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Timothy M. Smeeding is an American economist and public policy scholar working on income distribution, poverty, wealth inequality, social mobility, and comparative social policy. He is the Lee Rainwater Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs and Economics at the La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin–Madison. He previously served as director of the Institute for Research on Poverty from 2008 to 2014. He co-founded the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS). Throughout his career, he has advised organizations including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank on issues relating to poverty, inequality, and social policy.

Early life and education

Smeeding earned both his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Career

Early academic career

Before joining Syracuse University, Smeeding held faculty appointments at Bowdoin College, the University of Utah, and Vanderbilt University. His early research examined poverty, income distribution, and public policy, laying the foundation for his later work in comparative social policy and economic inequality.

Syracuse University

In 1990, Smeeding joined Syracuse University, where he served as Maxwell Professor of Public Policy and Distinguished Professor of Economics and Public Administration in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs until 2008. During his tenure, he conducted research on comparative poverty, income inequality, wealth distribution, retirement income, and economic well-being across developed countries.

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Following his appointment at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Smeeding joined the La Follette School of Public Affairs as the Lee Rainwater Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Economics. He later became Hilldale Professor and subsequently Professor Emeritus.

From 2008 to 2014, he served as director of the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP), an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to studying poverty and evaluating policies affecting low-income populations. During his directorship, the institute expanded research on child poverty, retirement security, wealth inequality, and economic mobility.

Luxembourg Income Study

In 1983, Smeeding co-founded the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), an international research project designed to harmonize household income data from multiple countries for comparative analysis. He served as the project's founding director until 2006.

Under his leadership, LIS became one of the leading international databases for research on income inequality, poverty, taxation, and social transfers. The project has been widely used by economists, sociologists, and public policy researchers studying living standards and welfare systems across countries.

Books

Smeeding has authored or edited numerous books and scholarly publications on income inequality, poverty, wealth, and social policy. Selected publications include:

• Poor Kids in a Rich Country: America's Children in Comparative Perspective (2003), co-authored with Lee Rainwater.
• The Future of the Family (2004), edited with Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Lee Rainwater.
• The Oxford Handbook of Economic Inequality (2009), editor.
• Wealth and Welfare States: Is America a Laggard or Leader? (2010), co-authored with Irwin Garfinkel and Lee Rainwater.
• Young Disadvantaged Men: Fathers, Families, Poverty, and Policy (2011), editor.
• From Parents to Children: The Intergenerational Transmission of Advantage (2012), editor.
• SNAP Matters: How Food Stamps Affect Health and Well-Being (2015), editor.

In addition to these books, Smeeding has authored or co-authored more than 270 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and policy publications.