Gabrielle Pepin is a senior economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, focusing on the intersection of public economics, labor economics, and public policy. She is especially interested in how the design of tax and transfer programs—including child care subsidies, cash assistance, and unemployment insurance—shapes work, caregiving, and economic opportunity.
Pepin studies how the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), a state and federal tax credit intended to partially offset the cost of care, affects parents’ paid child care use and labor market outcomes. She also examines how the CDCTC affects caregivers of older or disabled adults and how key policy reforms would expand its value and reach.
In other work, Pepin studies effects of changes in the design of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, the federal cash assistance program for low-income families with children. Pepin is also involved in evaluations of the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) program, which aims to reduce the amount of time beneficiaries receive unemployment insurance (UI) by speeding their return to work.
Pepin’s research has been featured in ILR Review, National Tax Journal, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and AEA Papers and Proceedings, among others. Her work has been supported by the Center for American Progress, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, and various government agencies. She writes for general audiences, with pieces in Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, The Hill, Barron’s, and The 74. She is a research affiliate at IZA@LISER, the leading European labor economics research institute.
Pepin holds a PhD in economics from Michigan State University and a BS in mathematical economics from the University of St. Thomas.