She is Professor of Economics and Researcher at the Center for Population Studies at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on labour economics, demography and health in the US, from a long-term economic-historical perspective. Her work analyses the implications of the spread of modern contraception on motherhood, career decisions and pay. She has a special interest in analysing «Great Society» programmes in the short and long term and the creation of a Micro Electronic Database (LIFE-M), which allows economic growth and geographic mobility to be studied, as well as family formation throughout the twentieth century.