Joseph E. Potter

Joe Potter is a demographer with a doctorate in economics from Princeton University. He is Principal Investigator of the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, studying the impact of legislation affecting reproductive health enacted during the 2011 Texas Legislative Session. Much of his earlier research addressed fertility and contraceptive practice in Mexico and Brazil. From 2006 to 2011, he led the Border Contraceptive Access Study (BCAS), which addressed the “natural experiment” that exists in El Paso, Texas where women may access the pill either in pharmacies without a prescription (across the border), or through family planning clinics in El Paso.

Joe has been at UT since 1989, and teaches courses on demographic methods and the evaluation of social policies. Outside the office, he may be found cycling, playing with grandchildren, or fly-fishing in Montana.