Irwin Garfinkel

Garfinkel earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Pittsburgh in 1965 and a Master of Arts in Social Work from the University of Chicago in 1967.{{Cite web |title=University Record 17 November 1989 — Columbia Record |url=https://curecordarchive.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cr19891117-01.2.8&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------- |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=curecordarchive.library.columbia.edu}} He completed his Ph.D. in Social Work and Economics at the University of Michigan in 1970.{{Cite web |title=Irwin Garfinkel |url=https://ssw.umich.edu/phdstudents/profiles/economics/56536-irwin-garfinkel |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=ssw.umich.edu |language=en}}

He began his academic career at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he served as director of the Institute for Research on Poverty from 1975 to 1980 and later as director of the School of Social Work from 1982 to 1984.https://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc92a.pdf

A brief history of the Institute for Research on Poverty by Elizabeth Evanson He led the Wisconsin Child Support Study, which informed child support reforms in the U.S., Great Britain, Australia, and Sweden.{{Cite web |title=Irwin Garfinkel |url=https://www.socialdifference.columbia.edu/faculty-/irwin-garfinkel |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Center for the Study of Social Difference |language=en-US}}

In 1991, he began his tenure at Columbia University, where he held the Mitchell I. Ginsberg Professorship until his retirement in 2022. During his time at Columbia, he co-founded the Center for Poverty Research and Policy (CPRC) in 2007 and the Center for Social Policy and Practice (CPSP) in 2015.{{Cite web |last=Collyer |first=Sophie |date=2020-07-21 |title=What a Child Allowance Like Canada's Would Do for Child Poverty in America |url=https://tcf.org/content/report/what-a-child-allowance-like-canadas-would-do-for-child-poverty-in-america/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=The Century Foundation |language=en}} From 2016 to 2019, he also served as interim dean of Columbia's School of Social Work.{{Cite web |last=Verlaque |first=Juliette |title=Melissa Begg appointed Dean of the School of Social Work after nearly 3-year search |url=https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2019/07/17/melissa-begg-appointed-dean-of-the-school-of-social-work-after-nearly-3-year-search-2/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Columbia Daily Spectator}}

In 1998, he was appointed by the National Research Council to the Panel on Data and Methods for Measuring the Effects of Changes in Social Welfare Programs, contributing his expertise to shaping research in this important area.{{Cite web |title=Irwin Garfinkel Appointed to National Panel of Experts to Build Agenda to Cut Child Poverty In Half in 10 Years {{!}} Columbia School of Social Work |url=https://socialwork.columbia.edu/news/irwin-garfinkel-appointed-national-panel-experts-build-agenda-cut-child-poverty-half-10-years |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=socialwork.columbia.edu}}

Garfinkel’s research has influenced the understanding of poverty, family structures, and social policy.{{Cite news |date=2021-11-02 |title=Opinion {{!}} How Many Jobs Will the Child Tax Credit Really Cost? |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/child-tax-credit-job-loss-debate-study-nas-chicago-employment-11635805929 |access-date=2025-04-09 |work=Wall Street Journal |language=en-US |issn=0099-9660}} In his book Wealth and Welfare States: Is America Laggard or Leader? , he challenged misconceptions about the U.S. welfare system, arguing that the American welfare state is not unusually small, that America was a world leader in the provision of mass public education from the middle of the 19th century to about 1970,{{Cite news |last=Garfinkel |first=Irwin |date=1980-01-03 |title=It's Time to Replace Welfare |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/01/03/archives/its-time-to-replace-welfare.html |access-date=2025-04-09 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} and that rather than undermining productivity, the welfare state has enhanced productivity.{{Cite web |last=Forster |first=Stacy |title=New book puts American welfare state in perspective |url=https://news.wisc.edu/new-book-puts-american-welfare-state-in-perspective/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=news.wisc.edu |language=en-US}}  His work on child support enforcement demonstrated how a new child support assurance system could reduce poverty among single-parent households, shaping reforms in multiple U.S. states, the US as a whole,  and internationally.{{Cite journal |last1=Nepomnyaschy |first1=Lenna |last2=Garfinkel |first2=Irwin |date=2011 |title=Fathers' Involvement with Their Nonresident Children and Material Hardship |journal=The Social Service Review |volume=85 |issue=1 |pages=3–38 |doi=10.1086/658394 |issn=0037-7961 |pmc=3150463 |pmid=21822335}}

He co-authored the influential Single Mothers and Their Children: The Battle for Self-Sufficiency with Sara McLanahan. The book explores the economic and social challenges faced by single-mother families in the United States and argues for policy solutions that both support work and enhance economic security for the nation’s poorest children.{{cite web |title=Doing More for Our Children |url=https://tcf.org/content/report/doing-more-for-our-children/ |website=The Century Foundation |language=en |date=16 March 2016}}

