Meredith Dost

Meredith Dost is a National Poverty Fellow for 2023–2024 in residence at the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). Meredith recently completed her PhD in Government and Social Policy from Harvard University, where she studied American politics. Her research interests include the administrative state and governance, political behavior, and inequality. Dost studies how interactions with the administrative state affect the political efficacy and behavior of both the recipients of means-tested government programs and of the general public. In her dissertation work, she examines how administrative burdens of Medicaid shape the likelihood of voting, leveraging the variation in program administration across the states. Before pursuing her PhD, she worked at Pew Research Center and earned a B.A. in Public Policy and Hispanic Studies from the College of William & Mary. Dost is mentored by IRP Affiliate Max Besbris and Julia Gelatt, Associate Director for U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute.