Dr. Lauren Jones

Biography

Lauren Jones conducts research on how government policies and economic conditions influence consumer behavior and family well-being. Her passion lies in producing rigorous, policy-driven research that enhances the material conditions of families, particularly children. Dr. Jones's work spans the fields of health, labor, public, and household economics; her studies include research on public health insurance, prescription drug use, tax credits, in-kind transfer programs, child care policy, and traffic safety. Her line of work examines how household finance and spending decisions are impacted by expansions in cash and in-kind transfers, exploring how programs affect long-term health and family formation. Her research focuses on risky health behaviors, including the effectiveness of traffic safety legislation related to child restraint use and fatalities, the risks of drunk driving, and questions surrounding prescription drug misuse. Dr. Jones has studied the market impacts of child care policy and the public financing of quality regulations. Her work has been published in the Journal of Human Resources and the Journal of Health Economics, and she has won best-paper awards from the Canadian Journal of Economics and the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. Joining the University of Toronto Scarborough in 2025, Lauren spent 10 years on the faculty at Ohio State University.

Research Interests

Experience