & P.J. Cook, 217-250.Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
  • Ladd, H.F. & Ludwig, J. 2003. "The effects of MTO on educational opportunities in Baltimore": Early evidence. In Choosing a better life, eds. J. Goering & J. Feins, 117-152.Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.
  • Ludwig, J., Duncan, G.J. & Ladd, H.F. 2003. "MTO's effects on children and parents": evidence from Baltimore. In Choosing a better life, eds. J. Goering & J. Feins, 153-176.Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.
  • Ludwig, J. 2003. "Improving neighborhoods for poor children." In One percent for the kids: New policies, brighter futures for America's children, ed. I. Sawhill, 136-155. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
  • Ludwig, J. & Cook, P.J., eds. 2003. Evaluating gun policy. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
  • Cook, P.J. & Ludwig, J. 2003. "The effects of the Brady Act on gun violence." In Guns, crime and punishment in America, ed. B. Harcourt. New York: New York University Press.
  • Bassi, L.J., Ludwig, J., McMurrer, D.P., & Van Buren, M. 2002. "Profiting from Learning: Firm-level Effects of Training Investments and Market Implications." Singapore Management Review, 24(3), 61-76.
  • Johnson, M., Ladd, H.F., & Ludwig, J. 2002. "The Benefits and Costs of Residential Mobility Programs." Housing Studies, 17(1), 125-138.
  • Cook, P.J., & Ludwig, J. 2002. "Firearms." In W.K. Viscusi (Ed.), Regulation through Litigation (pp. 67-105). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
  • Cook, P.J., & Ludwig, J. 2002. "The Costs of Gun Violence Against Children." The Future of Children, 12(2), 87-100.
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