On the Evidence
by MATHEMATICA
A podcast from Mathematica that examines what we know about today’s most urgent challenges and how we can make progress in addressing them. Reimagining the way the world gathers and uses data, Mathematica uncovers the evidence that offers our partners the confidence and clarity they need to find out what can be done, how to make it happen, and where to go next.
Episodes
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138 | Addressing Rising Healthcare Costs in States
Rising healthcare costs in the U.S. threaten people’s access to treatment and services while reducing their ability to afford other necessities. Over the last decade, state policymakers across the political spectrum have responded to this urgent problem by passing legislation, setting up new...
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137 | Increasing the Resilience of African Smallholder Farmers
On the latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, Dr. Agnes Kalibata reflects on her career as a scientist and as the former president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), an African-led organization that seeks to create an environment where Africa can…
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136 | How a Fintech Company Helps Workers in Africa Access Credit and Savings with Smartphones
On the latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, M-KOPA Chief Executive Officer Jesse Moore talks about increasing access to financial and digital services for unbanked workers in Africa by leasing out smartphones. He and Paul Decker, the president and chief executive officer of...
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135 | It’s the Evidence, Stupid: GAO’s Report on Evidence-Based Policymaking and What Comes Next
This episode features audio from an in-person roundtable discussion at the 2024 Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management Fall Research Conference. The roundtable focused on the five-year anniversary of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Evidence Act) and a recent...
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134 | Modernizing State Public Health Data Policies and Practices
In the same way a doctor uses data to diagnose and treat a patient, states’ public health agencies use data to measure and address health in their communities. In the United States, states have the autonomy to decide their own data policies, which influences the amount, quality, and timeliness of...
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133 | Boosting the Use of Social Policy Research
On the latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, Lauren Supplee, the deputy assistant secretary for planning, research, and evaluation at the Administration for Children and Families, sat down for a wide-ranging conversation about the use of evidence in social policy. Supplee...
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132 | Embedding Data and Innovation Across California State Government
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features Jeffery Marino, the director of California’s Office of Data and Innovation (ODI). For the podcast, Mathematica’s President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Decker spoke with Marino about ODI’s CalAcademy for training state...
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131 | How Expanded Tax Credits Benefited Family Well-Being
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features an interview with Katherine Michelmore, an associate professor of public policy at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the 24th recipient of the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize. Michelmore’s...
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130 | The Evidence-Based Benefits of Employee Ownership
In honor of Employee Ownership Month in October, Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features a special episode with Paul Decker, Mathematica’s president and chief executive officer, and Jim Bonham, the president and chief executive officer of The ESOP Association. On the episode, Decker and...
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129 | How Evaluation Can Support Housing Justice and Community Change
A new episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast explores recent research that experimented with a new approach to equitable data collection that also equips individuals and their organizations with new skills and resources. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation contracted with Mathematica and...
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128 | How Better Data Interoperability Can Improve Care Delivered To Patients
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast focuses on the potential for health data interoperability to improve people’s health and well-being. Improved data interoperability is part of a broader push in the public and private sectors to use digital technology to make greater...
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127 | Ensuring Evidence Use in Public Policy with Brookings Institution Pres. Cecilia Rouse
Cecilia Rouse is the former dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the current president of the Brookings Institution. For the first two years of the Biden administration, she was the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers—the first Black American to chair the...
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126 | How AmeriCorps Uses Data to Support Communities Through National Service and Volunteerism
Thirty years ago, President Bill Clinton signed bipartisan legislation creating what is now known as AmeriCorps, a federal agency for national service and volunteerism. Since then, the agency estimates that more than 1.3 million AmeriCorps members and hundreds of thousands more AmeriCorps Seniors...
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125 | 20 Years of Evidence-Based Poverty Reduction from the Millennium Challenge Corporation
Twenty years ago, the U.S. Congress created a new federal agency that represented a bold experiment in international aid. That agency, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), strove to reduce global poverty through grant-making to low- and lower-middle-income countries that demonstrated a...
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124 | AcademyHealth’s New CEO on AI, Climate Change, and Other Topics of Health Services Research
Our guest for this episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast is Dr. Aaron Carroll, a pediatrician, health researcher, and science communicator who recently assumed the post of president and chief executive officer at AcademyHealth, the leading national organization for convening and…
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123 | Validating Natural Climate Solutions with Better Data
In the United States, conversations about solutions to climate change often revolve around reducing fossil fuel emissions from human activities. But many believe regenerative agricultural practices and other nature-based solutions—which use soil and plants and try to either prevent or capture...
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122 | Reflecting on Juneteenth and Our Collective Equity Journey
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast coincides with June 19, which is celebrated by many around the United States as Juneteenth, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in this country. Recently, one way staff at Mathematica have honored this important moment in...
