Austin Nichols is Research Associate with the Income and Benefits Policy Center at the Urban Institute. He is an affiliated researcher with CALDER. Dr. Nichols's research focuses on the well-being of families with children, child poverty, income volatility, and economic mobility.  He studies the impact of social insurance, taxes, and family structure on low-income working families with children, and also studies food assistance programs and education. His current work on education focuses on the estimation of teacher effectiveness using state longitudinal databases. In addition, Dr. Nichols is currently writing a book on tax expenditures with Eric Toder and Lily Batchelder, and a book on causal inference. 

Dr. Nichols received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and holds a M.P.P. from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.