Leonard M. Lopoo

Leonard M. Lopoo is the Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics, professor of public administration and international affairs, director and co-founder of the Maxwell X Lab, and senior research associate in the Center for Policy Research. Lopoo has been on the faculty at Syracuse University since 2003. His research is interdisciplinary and his interests primarily involve the family: fertility, marriage, maternal employment and the social welfare policies designed to assist the low-income population.

He has published in a number of journals, including Demography, Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Marriage and the Family, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management and Journal of Public Economics, among many others. He has received funding from a number of federal agencies and foundations, including the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute on Aging, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the United States Department of Agriculture, the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation and the Allyn Family Foundation.

He is the recipient of numerous awards for his research and teaching, including the Birkhead-Burkhead Teaching Excellence Award (twice), the Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award, the Meredith Professors Recognition Award, and the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize.

Lopoo received a Ph.D. from the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago in 2001, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University from 2001-2003. 

Selected Papers

“Pregnancy Medicaid Expansions and Fertility: Differentiating Between the Intensive and Extensive Margins.” Groves, Lincoln H., Sarah Hamersma, and Leonard M. Lopoo, Population Research and Policy Review 37(3) (2018), pp. 461-484.

“Federal Financial Aid and Family Formation: Examining the Social Security Student Benefit Program.” Groves, Lincoln H. and Leonard M. Lopoo, Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 39(3) (2018), pp. 436-444.

“Health Insurance and Human Capital: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act’s Dependent Coverage Mandate.” Lopoo, Leonard M., Emily B. Cardon, and Kerri M. Raissian, Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law 43(6) (2018), pp. 917-939.

“Fertility Policy in Developed Countries” in the Oxford Handbook of Women and the Economy, edited by Susan L. Averett, Laura Argys, and Saul D. Hoffman. Lopoo, Leonard M. and Kerri M. Raissian, Oxford University Press (2018), pp 173-193.

“Government Spending and the Distribution of Economic Growth." Susan E. Mayer, Leonard M. Lopoo, and Lincoln H. Groves, Southern Economic Journal (In Press).

“Household Crowding during Childhood and Long-Term Education Outcomes.” Lopoo, Leonard M. and Andrew S. London, Demography 53(3) (2016), pp. 699-721.

"School Desegregation and Teenage Fertility." Robert Bifulco, Leonard M. Lopoo, and Sun Jung Oh, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Vol. 37, Issue 4 (2015), pp. 591-611.

"Mandating Prescription Contraception Coverage: Effects on Contraception Consumption and Preventive Health Services." Kerri M. Raissian and Leonard M. Lopoo, Population Research and Policy Review, Vol. 34, Issue 4 (2015), pp. 481-510.  

“Natalist Policies in the United States.” Leonard M. Lopoo and Kerri M. Raissian, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 31, Issue 4 (2012), pp. 905-946.