|
|
|
|
|
Upcoming
The Tobin Project: Conference on Inequality and Decision-Making Participants Selected
August 4-5, 2016
The Tobin Project | Inequality & Social Policy doctoral fellows Beth Truesdale (Ph.D. candidate in Sociology) and Robert Manduca (Ph.D. student in Sociology & Social Policy), and alumnae Jennifer Sheehy-Skeffington (Ph.D. '14) and Vanessa Williamson (Ph.D. '15), are among the group of national and international scholars selected to participate in The Tobin Project's Conference on Inequality and Decision-Making and accompanying doctoral workshop, to be held Aug 4-6, 2016, in Cambridge, MA.
|
|
Insight and analysis
Black Americans See Gains in Life Expectancy
May 8, 2016
The New York Times | Quotes Robert J. Sampson, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences. Also David R. Williams, Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health, who spoke about health disparities by race in the Inequality & Social Seminar Series, February 8, 2016.
"Republicans are not in any way serious about criminal justice reform or ending police brutality."
May 8, 2016
Salon | Salon talks with Michael Javen Fortner (Ph.D. '10) on race, the Clintons, and the crime bill. Fortner is Assistant Professor of Political Science at CUNY and the author of Black Silent Majority: The Rockefeller Drug Laws and the Politics of Punishment (Harvard University Press 2015).
Republican Party Unravels Over Donald Trump's Takeover
May 7, 2016
The New York Times | Quotes Robert Putnam, Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy. “The economic deprivation of the last 30 years for working-class whites, combined with growing social isolation, was really dry tinder…”
Interview with Jennifer Hochschild
May 6, 2016
E-International Relations | Jennifer Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government and Professor of African and African American Studies, sits down for a discussion of what she sees as the most exciting research and debates she sees happening in her field, and what has prompted the most significant shifts in her thinking.
|
|
|
The worrisome return of a racist form of home lending
May 5, 2016
Urban Institute | By Steven Brown, Ph.D. candidate in Sociology. How and why "contract for deed" is making a comeback and what it means for economic mobility and wealth accumulation for minority families. Brown is an affiliated scholar and contributor to the Inequality and Mobility Initiative at the Urban Institute.
Love Your Tax Refund? Here's a Bipartisan Proposal to Make It Even Better
May 5, 2016
TalkPoverty.org | By Sara Greene (Ph.D. '14, now associate professor at Duke Law School), Sarah Halpern-Meekin (Ph.D. '09, now University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Ezra Levin (Associate Director, CFED).
Is the American Party System About to Crack Up?
May 5, 2016
The Nation | By Danielle Allen of Harvard, Rick Perlstein, and Daniel Schlozman (Ph.D. '11) of Johns Hopkins University. Three scholars of American politics and history consider whether we're on the verge of a fundamental realignment.
|
|
|
New Research Shows Employers May be Missing Out by Avoiding those with Felony Records
May 5, 2016
Bloomberg.com | Delves into new research by Devah Pager, Professor of Sociology and Public Policy, which uses the experience of the U.S. military — the nation's largest employer — with felony waivers to examine the work performance of those with felony-level criminal records. The article also discusses the implications for ban-the-box measures and the reintegration of those formerly incarcerated into the labor market.
See also
- Do Those with Felony Records Make Good Employees?
April 22, 2016
NPR Morning Edition | Devah Pager, Professor of Sociology and Public Policy, explains how the military provided a natural experiment to test how those with felony records perform on the job and what she found.
- To Ban the Box or Not Ban the Box? How Policy Change Can Affect Hiring and Employment
April 27, 2016
Chicago Policy Review | Reviews new paper by Daniel Shoag (Ph.D. '11, Assistant Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School) and Stan Veuger (AEI), which finds that ban-the-box measures increased employment of residents in high crime neighborhoods by as much as 4%, benefiting low-skilled African-American men, while reducing employment opportunities for women as employers responded by increasing experience requirements. View the paper.
No room for the urban poor? 'Eviction' author explains
May 5, 2016
The Christian Science Monitor | Interview with Matthew Desmond, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences, who explains why eviction must be central to any comprehensive anti-poverty discussion and why he chose to document the perspectives of landlords as well.
Populism and the Paradox of Welfare Chauvinists
May 4, 2016
Mobilizing Ideas | By Noam Gidron, Ph.D. candidate in Government.
Trump, Made in America
May 3, 2016
Le 1 Hebdo | By Bart Bonikowski, Assistant Professor of Sociology. Published in French as 'Un pur produit américain'.
|
|
|
Lead Water Pipes Linked to Higher Murder Rates
April 20, 2016
The Huffington Post | Features research by James Feigenbaum, who will receive his Ph.D.in Economics later this month, and Christopher Muller (Ph.D. '14), now Assistant Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley, linking lead exposure and violent crime in the early 20th century.
