Yale Tobin Center for Economic Policy

What Yale Tobin Center for Economic Policy does

The Yale Tobin Center for Economic Policy is a non-profit university research center founded in 2019 and operated by Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. It advances evidence-based economic policy by funding and supporting research across seven initiative areas — Health Economics, Digital Economy, Economic Mobility, Climate, Supply Chain, Evidence-Based Policy, and Early Childhood and Education — and by facilitating direct engagement between Yale faculty researchers and federal, state, and local policymakers. Since founding, the center has supported more than 120 research projects and hundreds of faculty-policymaker conversations; research outputs have been cited in a presidential State of the Union address, congressional media releases, and state-level rulemaking proceedings.

The center's core technology stack centers on large-scale linked administrative datasets, quasi-experimental designs based on random judge assignment, and 20-year randomized lottery data linkages used to study family and economic outcomes. Proprietary data assets include eviction court records linked to school, Census, earnings, hospital, and credit bureau records in Chicago and New York City; an EV charging infrastructure spatial optimization model built on cell-phone track and vehicle-registration data; and an interactive Hospital Closure and Opening Tracking Tool built on 25 years of facility data. Outputs are distributed via the tobin.yale.edu website, policy briefs, conferences (including Law of Abundance and biannual housing conferences co-hosted with Columbia, NYU, and Niskanen Center), earned media, and direct engagement. The center runs training programs including a Pre-Doctoral Fellows Program and a Connecticut Governor's Fellowship Program.

The business model is non-commercial. Funding flows from Yale institutional support, foundation and research grants (with staff pedigree including Arnold Ventures and Federal Reserve alumni), and partnership funding such as a Cowles Foundation collaboration. There are no priced products or services; all research, briefs, and tools are published free of charge. Customers in an influence-adoption sense are federal and state policymakers (e.g., Treasury OFR, HUD, Virginia Governor's cabinet, Texas Select Committee, Indiana Department of Health), academic collaborators (Stanford SIEPR, Columbia, NYU, NBER), and the general public.

Name

Yale Tobin Center for Economic Policy

Legal name

Yale Tobin Center for Economic Policy

Website

https://tobin.yale.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Non-profit Yale University research center founded in 2019 that funds evidence-based economic policy research, supports 150+ Yale faculty, and translates findings into federal, state, and local policy through briefs, datasets, and convenings.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Economic Policy Research Services

NAICS

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Think Tanks, Policy Research & Public Policy Institutes (BPAGAFAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

Education Economics, Finance & Funding Policy Research (EDADADAE), Policy, Regulatory & Public Affairs Research (BPAHALAF)

Keywords

• Economic policy research
• Evidence-based policy analysis
• Policy brief publishing
• Academic research support
• Administrative data analysis

Headquarters

HQ city

New Haven

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Research Grants and Funding: The center supports research projects through seed funding and various forms of in-kind support. Michelle Hahn previously worked at Arnold Ventures, a philanthropy organization that funds policy research.
2. University Institutional Support: Founded at Yale University with institutional backing, operating as part of the university's social science research infrastructure.
3. Partnership Funding: Collaborative funding with other institutions such as the Cowles Foundation for joint conferences and research initiatives.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Yale Tobin Center for Economic Policy is a university-based non-profit research center that supports Yale faculty in producing rigorous economic policy research and translates it into actionable guidance for federal, state, and local policymakers. Its deliverables include the Health Care Affordability Lab, a Policy Briefs publication series, fellowship and training programs (Pre-Doctoral Fellows, Connecticut Governor's Fellowship), and standalone research tools such as the Hospital Closure/Opening Tracker and an Eviction Court Administrative Data Platform.

Product overview

The Yale Tobin Center for Economic Policy is a university-based research institution (not a commercial product company) that advances economic policy research through multiple initiatives. Its core offerings include the Health Care Affordability Lab, which produces evidence on health care costs; Policy Briefs that translate academic research into policy guidance; and training programs (Pre-Doctoral Fellows Program and Governor's Fellowship Program). The center also develops research tools including a hospital closure/opening tracking tool and eviction research datasets. The center supports research across seven initiative areas: Health Economics, Digital Economy, Economic Mobility, Climate, Supply Chain, Evidence-Based Policy, and Early Childhood and Education.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Health Care Affordability Lab: A lab at Yale producing new evidence to guide policymakers and lower health care costs for individuals and the health care system.

Products and services

• Health Care Affordability Lab at Yale

Quantifiable outcome

• Supported 120+ research projects and hundreds of researcher-policymaker conversations since 2019
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2023Collaborating to make it easier for academic research to play a role in the federal regulatory process through the notice-and-comment rulemaking process.
• Columbia UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosting biannual housing research conferences with NYU to bring together researchers working on housing affordability policy.
• New York University (NYU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosting biannual housing research conferences with Columbia to bring together researchers working on housing affordability policy.
• Yale Cowles Foundation for Research in EconomicscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-sponsored the housing research conference with Tobin Center and Columbia/NYU.
• Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosted events with Stuart Buck on reproducibility and transparency in science.
• Data-Intensive Social Science Center (DISSC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosted events on reproducibility and transparency in science. DISSC provides infrastructure for open and reproducible research.
• Yale LibraryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosted events on reproducibility and transparency in science.
• Niskanen CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosted Law of Abundance conference focusing on state capacity and abundance policy reforms.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• Arnold Ventures: Major philanthropic funder of evidence-based policy research and a former employer of Tobin's Acting Executive Director. Comparable mission on rigorous evidence for government effectiveness, but operates as funder rather than research producer.
• NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research): Network of leading academic economists producing working papers and convening policy discussion. Tobin faculty affiliates are NBER affiliates; complementary ecosystem rather than direct competitor.

Broad incumbents

• Brookings Institution: Large, established DC-based think tank producing economic, social, and foreign policy research. Overlaps with Tobin on health economics and state capacity work but operates at much greater scale and scope.
• Urban Institute: Nonprofit research organization focused on social and economic policy using large administrative datasets. Comparable on evidence-based policy research with government focus, though broader in scope.
• Milken Institute: Nonprofit economic think tank producing research on economic growth, health, and capital markets. Overlaps with Tobin on health economics and economic mobility research but operates at broader scale and scope.

Direct peers

• Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR): Stanford's economics policy research center, an explicit Tobin partner on federal notice-and-comment rulemaking. Same model: university-based, faculty-supported economic policy research with direct policymaker engagement.
• Harvard Kennedy School Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government: Harvard Kennedy School research center bridging economic research and government policy. Comparable university-based policy research model with focus on evidence-based policymaking and practitioner training.
• Opportunity Insights: Harvard-based economic mobility research initiative led by Raj Chetty using large administrative datasets. Highly comparable on linked-data methodology, economic mobility focus, and direct engagement with local/state policymakers.
• Princeton Industrial Relations Section: Long-standing Princeton economics research and training unit producing influential labor and public economics research. Same academic model: rigorous economics with policy implications, supporting faculty and pre-doctoral fellows.
• University of Chicago Becker Friedman Institute: Economics research institute at the University of Chicago focused on data-intensive economic research and policy translation. Highly comparable faculty network and quasi-experimental methodology emphasis.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/YaleTobinCenter
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/yale-tobin-center

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Yale Tobin Center for Economic Policy