Dr. Aaron Yelowitz is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at University of Kentucky. He also is a joint faculty member in the Martin School of Public Policy and Administration at University of Kentucky. He is also a Research Associate at National Bureau of Economic Research, a Faculty Affiliate at the Joint Center for Poverty Research, and a Research Associate at Institute for Research on Poverty, and the economics department liaison for the UK Center for Poverty Research. He serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Public Economics.

            Dr. Yelowitz received his Ph.D. from MIT in 1994, and has previously worked at UCLA as an assistant professor. He has received funding from the Association for Public Policy and Management, the Economic Research Initiative for the Uninsured, the National Academy of Science, Employment Policies Institute, Social Security Administration, the Joint Center for Poverty Research, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His publications focus on the economic consequences of Medicaid, public housing, SSI, WIC, Food Stamps, and AFDC/TANF. Many of the papers focus on the linkages between different poverty alleviation programs, such as the disincentives to leave AFDC because of the loss of Medicaid health insurance. He has published articles in the Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Human Resources, Economic Inquiry and Pediatric Neurology. He has refereed for more than 25 peer-reviewed publications, including American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, and Quarterly Journal of Economics. He has presented his research in more than 50 academic settings, including MIT, Harvard, Yale, University of Chicago, and National Bureau of Economic Research.

            Dr. Yelowitz has taught graduate classes on public economics and health economics, and undergraduate classes on labor economics, public economics, and poverty and welfare programs. Many of his research papers appear on the graduate syllabi for labor economics, public finance, and health economics at major economics departments throughout the country.

            Dr. Yelowitz’s most recent work focuses on the impacts of living wage mandates and health insurance mandates. He has presented his living wage research at the American Economic Association meetings, to the City of Atlanta Living Wage Commission, and to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He has also testified as an expert witness in the Santa Fe Living Wage trial. His most recent living wage study is forthcoming in the peer-reviewed journal Economic Development Quarterly.