Feigenbaum and Muller presented this work, which is forthcoming in Explorations in Economic History, in the Inequality & Social Policy Seminar on April 18. Get the Feigenbaum and Muller paper.
See also
|
|
|
School districts are a big reason for the rise in income segregation in the U.S.
May 3, 2016
Los Angeles Times | Research by Ann Owens (Ph.D. '12), Assistant Professor of Sociology at USC, is featured. View the study, forthcoming in the American Sociological Review.
How Not to 'Improve' Income Trend Estimates
May 3, 2016
Forbes (Reprint at e21) | By Scott Winship (Ph.D. '09), Walter B. Wriston fellow at the Manhattan Institute. A response by John Komlos, the author of the original study, is posted at Forbes.
“Optimally Ambiguous Exchanges” and Other Conditions for Productive Interdisciplinary Collaboration
May 3, 2016
SSRC Items | By Michèle Lamont (Professor of Sociology and of African and African American Studies and the Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies), Veronica Boix Mansilla (HGSE), and Kyoko Sato (Stanford University).
The Republican-big business alliance is fraying. Now what?
May 2, 2016
Vox | Features research by Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Ph.D. candidate in Government & Social Policy, and Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government & Social Policy, from their paper "Billionaires against Big Business: Growing Tensions in the Republican Party Coalition."
Also cites Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson (Ph.D. '15, now a fellow at the Brookings Institution), The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism.
Is my program having a positive impact? Impact evaluation 101 with David Evans, Senior Economist, World Bank
May 2, 2016
Gov Innovator Podcast | Andy Feldman (Ph.D. '07), Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution, interviews David Evans (Ph.D. '05), Senior Economist at The World Bank.
|
|
Is There a Better Way to Pay for America's Schools?
May 1, 2016
NPR Weekend Edition | Nora Gordon (Ph.D. '02), Associate Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University, explains how Title I, an anti-poverty program, privileges wealthy, high-spending states. Gordon "has spent her career studying Title I and its effects on schools and has just released a few big ideas to improve it."
Chobani’s Shared Capitalism Bonanza
April 29, 2016
Pacific Standard | Quotes Richard B. Freeman, Herbert Ascherman Professor of Economics.
Are the Panama Papers Just the Tip of Australia's Tax Avoidance Iceberg?
April 29, 2016
Huffington Post | By Andrew Leigh (Ph.D. '04), Federal Member for Fraser and Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Parliament of Australia.
No Plumbing, No Protection: The Story of Milwaukee's Evicted
April 29, 2016
The Nation | "Many of the worst symptoms of American poverty are rooted in instability brought on by eviction, according to a new book by sociologist Matthew Desmond." Desmond is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of Social Science at Harvard.
Changing housing is not the same as changing neighborhoods
April 28, 2016
Urban Institute | By Steven Brown, Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and an affiliated scholar with the Urban Institute.
On the soda tax, Clinton and Sanders contradict themselves
April 28, 2016
Brookings Institution | By Vanessa Williamson (Ph.D. '15), Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution.
Trump and Sanders aren't blazing new trails. Populism has run through U.S. politics for a very long time.
April 28, 2016
Washington Post | By Bart Bonikowski, Assistant Professor of Sociology, and Noam Gidron, Ph.D. candidate in Government.
After Trump: How authoritarian voters will change American politics
April 28, 2016
Vox | Quotes Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology, and Vanessa S. Williamson (Ph.D. '14), Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. Also cites research of Skocpol and Alex Hertel-Fernandez (Ph.D. candidate in Government & Social Policy) showing that wealthy donor networks have largely supplanted the GOP in the share of financial resources available for conservative causes and candidates.
Creating cities to be spaces for voice and influence
April 27, 2016
Harvard Kennedy School | Interview with Quinton Mayne, Assistant Professor of Public Policy.
“I’m really interested in understanding the difference in the powers that cities and local governments have and what the consequences of those differences are for how people think and act politically. I’m also interested in how these differences affect the types of goods and services local governments are able to produce.
"There's a lot of excitement right now, and energy, around cities as the site of participation and engagement and at the level where problems can get solved and challenges can be addressed. I care a lot about trying to figure out the conditions under which cities are able to realize their potential as real problem-solvers and spaces of meaningful participation."
#AirbnbWhileBlack: How Hidden Bias Shapes the Sharing Economy.
April 26, 2016
NPR Hidden Brain | Discusses study by Inequality faculty affiliate Michael Luca and HBS colleagues Benjamin Edelman and Dan Svirsky on racial discrimination in the sharing economy [Article and audio: 22:29 minutes]. Read the original study, based on a field experiment Luca and colleagues conducted on Airbnb, here.
