Judy Gueron on “never quitting” as a female economist and her groundbreaking work at MDRC

Judy Gueron, Independent Scholar in Residence and President Emerita at Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC), discusses her education at Radcliffe and Harvard, her long-term work at the MDRC, her research on welfare reform, and the challenges of pursuing a career in economics as a woman. 

In this episode, Gueron and Ashenfelter discuss:

• How her father was the greatest influence of her life and how he instilled values “...that were always progressive, do your best, do the maximum. Never quit anything.” 
• Gueron’s undergraduate education at Radcliffe and her graduate work at Harvard and how she was captivated by economics but didn’t realize that she could make a profession out of it. “...when I grew up, I didn't know one working professional woman except our pediatrician. Zero. So, there was just no exposure to that. So, what were you going to do with economics?” 
• How, in addition to raising a family and having two children, she got a job at the Human Resources Administration in New York City, which gave her valuable experience in social services. “I learned a hell of a lot about [the] public, the welfare system, employment and training programs, statistics, public data files, how to organize them to answer important questions, and also communicating with senior government officials.” 
• How in 1974 she joined MDRC at its inception and became the organization's founding research director to implement the National Supported Work Demonstration. “So, they were pushing for a random assignment trial program, and it turned out to be a pivotal social experiment because it was the first time that this technique had moved out of researcher academic control into the real world of operating social programs.” 
• Her ongoing work at the MDRC and her research on state Workfare programs, advocated by the Reagan administration during the 1980s. “[We wanted] ...to capture what states did under the new flexibility that the 1981 law gave them to turn these relatively conservative programs into social experiments. In the sense, to hijack the state programs and convince administrators to turn them into social experiments.” 

Judy Gueron earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1971. She is an expert in research on unemployment, social disadvantage, and family welfare. She is an Independent Scholar in Residence and President Emerita at MDRC, and until 1974, was director of special projects and studies and a consultant for the New York City Human Resources Administrations. "The Work Goes On"—a podcast produced by Princeton's Industrial Relations Section (IR Section)—is an oral history of industrial relations and labor economics hosted by Princeton's Orley Ashenfelter.