Johabed G. Olvera

I am an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the Pennsylvania State University and an associate faculty member at the Population Research Institute. My research agenda examines social inequality and its manifestations in labor markets, family well-being, and population health, with particular attention to the intersection of demographic dynamics, paid and unpaid work, and maternal and child well-being in Latin America and the United States.

My work is grounded in three complementary lenses: public policy, public administration, and applied economics. I analyze how the design, implementation, and dismantling of public policies shape key population outcomes, including maternal mortality, health, employment, and income, and how these effects are distributed across gender, race, family structure, and socioeconomic status. Drawing on a strong causal framework, I study how institutional change produces measurable and often unequal impacts across social groups.

 My research has been published in journals such as the Journal of Population Economics, the Journal of Housing Economics, the Journal of Public Policy, and Public Administration Review. My research has been funded by The National Science Foundation. I hold a Ph.D. in public affairs from Indiana University’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. 

E-mail: jolvera@psu.edu

X: @JohabedOlvera