How contraception can boost social mobility
April 26, 2016
Brookings Institution | By Adam Thomas (Ph.D. 07, Visiting Associate Professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy) and Quentin Karpilow (Child Trends).
Boston has a new program to help young workers build credit
April 26, 2016
Boston.com | Alicia Sasser Modestino (Ph.D. '01) will be working with Boston's Office of Financial Empowerment to evaluate a new program for low-income workers to build credit. Modestino is an Associate Professor at Northeastern University and Associate Director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy.
New Research: How your Reputational Awareness can Incite Action
April 26, 2016
Harvard Kennedy School | Interview with Todd Rogers, Associate Professor of Public Policy, about his research examining how subtle interventions to increase the perceived observability of society-benefiting behaviors might be used to increase contributions to public goods. Read the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Economic Inequality and the Founding Fathers
April 25, 2016
The Atlantic | Discussion of new book, American Growth and Inequality since 1700, by Peter Lindert and Jeffrey Williamson (Laird Bell Professor of Economics Emeritus, Harvard). Also highlights The Citizen’s Share: Reducing Inequality in the 21st Century, by Joseph R. Blasi, Richard B. Freeman (Herbert Ascherman Professor of Economics), and Douglas L. Kruse.
American Ghetto
April 24, 2016
The Chronicle Review | By Mario L. Small, Grafstein Family Professor of Sociology. Review of Mitchell Duneier's Ghetto: The Invention of a Place, the History of an Idea. "The heart of book," writes Small, "is three detailed studies of black scholars who in the 1940s, ’60s, and ’80s wrote definitive texts on urban conditions among African-Americans," with William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, and his book,The Truly Disadvantaged (1987), the focus of the third.
Leah Wright Rigueur on African Americans and Politics
April 22, 2016
Harvard Kennedy School | Leah Wright Rigueur, an historian and assistant professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, sits down for a wide-ranging analysis of the 2016 presidential campaign, African Americans' relationship to the Republican and Democratic parties, and Black Lives Matter in historical context.
|
|
|
Toward a path less riddled: Anthony Abraham Jack has left a mark on campus life
April 21, 2016
Harvard Gazette | Profile of Anthony Abraham Jack, who will graduate with his Ph.D. in Sociology in May.
How Violence Shapes Children for Life
April 20, 2016
Washington Post | Discusses new research by Patrick Sharkey (Ph.D. '07), Associate Professor of Sociology at NYU, which suggests that places with more violent crime lower children's prospects for economic mobility. Nathaniel Hendren, Assistant Professor of Economics, comments on the study.
Want to Fix Education? Give a Kid a Tutor
April 19, 2016
Bloomberg View | Reviews a new survey of field experiments on the production of human capital by Roland Fryer, Henry Lee Professor of Economics, and the lessons they offer for education policy. View Fryer's paper, "which concludes with a back of the envelope simulation of how much of the racial wage gap in America might be accounted for if human capital policy focused on best practices gleaned from randomized field experiments."
Why the Republican Party Can't Win Over Black Voters
April 19, 2016
The New Republic | By Theodore R. Johnson and Leah Wright Rigueur (Assistant Professor, Harvard Kennedy School). "The very politics of exclusion that have delivered dozens of statehouses run counter to the message of inclusion necessary to win the White House," Johnson and Rigueur argue.
Why Sanders Does Better with Independents
April 18, 2016
FiveThirtyEight | By Dan Hopkins (Ph.D. '07), Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania.
In 'Evicted', a problem society must solve
April 17, 2016
Boston Globe | Interview with Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted.
Criminal justice reform, by filibuster
April 17, 2016
Boston Globe | Highlights forthcoming study by Crystal S. Yang (Ph.D. '13, now assistant professor at Harvard Law School) showing that vacancies in the federal judiciary have resulted in 1,000 fewer prison inmates annually, a 1.5% decrease. The study, "Resource Constraints and the Criminal Justice System: Evidence from Judicial Vacancies," is forthcoming in American Economic Journal: Economic Policy.
In Cramped and Costly Bay Area, Cries to Build, Baby, Build
April 16, 2016
The New York Times | Mentions dissertation research by Michael Hankinson, Ph.D. candidate in Government & Social Policy, on city housing prices, new development, and the politics of NIMBYism.
|
|
|
The Egalitarian
April 15, 2016
Harvard Magazine | Danielle Allen's mission to return equality to the heart of American democracy. The Inequality & Social Policy program welcomes Danielle Allen, Professor of Government and Education, as a new faculty affiliate this year. Allen also serves as Director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.
|
|
Reassessing the Gender Gap
April 15, 2016
Harvard Magazine | Examining the gender wage gap with Claudia Goldin, Henry Lee Professor of Economics.