Garfinkel also advanced methodologies for measuring poverty.{{Cite web |last=Tavernise |first=Jason DeParle, robert gebeloff and Sabrina |date=2011-11-04 |title=Calculating Poverty |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/calculating-poverty/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Economix Blog |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last1=Pac |first1=Jessica |last2=Garfinkel |first2=Irwin |last3=Kaushal |first3=Neeraj |last4=Nam |first4=Jaehyun |last5=Nolan |first5=Laura |last6=Waldfogel |first6=Jane |last7=Wimer |first7=Christopher |date=2020-08-01 |title=Reducing poverty among children: Evidence from state policy simulations |journal=Children and Youth Services Review |volume=115 |pages=105030 |doi=10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105030 |pmid=32362701 |issn=0190-7409|pmc=7194072 }} He advocated for the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM),{{Cite web |title=A Tool Against Poverty |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/11/business/A-Tool-Against-Poverty.html |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=www.nytimes.com |language=en}} which accounts for near cash government assistance, such as food stamps and housing subsidies, providing a more nuanced understanding of economic hardship.https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110608/witnesses/HHRG-116-AP07-Wstate-GarfinkelI-20200303.pdf

REDUCING CHILD POVERTY Statement of Professor Irwin Garfinkel Mitchell I Ginsberg Professor of Contemporary Urban Problems Co-director of the Center on Poverty and Social Policy Columbia University School of Social Work His collaborations with scholars like Christopher Wimer and Jane Waldfogel on the Poverty Tracker highlighted cyclical poverty patterns and informed policy proposals like increases in the minimum wage.{{Cite web |last=Matthews |first=Dylan |date=2023-03-10 |title=Why even brilliant scholars misunderstand poverty in America |url=https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/3/10/23632910/poverty-official-supplemental-relative-absolute-measure-desmond |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Vox |language=en-US}}

In 1982, Garfinkel married Sara McLanahan, an Assistant Professor in sociology at the University of Wisconsin who became a scholar on family structure and inequality and together they raised her three children with his two children in a blended family.{{Cite web |title=Founding PI, Sara McLanahan {{!}} Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study |url=https://ffcws.princeton.edu/news/founding-pi-sara-mclanahan |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=ffcws.princeton.edu |language=en}} McLanahan, died of cancer on December 31, 2022, at the age of 81.

• Lifetime Achievement Award, Society for Social Work and Research (2015)
•    Frank R. Breul Memorial Prize (2011){{Cite web |title=Social Service Review: Frank R. Breul Memorial Prize |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/ssr/breul-prize |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Social Service Review |language=en}}
•   Fellow of American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (2010){{Cite web |date=2019-01-14 |title=Irwin Garfinkel, PhD |url=https://aaswsw.org/member/irwin-garfinkel-phd/ |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare |language=en-US}}

• {{Cite journal |last1=Jiménez-Solomon |first1=Oscar |last2=Garfinkel |first2=Irwin |last3=Wall |first3=Melanie |last4=Wimer |first4=Christopher |date=2024 |title=When money and mental health problems pile up: The reciprocal relationship between income and psychological distress |journal=SSM - Population Health |language=en |volume=25 |pages=101624 |doi=10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101624 |pmc=10876910 |pmid=38380052}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Collyer |first1=Sophie |last2=Curran |first2=Megan A. |last3=Garfinkel |first3=Irwin |last4=Harris |first4=David |last5=Parolin |first5=Zachary |last6=Waldfogel |first6=Jane |last7=Wimer |first7=Christopher |date=2023 |title=The Child Tax Credit and Family Well-Being: An Overview of Reforms and Impacts |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00027162231205148 |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |language=en |volume=706 |issue=1 |pages=224–255 |doi=10.1177/00027162231205148 |issn=0002-7162|url-access=subscription }}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Garfinkel |first1=Irwin |last2=Sariscsany |first2=Laurel |last3=Ananat |first3=Elizabeth |last4=Collyer |first4=Sophie |last5=Hartley |first5=Robert P. |last6=Wang |first6=Buyi |last7=Wimer |first7=Christopher |date=2022 |title=The Benefits and Costs of a Child Allowance |journal=Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=335–362 |doi=10.1017/bca.2022.15 |issn=2194-5888|doi-access=free }}

• {{Cite journal |last1=Sariscsany |first1=Laurel |last2=Garfinkel |first2=Irwin |last3=Nepomnyaschy |first3=Lenna |date=2019 |title=Describing and Understanding Child Support Trajectories |url=https://doi.org/10.1086/703191 |journal=Social Service Review |volume=93 |issue=2 |pages=143–182 |doi=10.1086/703191 |issn=0037-7961|url-access=subscription }}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Dohoon |last2=Brooks-Gunn |first2=Jeanne |last3=McLanahan |first3=Sara S. |last4=Notterman |first4=Daniel |last5=Garfinkel |first5=Irwin |date=2013-08-20 |title=The Great Recession, genetic sensitivity, and maternal harsh parenting |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=110 |issue=34 |pages=13780–13784 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1312398110 |doi-access=free |issn=1091-6490 |pmc=3752274 |pmid=23918380}}