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121 | NORC and Mathematica CEOs on the Future of Data and Evidence
Within the past few years, organizations that help improve public well-being by providing data-driven insights have witnessed significant changes. From a digital transformation hastened by big data and artificial intelligence (AI) to the globalization of evidence-based solutions for problems that...
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120 | Improving Health through Responsible Use of AI
This episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features a discussion about how various parties within the health care ecosystem can responsibly use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve patient health. The conversation comes amid increasing interest in the applications of AI in daily…
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119 | Max Stier on Using Data to Improve the Federal Government
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features Max Stier, the president and chief executive officer of the Partnership for Public Service. Stier discusses the central role that data and research play in supporting his organization’s mission to make the federal government…
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118 | Moving from Evidence Generation to Evidence Use in President Biden's 2025 Budget
In March, when the Biden administration released its budget request for fiscal year 2025, it not only offered a blueprint for the president’s policymaking agenda—it also provided the latest indication of how the White House and federal agencies are going beyond evidence generation to use evidence...
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117 | Moody’s Mark Zandi on Being a Voice for Data-Driven Decisions in Public Policy
The latest episode of On the Evidence features Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. On the episode, Zandi speaks with Paul Decker, Mathematica’s president and chief executive officer, about comprehensive immigration reform, artificial intelligence, labor shortages, remote work…
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116 | Applying AI to Improve Health Policy Research
The latest episode of On the Evidence features an interview with Mathematica’s Ngan MacDonald about the applications of artificial intelligence (AI) for improving health care through data analytics. MacDonald recently joined Mathematica as the company’s director of health data innovations, where...
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115 | Improving the Impact of Social Programs Through Better Evaluation
A new episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast explores the idea that a more comprehensive approach to evaluation, including study of a program’s design and implementation, maximizes a program’s chances of success. The episode draws from a convening in January at Mathematica’s D.C. office...
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114 | How Virtual and Group Tutoring Could Address Learning Loss
The COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a public health emergency, but its harmful effects on the U.S. education system still linger. Nationwide standardized test scores show that average student achievement in core subjects, such as math and reading, remains below pre-pandemic levels. Over the past...
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113 | An interview with U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos
On the five-year anniversary of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, we’re proud to feature an interview with Robert Santos, the director of the U.S. Census Bureau. Santos, the first Latino and the second person of color to lead the agency, joined Mathematica in January for a wide-ranging...
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112 | Lessons for States Interested in Hospital Global Budgeting
This episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast explores lessons from Maryland, with glimpses from Vermont and Pennsylvania, that could help other states decide whether and how to adopt hospital global budgeting. The guests for this episode are Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, who was the secretary…
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111 | Homeschooling, Inequities in Disability Policy, and Improving Child Health Through School
Every year, early-career scholars join Mathematica for a summer to work on independent research related to improving public well-being. As prospective applicants prepare to apply by the Feb. 29 deadline for the 2024 Summer Fellowship program, Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast spoke with last...
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110 | Our Listeners on the Most Important Developments in Evidence and Well-Being in 2023
For the final episode of 2023, Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast asked friends of the show to send short voice notes about important developments in evidence and well-being this year that will continue to matter in 2024. More than a dozen listeners and former guests responded to our call,...
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109, Part 2 | Improving Health Equity by Transforming Public Health Data Systems
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, inconsistent data collection and reporting made it difficult for U.S. public health agencies to respond to the disease's inequitable impacts. Demographic and socioeconomic factors, such as age, race, ethnicity, gender, income, and disability status, were…
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109, Part 1 | Improving Health Equity by Transforming Public Health Data Systems
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, inconsistent data collection and reporting made it difficult for U.S. public health agencies to respond to the disease's inequitable impacts. Demographic and socioeconomic factors, such as age, race, ethnicity, gender, income, and disability status, were…
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108 | How Artificial Intelligence Can Advance Health Equity
In September 2023, Mathematica and Congressman Don Beyer’s office hosted an event on Capitol Hill to discuss artificial intelligence (AI) and its implications for health equity. This episode of On the Evidence features audio from the September event, anchored by Victoria Knight, a health care...
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107 | Elizabeth Linos on Bolstering the Public Sector Workforce and Improving Government Services
The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features Elizabeth Linos, the 23rd recipient of the David N. Kershaw Award and Prize. Linos is a public management scholar and behavioral scientist who studies, designs, and tests innovations in how government works. On the episode…
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106 | Jennifer Pahlka on Government in the Digital Age
Jennifer Pahlka served as the U.S. deputy chief technology officer under President Barack Obama and founded Code for America, a nonprofit that works to improve government digital services. In her new book, "Recoding America: Why Government is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better,"...
