Mathematica Inc.

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Mathematica Inc., formerly Mathematica Policy Research, is an American research organization and consulting company headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey. The company provides data science, social science, and technological services for social policy initiatives. [1] Mathematica employs approximately 1,600 researchers, analysts, technologists, and practitioners [2] in nine offices across the United States: Princeton, New Jersey; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Washington, DC; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Seattle, Washington; [3] Woodlawn, Maryland; Tucson, Arizona and Oakland, California. In 2018, the company acquired EDI Global, a data research company based in the United Kingdom and Africa. [4] Mathematica's clients include federal agencies, state and local governments, foundations, universities, private-sector companies, and international organizations.

Contents

History

Samuel G. Barton [5] [6] founded the Industrial Surveys Company in the late 1930s. His company later became Market Research Corporation of America. The latter formed a unit named Mathematica, which in 1969 "was spun off ... to allow for faster growth." [7] Oskar Morgenstern was the first chairman of Mathematica, Inc.

Mathematica had three divisions:

A quarter of a century after Mathematica's founding, it "was largely owned by a group of professors in Mathematics and Economics at Princeton University ... as this group aged, they opted to cash out by selling." The result was a 3-way split:

Research

In 1968, the pre-split Mathematica company conducted the first social policy experiment in the United States, the New Jersey Income Maintenance Experiment (an experimental study of a negative income tax), to test ways of encouraging low-income individuals to work. [9]

In 1975, it was incorporated under its present name, as part of Mathematica, Inc. In 1986, the firm became employee-owned, and the only firm using the Mathematica name.

MPR became known for its large-scale random assignment evaluations of policies and programs such as abstinence education [10] and Job Corps. [11]

Research centers

In early 1995, Mathematica formed a research affiliate, the Center for Studying Health System Change, which provides objective analyses of how the country’s changing health care system affects individuals and families.

In 2007, the company launched the Center for Studying Disability Policy (CSDP), to inform disability policy formation with rigorous, objective research, and data collected from the people disability policy aims to serve. CSDP provides leadership and support for disability research and data collection conducted by Mathematica.

In early 2008, Mathematica created the Center for Improving Research Evidence (CIRE), to identify, assess, and disseminate results from quality, rigorous research to inform evidence-based policymaking. CIRE also provides technical assistance in designing, conducting, assessing, and using a range of scientific policy research and evaluations to support a growing national and international research base.

In 2010, Mathematica established the Center on Health Care Effectiveness (CHCE), a resource for policymakers, the public, and other stakeholders.

In 2013, Mathematica established the Center for International Policy Research and Evaluation (CIPRE). Its focus is to provide research-based information to funders and policymakers addressing global development issues.

Structure

Mathematica operates three business divisions: health, human services, and international research. [12] Today, the company centers on research consultation for policy topics including disability, early childhood, education, family support, health, international, labor, and nutrition. The company specializes in program evaluation, policy analysis, survey design, data collection, data management, and interpretation. In recent years, it has begun offering services in data science, design, and visualization.

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Survey of Income and Program Participation</span> Census survey

The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is a statistical survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The SIPP is designed to provide accurate and comprehensive information about the incomes of American individuals and households and their participation in income transfer programs.

Oskar Morgenstern was a German-born economist. In collaboration with mathematician John von Neumann, he founded the mathematical field of game theory as applied to the social sciences and strategic decision-making.

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CSDP usually refers to the Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Union (EU). CSDP may also refer to:

NORC at the University of Chicago is one of the largest independent social research organizations in the United States. Established in 1941 as the National Opinion Research Center, its corporate headquarters is located in downtown Chicago, with offices in several other locations throughout the United States. Organized as an independent corporation, more than half its board comes from faculty and administration of the University of Chicago. It also jointly staffs some of the university's academic research centers.

Disability Insurance, often called DI or disability income insurance, or income protection, is a form of insurance that insures the beneficiary's earned income against the risk that a disability creates a barrier for completion of core work functions. For example, the worker may be unable to maintain composure in the case of psychological disorders or sustain an injury, illness or condition that causes physical impairment or incapacity to work. DI encompasses paid sick leave, short-term disability benefits (STD), and long-term disability benefits (LTD). The same concept is instantiated in some countries as income protection insurance.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Negative income tax</span> Proposed tax reform

In economics, a negative income tax (NIT) is a system which reverses the direction in which tax is paid for incomes below a certain level; in other words, earners above that level pay money to the state while earners below it receive money, as shown by the blue arrows in the diagram. NIT was proposed by Juliet Rhys-Williams while working on the Beveridge Report in the early 1940s and popularized by Milton Friedman in the 1960s as a system in which the state makes payments to the poor when their income falls below a threshold, while taxing them on income above that threshold. Together with Friedman, supporters of NIT also included James Tobin, Joseph A. Pechman, and Peter M. Mieszkowski, and even then-President Richard Nixon, who suggested implementation of modified NIT in his Family Assistance Plan. After the increase in popularity of NIT, an experiment sponsored by the US government was conducted between 1968 and 1982 on effects of NIT on labour supply, income, and substitution effects.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welfare in Finland</span> Overview of welfare in Finland

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Center for Distributive, Labor and Social Studies</span>

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Mathematica Inc. was a multi-faceted American software company and consulting group founded by Princeton University professors in 1968. The computer had three primary divisions: Mathematica Policy Research, which did consulting work, mostly "to develop mathematical models for marketing decision making"; Mathematica Products Group, best known for developing RAMIS; and MathTech, the company's technical and economic consulting group. The company was also a leading developer of state lottery systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics</span> Federal statistical agency of the United States

The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) is one of the thirteen principal statistical agencies of the United States and is tasked with providing objective data on the status of the science and engineering enterprise in the U.S. and other countries. NCSES sponsors or co-sponsors data collection on 15 surveys and produces two key publications: Science and Engineering Indicators, and Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. Though policy-neutral, the data and reports produced by NCSES are used by policymakers when making policy decisions regarding STEM education and research funding in the U.S.

References

  1. ↑ "Mathematica". April 22, 2022.
  2. ↑ "About Mathematica".
  3. ↑ "Mathematica Expands with New Office in Seattle". October 16, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Mathematica and EDI Announce Intended Merger".
  5. ↑ 1914 - Jan.23, 1982: Age 68
  6. ↑ "SAMUEL G. BARTON, 68, A MARKETING SPECIALIST". The New York Times . January 29, 1982.
  7. 1 2 3 Karen W. Arenson (February 22, 1983). "MATHEMATICA'S SHIFT INTO SOFTWARE FIELD". The New York Times.
  8. ↑ James Barron (November 8, 1987). "Learning The Facts of Life". The New York Times .
  9. ↑ "NIT Archive". Wisc.edu. Archived from the original on 6 December 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  10. ↑ "What the Research Says..." (PDF). Siecus.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2015-05-16.
  11. ↑ Archived September 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ "Mathematica: Our Focus Areas". April 22, 2022.


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