Stephen Bell, Ph.D.

Vice President & Associate Director

Stephen H. Bell, Ph.D., is a senior economist with extensive experience evaluating the effects of social and market interventions on the well-being of disadvantaged Americans and poor people worldwide.

Dr. Bell specializes in econometric impact analysis. He has helped design many large-scale social experiments using random assignment in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy. Dr. Bell is also an expert in the use of quasi-experimental estimation techniques when randomization is not possible. His recent work has focused on experimental trials of employment assistance, housing and nutrition interventions, and international agricultural development initiatives.

Dr. Bell has led evaluation studies to support the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health & Human Services, Agriculture, Education, and Housing & Urban Development—as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Social Security Administration. His original methodologies for measuring the impacts of social programs have been published in several peer-reviewed statistics and evaluation journals, a U.S. Department of Labor field guide on evaluation methods, and a book on quasi-experimental impact analysis techniques. Dr. Bell is a recipient of the Raymond Vernon Memorial Award for the best article published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management in 2018.

In recognition of his contributions to the field, Dr. Bell has been named a Westat Senior Statistical Fellow and serves on the Statistical Fellows Committee, which provides consultation on important survey statistics issues and addresses recent advances in applied statistics.

Education

Ph.D., Economics, University of Wisconsin–Madison

M.S., Economics, University of Wisconsin–Madison

B.A. (magna cum laude), Economics, Knox College

Areas of Expertise

Statistical Research

Selected Publications

Gubits D., Shinn M., Wood M., Brown S.R., Dastrup S.R., Bell S.H. (2018).

What interventions work best for families who experience homelessness? Impact estimates from the Family Options Study.

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 37(4) 835-866.

DOI

Collins A.M., Klerman J.A., Briefel R., Rowe G., Gordon A., Logan C., Wolf A., Bell S.H. (2018).

A summer nutrition benefit pilot program and low-income children's food security.

Pediatrics, 141(4) e20171657.

DOI

Olsen R.B., Bell S.H., Nichols A. (2018).

Using preferred applicant random assignment (PARA) to reduce randomization bias in randomized trials of discretionary programs.

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 37(1) 167-180.

DOI

Klerman J.A., Wolf A., Collins A.M., Bell S.H., Briefel R. (2017).

The effects the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children Demonstration has on children’s food security.

Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 39(3) 516-532.

DOI

Stuart E.A., Bell S.H., Ebnesajjad C., Olsen R.B., Orr L.L. (2017).

Characteristics of school districts that participate in rigorous national educational evaluations.

Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 10(1) 168-206.

DOI

Bell S.H., Peck L.R. (2016).

On the “how” of social experiments: Experimental designs for getting inside the black box.

New Directions for Evaluation, 152 97-107.

DOI

Bell S.H., Stuart E.A. (2016).

On the “Where” of social experiments: The nature and extent of the generalizability problem.

New Directions for Evaluation, 152 47-59.

DOI

Bell S.H., Peck L.R. (2016).

On the feasibility of extending social experiments to wider applications.

Journal of Multidisciplinary Evaluation, 12(27) 93-112.

Source

Bell S.H., Olsen R.B., Orr L.L., Stuart E.A. (2016).

Estimates of external validity bias when impact evaluations select sites nonrandomly.

Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 38(2) 318-335.

DOI