Dana Ansel

Former MassINC research director Dana Ansel has a broad range of public policy expertise and remains a MassINC expert and contributor in the area of financial literacy and higher education. 

Dana developed her interest in public policy as an undergraduate at Wellesley College. She continued her studies at Princeton University where she earned a doctorate in political science in 1997. Her research interests include labor market economics, inequality, and domestic public policy. Her dissertation, entitled “Poor Chances: The Working Poor Speak About Poverty and Opportunity,” is based on in-depth interviews with working-poor adults in Boston. Prior to joining MassINC, she did consulting work for the Commonwealth Corporation. She is involved with the United Way of Massachusetts Bay, the Women’s Union, and other nonprofit organizations in the area. While at MassINC, she oversaw all of the research products, including reports on the Massachusetts economy, the changing demographics of the state, home ownership, workforce development, and higher education.