Robert Plotnick

Professor, Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, studies poverty, welfare, family formation and, the determinants and consequences of teen and nonmarital fertility. His current poverty-related research includes studies of the effect of child support policies on nonmarital childbearing, of teenagers’ views on marriage, parenthood, and nonmarital childbearing and of the economic and health consequences for elders of being childless. He is also analyzing the benefits and costs of three interventions intended to improve the health and well-being of children and parents - enhanced foster care services, special services for children whose parents are in methadone treatment, and a program to improve new married parents’ caregiving skills and increase their marital stability.

Major Research Projects:

• West Coast Poverty Center
• Reproductive Health Leadership for the 21st Century

Sample Publications:

Plotnick, R. D.; Garfinkel, I.; McLanahan, S. S.; Ku, I., (2007), The Impact of Child Support Enforcement Policy on Nonmarital Childbearing, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 26: 1, 79-98.


Plotnick, R. (2006), Comment on: "The socioeconomic status of black males: The increasing importance of incarceration," by Steven Raphael, in Public Policy and the Income Distribution, John Quigley, Alan Auerbach and David Card (eds.), New York Russell Sage Foundation


2006. Plotnick, R. with Irwin Garfinkel, Sara McLanahan, and Inhoe Ku (2004), Better child support enforcement: Can it reduce teenage premarital childbearing?, Journal of Family Issues, 25(5): 634-57.


Plotnick R. with Elizabeth Peters and Se-Ook Jeong. (2003), How will welfare reform affect family structure and childbearing decisions?, Pp. 59-91 in R.A. Gordon & H. Walberg (Eds) Changing Welfare, New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.


Plotnick R. with Inhoe Ku (2003), Do children from welfare families obtain less schooling?, Demography, 40:1, February: 151-170.

For a complete list of publications by Robert Plotnick, visit his page in the poverty research section of the website.

Relevant Courses:

• PbAF 516: Microeconomics Policy Analysis
• PbAF 570: Social Policy Analysis and Management
• PbAF 573: Advanced Poverty Seminar

Contact Information:

Robert Plotnick
Email: plotnick@u.washington.edu
Homepageo: http://evans.washington.edu/faculty-staff/bios/current-hz/plotnick
Robert Plotnick’s CV [ PDF ]