Notre Dame professor who showed stimulus lowered poverty rate early in the pandemic available for comment on new stimulus package

James Sullivan, the Gilbert F. Schaefer College Professor of Economics and co-founder of the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) at the University of Notre Dame is available for comment on the latest federal stimulus package. 

Using monthly census data, Sullivan and his colleague Bruce Meyer (Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago) have been tracking the poverty rate in near-real time since the onset of the pandemic. 

The entire decline in poverty for April and May of 2020 can be accounted for by the one-time stimulus checks the federal government sent out during these months and the expansion of unemployment insurance eligibility and benefits. By September of 2020, the professors demonstrated a rise in poverty as the stimulus benefits expired. “Poverty rose a full percentage point from 9.4 percent in the period from April to June to 10.4 percent for July and August.”

Sullivan and Meyer have advocated for continued, targeted stimulus relief. Prof. Sullivan is available to comment on the latest relief package. Contact him via email at [email protected].