Noted Economist Stephen Bell Returns to Abt Associates

Stephen Bell, Ph.D., an economist and expert on estimating the effects of social programs, has rejoined Abt Associates as a principal scientist in the Social and Economic Policy (SEP) Division. He also joins the Abt Associates Fellows, a group of senior researchers who assess and enhance the quality of the Company's work.

Dr. Bell, a principal research associate at The Urban Institute for the last nine years, previously was a senior economist and project director at Abt Associates, where he gained recognition for the evaluation of large-scale job training and employment programs. Dr. Bell's findings on the labor market effects of these programs had significant influence over the redesign of the nation's principal job training program and guided the Social Security Administration's policies on disability and employment.

"Steve Bell is a fabulous addition to our staff," said Katie Heintz, SEP division vice president. "He is highly respected in his field and significantly bolsters our capacity to take on random assignment evaluations. We couldn't be happier to have him back at Abt Associates."

Dr. Bell will apply his skills and extensive experience in experimental and quasi-experimental impact evaluation to a broad range of projects, including serving as principal investigator or project quality advisor on projects in the areas of workforce, disabilities, and education. He will continue in his established role as lead methodologist for the National Head Start Impact Study (NHSIS), a landmark evaluation of early childhood development assistance as an anti-poverty strategy that uses random assignment to obtain reliable estimates of impact on children's school readiness. He also studies employment strategies for people receiving disability benefits in Great Britain and the U.S. and has authored a practitioners' guide to conducting more rigorous evaluations of labor market interventions for the U.S. Department of Labor.

"I'm excited by the commitment to research quality at Abt Associates and the number of important policy evaluations currently underway," said Dr. Bell. "That's why I came back — to contribute to efforts to find effective interventions for disadvantaged Americans"

Dr. Bell earned his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and his B.A. in economics at Knox College. He will be based in Abt Associates' Bethesda, Maryland, office.