PAA Honored Members

Greg J. Duncan

Past Honored Member

Greg Duncan spent the first 25 years of his career at the University of Michigan working on and ultimately directing the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data collection project. Since 1968, the PSID has collected economic, demographic, health, behavior and attainment data from a representative sample of U.S. individuals and the households in which they reside. With these and other data he studied the economic mobility of the U.S. population, both within and across generations, with a particular focus on low-income families. More specifically, Greg investigated the roles families, peers, neighborhoods and public policy play in affecting the life chances of children and adolescents.

Greg’s research has highlighted the importance of early childhood as a sensitive period for the damaging influences of economic deprivation as well as for the beneficial impacts of policy-induced income increases for working families. The focus of his more recent research has shifted from these environmental influences to the comparative importance of the skills and behaviors developed during childhood. In particular, he sought to understand the relative importance of early academic skills, cognitive and emotional self-regulation, and health in promoting children’s eventual success in school and the labor market.

Greg was elected president of the Population Association of America for 2008 and president of the Society for Research in Child Development for 2009-2011. He was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001 and to the National Academy of Sciences in 2010. In 2013, Greg was awarded the Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize.

Bio courtesy of University of California, Irvine.

List of Donors

Anamarie Auger Rachel Dunifon Sara McLanahan
Andrew Penner Paula England Kristin Moore
Duncan Thomas Frank Furstenberg Jayanti Owens
Emma Adam Christina Gibson-Davis Emily Penner
Christine Bachrach Guang Guo Guo Aaron Sojourner
Johanne Boisjoly Kathleen Harris Judith Treas
Susan Brown Heather Hill Deborah Vandell
Tim-Allen Bruckner Jade Jenkins Eleanor Weis
Marcia Carlson Lori Kowaleski Jones James Ziliak
Flavio Cunha Thomas McDade Kathleen Ziol-Guest