• {{Cite journal |last1=Sinkewicz |first1=Marilyn |last2=Garfinkel |first2=Irwin |date=2009 |title=Unwed fathers' ability to pay child support: new estimates accounting for multiple-partner fertility |journal=Demography |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=247–263 |doi=10.1353/dem.0.0051 |issn=1533-7790 |pmc=2831274 |pmid=21305392}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Crane |first1=Jonathan |last2=Manski |first2=Charles F. |last3=Garfinkel |first3=Irwin |date=1992 |title=Evaluating Welfare and Training Programs. |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/2075695 |journal=Contemporary Sociology |volume=21 |issue=6 |pages=867 |doi=10.2307/2075695 |jstor=2075695 |issn=0094-3061|url-access=subscription }}

• {{Cite journal |last=Garfinkel |first=Irwin |date=1972 |title=Equal Access, Minimum Provision, and Efficiency in Financing Medical Care |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/145186 |journal=The Journal of Human Resources |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=242–249 |doi=10.2307/145186 |jstor=145186 |issn=0022-166X|url-access=subscription }}
• {{Cite journal |last=Garfinkel |first=Irwin |date=1973 |title=Is In-Kind Redistribution Efficient |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/1882195 |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics |volume=87 |issue=2 |pages=320–330 |doi=10.2307/1882195 |jstor=1882195 |issn=0033-5533|url-access=subscription }}
• {{Cite journal |last1=GARFINKEL |first1=IRWIN |last2=ORR |first2=LARRY L. |date=1974-06-01 |title=Welfare Policy and the Employment Rate of Afdc Mothers |url=https://doi.org/10.1086/ntj41861948 |journal=National Tax Journal |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=275–284 |doi=10.1086/ntj41861948 |issn=0028-0283|url-access=subscription }}

• {{Cite book |title=Young disadvantaged men: fathers, families, poverty, and policy |date=2011 |publisher=SAGE Publ |isbn=978-1-4522-0538-0 |editor-last=Smeeding |editor-first=Timothy M. |series=Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |location=Lose Angeles}}
• {{Cite book |last=Garfinkel |first=Irwin |url=https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Welfare-States-America-Laggard-ebook/dp/B00JC5UU36/ref=sr_1_2?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.kRNu9jcc0Ggu4ZiRE_GdktgFeFnkFnZT9eG2OklxewPfUsCa1aGfnPBog8yNc5qH7MtZFPWp5XOtlvXFfuocvvIEb38mex2a96j7RvZRUUe5YAZUUy7KZh_cn3D6jIdXMthlGc7zbhOdZZWSkGUf6v3ZtflRjS0_SR5vjI4pU1EUpYKHWl4DbZ7KWUdGME2O.D5cirAxT3_yvS51MejDX1jKfDhMaaWjk5GYcQBU4MlA&dib_tag=se&qid=1744224342&refinements=p_27%3AIrwin+Garfinkel&s=books&sr=1-2&text=Irwin+Garfinkel# |title=Wealth and Welfare States: Is America a Laggard or Leader? |date=January 28, 2010 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0191037559 |edition=1st}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Garfinkel |first1=Irwin |url=https://www.amazon.com/Earnings-Capacity-Inequality-Institute-monograph-ebook/dp/B01HGRF24I?ref_=ast_author_dp |title=Earnings Capacity, Poverty, and Inequality |last2=Haveman |first2=Robert H. |date=2013 |publisher=Elsevier Science |isbn=978-1-4832-6052-5 |location=Burlington}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Garfinkel |first1=Irwin |url=https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/single-mothers-and-their-children-a-new-american-dilemma-the-changing-domestic-priorities-series_irwin-garfinkel/1327452/#edition=1177814&idiq=37724 |title=Single mothers and their children: a new American dilemma |last2=McLanahan |first2=Sara |date=1986 |publisher=Urban Inst. Pr |isbn=978-0-87766-405-5 |edition=4. [print.] |series=The changing domestic priorities series |location=Washington, DC}}
• {{Cite book |last=Garfinkel |first=Irwin |url=https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/assuring-child-support-an-extension-of-social-security/1198631/#edition=35722045 |title=Assuring child support: an extension of social security |date=1992 |publisher=Russell Sage Foundation |isbn=978-0-87154-300-4 |location=New York}}
• {{Cite book |last=Garfinkel |first=Irwin |url=https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/income-tested-transfer-programs-the-case-for-and-against-institute-for-research-on-poverty-monograph-series/2714396/#edition=51283236&idiq=84427379 |title=Income-tested transfer programs: the case for and against |date=1982 |publisher=Academic Press |others=Institute for research on poverty, Ford foundation, United States |isbn=978-0-12-275880-5 |series=Institute for Research on Poverty monograph series |location=New York}}

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