H. Luke Shaefer
Faculty Associate, PSC
Faculty Associate, SRC-PSID
Professor, Ford School Of Public Policy
Professor, School Of Social Work
Center Director, Poverty Solutions At U-M
- lshaefer@umich.edu
- 734-936-5065
- 3104 ISR-Thompson 426 Thompson St
- CV (PDF)

BIO
Dr. Shaefer's research explores rising levels of extreme poverty in the US, the impact of SNAP on material hardships, barriers to unemployment insurance faced by vulnerable workers, and strategies for increasing access to oral health care in the United States.
- Wiederspan, J., E. Rhodes, and H. Luke Shaefer. Forthcoming. "Why Social Workers Should Consider a Negative Income Tax." Journal of Poverty
- Shaefer, H. Luke, Kathryn Edin, Vincent Fusaro, and Pinghui Wu. Forthcoming. "The Decline of Cash Assistance and the Well-Being of Poor Households with Children." Social Forces
- Shaefer, H. Luke, David R. Harris, Sophie Collyer, Greg Duncan, Kathryn Edin, Irwin Garfinkel, Timothy M. Smeeding, Jane Waldfogel, et al. 2018. "A Universal Child Allowance: A Plan to Reduce Poverty and Income Instability Among Children in the United States." RSF 4(2): 22-42.
- Fusaro, Vincent A., Helen G. Levy, and H. Luke Shaefer. 2018. "Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Lifetime Prevalence of Homelessness in the United States." Demography 55(6): 2119-2128.
- Shaefer, H. Luke, Kathryn Edin, and Kathryn Edin. 2018. "The Rise of Extreme Poverty in the United States." in Inequality in the 21st Century, Routledge.
- Allard, Scott W., Maria V. Wathen, H. Luke Shaefer, and Sandra K. Danziger. 2017. "Neighborhood Food Infrastructure and Food Security in Metropolitan Detroit." Journal of Consumer Affairs 51(3): 566-597.
- Lapidos, A., H. Luke Shaefer, and A. Gwozdek. 2017. "Factors associated with appointment-keeping in an American University's dental clinic system: toward practice-based population health." Public Health 151: 59-62.
- Kimberlin, S., H. Luke Shaefer, and Jiyoon Kim. 2016. "Measuring poverty using the Supplemental Poverty Measure in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, 1998 to 2010." Journal of Economic and Social Measurement 41(1): 17-47.
- Rodems, R., and H. Luke Shaefer. 2016. "Left Out: Policy Diffusion and the Exclusion of Black Workers from Unemployment Insurance." Social Science History 40(3): 385-404.
- Phillips, E., H. Luke Shaefer, M. Aksu, and A. Lapidos. 2016. "Is a mid-level dental provider model acceptable to potential patients?" Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 44(5): 426-434.
- Danziger, Sandra K., Sheldon H. Danziger, Kristin Seefeldt, and H. Luke Shaefer. 2016. "Increasing Work Opportunities and Reducing Poverty Two Decades after Welfare Reform." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 35(1): 241-244.
- Danziger, Sandra K., Sheldon H. Danziger, Kristin Seefeldt, and H. Luke Shaefer. 2016. "From Welfare to a Work-Based Safety Net: An Incomplete Transition." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 35(1): 231-238.
- Lapidos, Adrienne, H. Luke Shaefer, and Anne Gwozdek. 2016. "Toward a better understanding of dental appointment-keeping behavior." Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology 44(1): 85-91.
- Kim, Jiyoon (June), and H. Luke Shaefer. 2015. "Are Household Food Expenditures Responsive to Entry Into the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program?" Social Science Quarterly 96(4): 1086-1102.
- Edin, Kathryn, and H. Luke Shaefer. 2015. "$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America." Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
- Wiederspan, Jessica, Elizabeth Rhodes, and H. Luke Shaefer. 2015. "Expanding the Discourse on Antipoverty Policy: Reconsidering a Negative Income Tax." Journal of Poverty 19(2): 218-238.
- Phillips, Elizabeth, Anne E. Gwozdek, and H. Luke Shaefer. 2015. "Safety Net Care and Midlevel Dental Practitioners: A Case Study of the Portion of Care That Might Be Performed Under Various Setting and Scope-of-Practice Assumptions." American Journal of Public Health 105(9): 1770-1776.