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105 | How Colorado Committed to Supporting Teacher Diversity and Why it Matters to Students
Teacher recruitment and retention challenges have increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. But even before that, students of diverse backgrounds have historically not seen themselves reflected in the adults in their classrooms and schools. Why does this matter? Students of color do...
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104 | Michael Mann on Taking Action to Address the Climate Crisis
For anyone looking to understand Earth’s climate history and the unfolding climate crisis, Michael Mann has got you covered. Mann is the Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Penn Center for...
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103 | OMB Evidence Team on Evidence-Based Policymaking and Federal Evaluation
From helping lead implementation of the Evidence Act to providing technical assistance on activities and initiatives, the Evidence Team at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is on the frontlines of evidence building and use across the federal government. Led by Diana Epstein (Team Lead),...
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102 | Gayle Smith on the Federal Role in Global Response to Health and Climate Crises
Gayle Smith, CEO of the ONE Campaign, served in many leadership roles in the federal government as a staunch advocate for evidence-based decision making. As Coordinator for Global COVID Response and Health Security at the U.S. Department of State in 2021, Smith led the U.S. effort to end the…
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101 | Using Data to Advance Equitable Outcomes from Pre-K through the Workforce
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated pre-existing inequities that changed how individuals engage with pre-K programs, schools, colleges, employers, and the world at large. Early evidence suggests the pandemic took a toll on student learning, educational attainment, employment, and physical and…
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Bonus Content | J.B. Wogan Reflects on 100 Episodes
In this special feature, On the Evidence host J.B. Wogan reflects on the first 100 episodes of the Mathematica podcast, and retraces some of the steps taken in the almost five years since the series launched in early 2019. Learn more, listen, and subscribe: https://mathematica.org/ontheevidence
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100 | Robert Shea on the Federal Government’s Progress in Using Evidence
In May 2023, Mathematica hosted a convening on Capitol Hill about embedding evidence in federal decision making, with a focus on the legacy of the nearly five-year-old Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, also known as the Evidence Act. One of the attendees that day was Robert Shea…
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99 | Understanding Why More Eligible Kids Got Free Meals During Pandemic Summers
Leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, only about one in every seven students served by the National School Lunch Program also participated in free summer meals programs provided by the federal Food and Nutrition Service. The low ratio of students accessing meals in the summer compared to the…
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98 | Developing Education Programs to Prevent Violence and Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean
This episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast focuses on how research informs funding strategies to tackle an urgent social challenge. A couple of years ago, Mathematica reviewed evidence from across the world on whether education programs can prevent or mitigate violence and crime. USAID...
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97 | Building on the Evidence Act
In late May 2023, Mathematica coordinated with Congressman Derek Kilmer’s office to host a discussion on Capitol Hill about the impact of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Evidence Act) and how to further embed the use of data and evidence in federal decision making. This…
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96 | Addressing Fragmented Health Care
The fragmentation of outpatient health care drives up the cost of care and worsens the quality of care that patients receive, posing a risk to patients’ health. On this episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, guests James Lee of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation, Knitasha...
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95 | The Role of Evidence in Solutions Journalism
The 95th episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast features author Tina Rosenberg discussing the role of data and other evidence in supporting solutions journalism. In 2013, Rosenberg co-founded the Solutions Journalism Network, which challenges journalists to show whether a solution they...
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94 | Christina Ciocca Eller on White House Year of Evidence for Action
Episode 94 of On the Evidence is the second installment in a new occasional series on the show called Evidence in Government, where guests talk about new developments in the halls of government and the role that evidence can or should play in decisions that could improve people’s lives. On this...
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93 | Inside Arizona’s Investment in Evidence-Based Foster Care Prevention
On this episode, we discuss the Family First Prevention Services Act in the context of one state’s efforts to build evidence for a parent education program thought to prevent child abuse and neglect. Katherine Guffey, Meg Dygert, and Allon Kalisher discuss a parent education program in Arizona…
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92 | Evidence-Based Policy in President Biden's 2024 Budget
In the president’s proposed budget for the 2024 fiscal year, the Biden White House outlines a spending plan that would expand health care insurance coverage for more Americans, extend free school meals to more children, and provide financial assistance for child care to more families. The budget...
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91 | Solutions for Preventing Heart Attacks, Improving Patient Health, and Reducing Health Spending
Every year, Mathematica publishes dozens of new papers and reports, some of which surface fresh insights about how public agencies and private organizations can be more effective at improving public well-being. For the 91st episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, we’re launching an...
About this show
A podcast from Mathematica that examines what we know about today’s most urgent challenges and how we can make progress in addressing them. Reimagining the way the world gathers and uses data, Mathematica uncovers the evidence that offers our partners the confidence and clarity they need to find out what can be done, how to make it happen, and where to go next.
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MATHEMATICA
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