Inspiring evidence-based policymaking
New research from students at the La Follette School of Public Affairs has helped the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) prepare for the upcoming statewide law restricting cell phone use in K-12 schools, and could help schools across the state in their implementation. In their final year capstone course, La Follette master’s degree students Katie …
As more than two billion people worldwide still lack access to safely managed drinking water, new research from the La Follette School of Public Affairs investigates the effects of early-life exposure to citywide water filtration on longevity in the early 20th-century. A series of 20th-century policy shifts in American cities to public health infrastructure, including …
The Kohl Competition awards funding to faculty research projects that exemplify evidence-based policymaking and meaningfully shape public policy.
La Follette partnered with the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Office of the Chancellor last month to host free speech advocate Greg Lukianoff for a timely conversation with Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin about free expression on college campuses and how UW–Madison can continue its efforts to build a culture that encourages vigorous discourse. With nearly 200 in attendance …
A new study co-authored by two University of Wisconsin–Madison professors suggests longevity gains across all states and regions for people born between 1941 and 2000, in contrast to previous estimates suggesting a century of stagnation or even declines in parts of the South. Published in the journal BMJ Open, the study by Héctor Pifarré i …
The La Follette School of Public Affairs ranked 3rd in the nation among public schools in health policy and management and tied for 4th place among public schools in social policy in the 2026 rankings from the U.S. News & World Report.
This paper examines the Black-White life expectancy gap in Wisconsin from 2005 to 2017, disaggregating the state into Milwaukee County, Dane County (Madison), and the rest of the state.
The Public Administration Review announced this week that Professor Manny Teodoro of the La Follette School of Public Affairs is the recipient of its prestigious Chester Newland Award for his 2025 paper, “Medium and Message by Mail: A Field Experiment to Promote Low-Income Assistance Programs.” The Public Administration Review is one of the premier scholarly …
The authors examine determinants of aggregate foreign exchange reserve holdings by central banks before observing central bank behavior.
A cornerstone of a La Follette graduate education is the opportunity for students to partner with real-world organizations to tackle real-world policy problems. Much more than academic exercises, these client-based projects make an impact far beyond the classroom, in some cases even years after students graduate. Case in point, two years after completing their cost-benefit …