Steven Paul Raphael (born November 13, 1968) is an American economist. He is Professor of Public Policy in the

Goldman School of Public Policy The Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy, or the Goldman School of Public Policy (GSPP), is a public policy school and one of fourteen schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley. Originally named the Graduate Sch ...

as well as a director of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, and an adjunct fellow at the

Public Policy Institute of California The Public Policy Institute of California is an independent, non-profit research institution. Based in San Francisco, California, the institute was established in 1994 by Bill Hewlett, of Hewlett-Packard, Roger Heyns, and Arjay Miller, with a $7 ...

. He is also a research fellow at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

National Poverty Center, the University of Chicago Crime Lab, and the Institute for the Study of Labor in

Bonn, Germany The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr ...

Education

Raphael received his B.A. from

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

in 1990 and his Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley in 1996.

Research

Raphael's research focuses on economic aspects of low-wage labor markets, housing, and

incarceration in the United States Incarceration in the United States is a primary form of punishment and rehabilitation for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and the highest per-capita incarceratio ...

, as well as, more recently, the social consequences of

mass incarceration Incarceration in the United States is a primary form of punishment and rehabilitation for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and the highest per-capita incarceratio ...

in the United States. He has also studied the effectiveness of incarceration in decreasing crime in the modern United States, and has contended that "We have a fairly strong body of research that suggests as the incarceration rate goes up, the effectiveness of incarceration as a crime-control tool goes down." In 2014, he and Michael Stoll reported that incarceration was less effective at reducing crime when the prison population was high than when it was low. He has also co-authored studies with Stoll and Magnus Lofstrom finding that when California reduced its incarceration rate significantly, this reduction seemed to have no effect on

violent crime A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objecti ...

rates in the state, and that it had a modest effect on

property crime Property crime is a category of crime, usually involving private property, that includes, among other crimes, burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, shoplifting, and vandalism. Property crime is a crime to obtain money, property, o ...

, especially auto theft. His research has also suggested that wages for low-skilled white American workers in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

declined during 2008 and 2009, but that the median incomes of employed workers in this group rose by 6% during this time.

Editorial activities

Raphael is the former

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of '' Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society''.

References

External links

Faculty page
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raphael, Steven Paul 1968 births Living people Goldman School of Public Policy faculty University of California, Berkeley alumni San Diego State University alumni Economists from California American criminologists 21st-century American economists