Why does social policy matter?
Through data-driven research, hands-on training, and collaborative public engagement, the Malcolm Wiener Center advances policy initiatives that empower people to solve the most urgent social challenges and questions of our times.
In Memoriam
Malcolm H. Wiener, 1935-2026
Dr. Malcolm Hewitt Wiener AB 1957, JD 1963, a visionary leader and benefactor whose long-term philanthropy transformed Harvard Kennedy School’s social policy research, has passed away at the age of 91. In 1988, he made a foundational endowed gift that established the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy. Over the following four decades, Dr. Wiener steadfastly supported the Center's students, faculty, research, and PhD scholar training. Read about his life and legacy here.
Spotlight
Reducing Gender Inequality with Schedules that Work
The Shift Project is a 2026 recipient of the Workplace Innovation Now (WIN) Challenge. WIN awarded a total of $60 million to 18 transformative solutions that help women thrive and build a better workplace for all. Shift and its collaborators will work with scheduling-software provider Deputy to provide high quality work schedules at scale for millions of women working hourly jobs.
Daniel Schneider
What drug revenue patterns reveal for innovation and policymaking after the Inflation Reduction Act
New Harvard Kennedy School research suggests that policies that oversimplify how drugs produce money, or fail to, could harm private-sector drug research and development.
Featuring Amitabh Chandra
The Latest
The AI Access Ladder: Why Telecom Operators Have a Stake in the Next Digital Divide
David Deming
Tech Bullion
Announcements
Malcolm Wiener Center student research prizes awarded at Class Day
Professor Gordon Hanson presented the 2026 prizes for student social policy research that best exemplified the work of four remarkable individuals: Manuel C. Carballo, Susan C. Eaton, Frederick Fischer, and William Julius Wilson.
Desmond Ang, Associate Professor of Public Policy at HKS, is awarded 2026 Sloan Research Fellowship
Ang joins a cohort of 126 early-career scholars and a fellowship lineage that includes 59 Nobel laureates. The fellowship recognizes researchers whose creativity and accomplishments position them as the next generation of scientific leaders.
Daniel Schneider appointed Associate Director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies
Schneider, Co-Director of The Shift Project and Professor of Social Policy, has been appointed Associate Director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. The initiative is administered by the Chan School of Public Health.
Questions We Explore
Why are societies unequal?
From opportunity gaps in education, to racial and gender disparities in employment, our interdisciplinary research explores the social and economic causes and effects of inequality and how sound policy can improve access for all.
What impacts economic mobility?
Our research applies rigorous scholarship and insight to questions around labor markets and employment, creating pathways to economic mobility in the workforce and in society.
How do we build a more just society?
Reforming the criminal legal system aims to balance objectives of fairness, justice, and public safety. Our evidence-based research advances policy solutions that can break barriers and lead to systemic change.
Is healthcare a right or a privilege?
Drastic inequalities in healthcare access and outcomes require us to confront this stark question. We bring expertise and data-driven inquiry to the goals of improving access and reducing disparities in the healthcare system.
The Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management
The Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management draws from rigorous research as well as insights from practitioners and people from impacted communities to inform the development of fairer and more just criminal legal system policies, practices, and procedures.
The Stone Program
The James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Program in Wealth Distribution, Inequality and Social Policy unites faculty, students, and researchers from across Harvard University and beyond to address the causes and consequences of wealth inequalities in different populations around the world.
Reimagining the Economy
The Reimagining the Economy project explores local labor market, industrial, and development policies, combined with practitioner insights, to produce multidisciplinary scholarship to reshape narratives about how we achieve inclusive prosperity.
Shift Project
The Shift Project, a joint project at Harvard Kennedy School and UCSF, examines the nature and consequences of precarious employment in the service sector with a focus on how policymakers and firms can improve job quality.
Faculty Focus
Luis Armona
Luis Armona is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He graduated from Stanford University in 2022 with a Ph.D. in Economics. In the past, he has worked at Chegg and Microsoft Research and served as a research advisor at Meta. Before graduate school, he worked as an RA at the New York Federal Reserve. For the 2022-23 academic year, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the NBER. His research interests lie in industrial organization, with applications to college behavior in post-secondary education, firearms markets, and how machine learning methods can be used to enhance existing economic models.