College Park, MD--2/25/2014—Ms. Maxfield,currently a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at Michigan State University with concentrations in Public Economics, Labor Economics, Applied Econometrics and the Economics of Education, gave a presentation on the effects of the earned income tax credit (EITC) on child achievement and long-term educational attainment on Tuesday, February 4^th at Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal’s) office in M Square Research Park, Maryland.

Ms. Maxfield’s current research focuses on applied microeconomics with an emphasis on social policy evaluation. Her presentation was based on her job market paper that examined the effects of the EITC throughout all ages of childhood on achievement and future educational attainment. In addition to informing social policy, this research adds to the literature on the effects of income on child development. She also has a current project examining the effect of income and labor supply on marriage satisfaction and dissolution. Ms. Maxfield has worked as a research assistant as a fellow of the IES-funded program in the Economics of Education at Michigan State University. Prior to beginning work on her Ph.D., which Ms. Maxfield is expected to complete in May of 2014, she received her M.A. in Economics from Michigan State University in 2011 and her B.S. in Economics from Oakland University in 2009.

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Optimal Solutions Group, LLC

Founded in 2000, Optimal Solutions Group, LLC is a nonpartisan public policy research and technical assistance firm that stands out for its quantitative expertise and innovative approaches to provide rigorous, data-driven research and technical assistance to government agencies, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropic foundations. Located at the University of Maryland’s M Square Research Park in College Park, Optimal is a leader in driving real-time public policy research. Optimal has 60+ employees, including multidisciplinary researchers with backgrounds in business, communication, economics, education, health policy, psychology, public policy, sociology, statistics, and urban planning. Optimal has four research centers: Health, Education, Housing, and Workforce Development and Social Policy.