- Aksu, M., E. Phillips, and H. Luke Shaefer. 2013. "U.S. Dental School Deans' Attitudes About Mid-Level Providers." Journal of Dental Education 77(11): 1469-1476.
- Shaefer, H. Luke, X. Song, and Trina R. Shanks. 2013. "Do single mothers in the United States use the Earned Income Tax Credit to reduce unsecured debt?" Review of Economics of the Household 11(4): 659-680.
- Shaefer, H. Luke, and Kathryn Edin. 2013. "Rising Extreme Poverty in the United States and the Response of Federal Means-Tested Transfer Programs." Social Service Review 87(2): 250-268.
- Shaefer, H. Luke, and Italo Gutierrez. 2013. "The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Material Hardships among Low-Income Households with Children." Social Service Review 87(4): 753-779.
- Gould-Werth, Alix M., and H. Luke Shaefer. 2013. "Do Alternative Base Periods Increase Unemployment Insurance Receipt among Low-Educated Unemployed Workers?" Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 32(4): 835-852.
- Shaefer, H. Luke, and M. Ybarra. 2012. "The welfare reforms of the 1990s and the stratification of material well-being among low-income households with children." Children and Youth Services Review 34(9): 1810-1817.
- Gould-Werth, Alix M., and H. Luke Shaefer. 2012. "Unemployment Insurance participation by education and by race and ethnicity." Monthly Labor Review 135(10): 28-41.
- Shaefer, H. Luke, and T. Boudreaux. 2012. "Private Charitable Giving During Economic Recessions." Families in Society 93(1): 5-10.
- Shaefer comments on the impact of social safety net on hunger and poverty during the pandemic.
- Shaefer comments on layered requirements in State jobless benefits creating 'red tape' during COVID-19 pandemic
- Shaefer on Michiganders who could be at risk of not getting the stimulus payment/having to wait months for it
- Shaefer discusses Americans with tight financial resources have fewer options as they navigate coronavirus closures and layoffs in NYT
- Shaefer: Michigan strains unemployment system with most claims since Great Recession
- Shaefer discusses the economic impact of the coronavirus on hourly workers without remote work options
- Shaefer named special counselor for MDHHS
- Shaefer explains issues contributing to the poverty in rural Michigan
- Washington Post quotes Shaefer about wealth disparity amongst older Americans.
- Shaefer quoted in Washington Post on the proposal of direct cash subsidies
- H. Luke Shaefer honored with UM Faculty Recognition Award
- Fusaro, Levy and Shaefer examine racial/ethnic disparities in the lifetime prevalence of homelessness
- Shaefer on new UN report about America's failing safety net
- Shaefer on study showing US spends less on poorest children, more on the elderly, than it did 20 years ago
- Shaefer says complex reasons for poverty make solutions challenging
- Shaefer on mapping Michigan's poverty and well-being using 8 indicators
- Shaefer says the details matter in child tax reform
- Shaefer says proposed plan to cover tax cuts would hurt a lot of struggling Americans
- Shaefer says the US could fund a basic income program via a negative income tax model
- H. Luke Shaefer and colleagues argue for a universal child allowance
- U-M Poverty Solutions funds nine projects
- Lessenberry says Shaefer's book can help Americans understand deep poverty
- Shaefer says drop child tax credit in favor of universal, direct investment in American children
- Shaefer directs inter-organization, inter-disciplinary initiative on poverty 'connected to the real world'
- New analysis counters Shaefer's finding that households living on $2/day/person rose post welfare reform
- Shaefer compares low-income Americans to populations in poorer nations
- Schoeni's and Shaefer's work cited in piece on impact of 1996 welfare reforms
- Shaefer questions the efficacy of the TANF block grant system
- Work by Schoeni and Shaefer cited in piece on the legacy of TANF
- Shaefer and Edin's book ($2 a Day) cited in piece on political debate over plight of impoverished Americans
- Shaefer's work on extreme poverty cited in story on Sander's repudiation of Clinton-era welfare reform
- Shaefer says TANF has left the unemployed struggling at the bottom
- Shaefer on why Rubio got it wrong on TANF
- Edin and Shaefer's book a call to action for Americans to deal with poverty
- Edin and Shaefer's book on destitute families in America reviewed in NYT