Health

• Aligning Incentives in Healthcare Supply: The Role of Entry Barriers

• Summary: This project examines the barriers to expanding the supply of physicians in the U.S., where high accreditation and licensing requirements limit the number of new medical professionals, contributing to a physician shortage. The study aims to analyze the effects of these entry barriers and propose solutions that would allow healthcare labor markets to better meet growing patient demand. Through academic research, investigative journalism, and public outreach, the project seeks to influence policy and expand medical training programs, ultimately improving access to care and reducing healthcare costs.

• Lead: Joshua Gottlieb

• Aligning Incentives for Live Kidney Donation

• Summary: This project tackles the low rate of living kidney donations in the U.S., where only 2% of willing donors undergo surgery. It addresses misaligned incentives at transplant centers, which often turn away potential living donors due to concerns over legal risks or profitability. This project aims to scale up Project Donor, an initial pilot program at the University of Chicago that provides personalized case management and resources for living kidney donor candidates. They estimate that they spend an average of $38 on each additional quality-adjusted life year (QALY). The full-scale implementation would significantly increase the rate of living kidney donations, potentially saving hundreds of lives annually.

• Lead: Steve Levitt

Housing

• Misaligned Incentives in Housing Podcast Series by the UCLA Housing Voice podcast

• Summary: This podcast series will explore housing policies and programs where misaligned incentives contribute to poor outcomes. Each episode will feature expert discussions on specific issues and potential solutions, including successful examples from other countries and U.S. pilot programs. Leveraging the reach of the UCLA Housing Voice podcast, the series will inform policymakers and officials across North America (who are among the listener base) as well as the wider public.

• Host: Shane Phillips

• Miscalibrated beliefs as a root cause of incentive misalignment in housing

• Summary: This project explores the disconnect between public perceptions of housing prices and reality, hypothesizing that many people, including key decision-makers, underestimate the true cost of housing. This miscalibration facilitates incentive misalignments, as it distorts public discourse and policy decisions, contributing to housing supply shortages. The first phase of the project will assess whether and how much different groups misperceive housing prices. If underestimation is confirmed, the second phase will test interventions aimed at correcting these beliefs to increase support for pro-housing policies. By addressing these misperceptions, the project aims to shift public opinion and foster more effective housing policy.

• Team: Michael Manville, Jana Gallus, Sandy Campbell

• State preemption and misaligned political incentives

• Summary: This project examines the collective action problem in American housing policy, where local governments often restrict new housing to protect their constituents’ interests, leading to regional housing shortages and rising prices. The research explores how state-level preemption can address this misalignment by overriding local restrictions, making it easier to build new homes where demand is high. Focusing on case studies in Massachusetts, California, and New Jersey, the project investigates whether shifting preemption authority to the executive branch, rather than legislatures, could improve housing supply outcomes. The findings aim to inform policy by highlighting more effective strategies for overcoming local resistance to housing development.

• Lead: Michael Manville

Education

• Misaligned incentives in student achievement evaluations

  • Summary: This project investigates the misaligned incentives in disadvantaged school districts, where teachers may inflate grades, and parents thereby focus more on grades than on standardized test scores, potentially investing less in their children and impacting their educational outcomes. The first phase of the project will assess whether parents, especially those on the lower end of the income distribution, indeed prioritize grades over standardized test scores. A $10K grant will fund a study of 4,000 parents across the income distribution. The next phase (funded by third parties) will explore whether making standardized test scores easier to access and understand impacts parental beliefs, investment, and student performance, with a partner district already on board for future testing.

  • Lead: Ariel Kalil

Cross-cutting

• An Innovation Atlas for Policymakers

• Summary: This project introduces the Innovation Atlas, an interactive tool to help policymakers align incentives with innovation goals by selecting the most effective funding mechanisms. Currently, policymakers often default to familiar funding models, sometimes in a haphazard way, leading to inefficient use of government funds. The Innovation Atlas addresses this by guiding decision-making with tailored recommendations, ensuring funds are allocated to maximize impact. In healthcare, for example, this tool could guide the use of incentives like advance market commitments to accelerate vaccine development or treatments for chronic diseases. With access to policymakers through the Market Shaping Accelerator (MSA) and the public via the Institute for Progress (IFP), the project is well-positioned to maximize its reach and impact.

• Team: Market Shaping Accelerator (lead: Christopher Snyder at Dartmouth) and Institute For Progress (lead: Caleb Watney)

For project-specific questions, please contact the respective leads. To learn more about our funding process, please email Jana Gallus at janagallus@gmail.com.