Who Owns the Robots Rules the World: The Deeper Threat of Robotization
April 15, 2016
Harvard Magazine | By Richard B. Freeman, Herbert Ascherman Professor of Economics
Video: Matthew Desmond Testifies before House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee
April 14, 2016
U.S. House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee | Testimony of Matthew Desmond, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of Social Sciences, House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee hearing, "The Failure of Trickle Down Economics in the War on Poverty."
How conservative megadonors built a shadow GOP that weakened the official party
April 14, 2016
Vox | Elite donor groups have pulled Republican politicians to the far right on economic policy, according to research by Theda Skocpol (Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology), Alexander Hertel-Fernandez (Ph.D. candidate in Government & Social Policy), and Vanessa S. Williamson (Ph.D. '15, now a fellow at the Brookings Institution).
Turning the Tide: Evidence on State Takeover and District Turnaround from Lawrence, Massachusetts
April 13, 2016
Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston | By Beth E. Schueler (Doctoral candidate in Education), Joshua S. Goodman (Harvard Kennedy School), and David Deming (HGSE). A policy brief based on their research findings, which "provide encouraging evidence that accountability-driven improvement of chronically underperforming districts is possible."
Jackie Robinson: Militant Black Republican
April 13, 2016
The Root | By Leah Wright Rigueur, Assistant Professor at Harvard Kennedy School.
How ED's Supplement-Not-Supplant Regulations Could Backfire on Equity
April 13, 2016
Education Next | By Nora E. Gordon (Ph.D. '02), Associate Professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. If these rules are put into place, districts will face several incentives at odds with helping disadvantaged students.
Americans Like Taxes
April 13, 2016
No Jargon [Podcast—Ep. 28] | Vanessa Williamson (Ph.D. '15), now a fellow at the Brookings Institution, dispels the misconception that Americans hate taxes. In fact, most Americans support taxes and are willing to increase them for services they care about. She outlines how, despite this, anti-tax policies became so popular. No Jargon presents interviews with top university scholars on the politics, policy problems, and social issues facing the nation. Subscribe in iTunes, or listen to individual episodes at the SSN website.
Did Blacks Really Endorse the 1994 Crime Bill?
April 13, 2016
The New York Times | By Elizabeth Hinton (Harvard), and Julilly Kohnler-Hausmann (Cornell), and Vesla M. Weaver (Ph.D. '07, Associate Professor, Yale University). The 1994 crime bill was the result of "a process of selectively hearing black voices on the question of crime."
On Equal Pay Day, Why the Gender Gap Still Exists
April 12, 2016
NPR All Things Considered | Interview with Claudia Goldin, Henry Lee Professor of Economics. [Transcript and audio: 4:30 minutes]
America's Eviction Epidemic
April 12, 2016
The New Republic | A look at Evicted, by Matthew Desmond, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences.
Good jobs without a degree? Boston's $3 million test
April 11, 2016
Christian Science Monitor | Facing problems of income inequality, US cities looking at new ways to create well-paying jobs for workers. With insights from Alicia Sasser Modestino (Ph.D. '01), associate professor at Northeastern University.
Why Trump is Doomed with Black Voters
April 8, 2016
The Atlantic | By Leah Wright Rigueur, Assistant Professor, Harvard Kennedy School.
What Happened to the American Dream? Here's What You Need to Know About Wage Stagnation in America
April 7, 2016
Pacific Standard | Draws insights from a number of economists, including Richard Freeman, Herbert Ascherman Professor of Economics at Harvard.
What if the problem of poverty is that it's profitable to other people?
April 7, 2016
The Guardian | Katha Politt essay about Evicted, new book by Matthew Desmond, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences.
Uber is distracting us from a much bigger issue for the U.S. economy
April 7, 2016
Quartz | Draws from new research by Lawrence Katz (Elisabeth Allen Professor of Economics) and Alan Krueger (Princeton University), which estimates "that all of the net employment growth in the US economy from 2005 to 2015 appears to have occurred in alternative work arrangements.” View the research.
See also
- With "Gigs" Instead of Jobs, Workers Bear New Burdens
March 31, 2016
The New York Times | Discusses implications of new research by Lawrence Katz (Elisabeth Allen Professor of Economics) and Alan Krueger (Princeton University) showing that proportion of American workers who don’t have traditional jobs — who instead work as independent contractors, through temporary services or on-call — has soared in the last decade.
The Puzzles for Pollsters
April 6, 2016
Harvard Gazette | Coverage of Political Analytics conference, which explored the field of data analytics and its potential applications to politics. Organized by Ryan Enos, Associate Professor of Government, and Kirk Goldsberry, a visiting scholar at Harvard's Center for Geographic Analysis, the event was hosted by the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University.
When the Poor Move, Do They Move Up?
April 6, 2016
The American Prospect | Quotes Patrick Sharkey (Ph.D. '07) of New York University, and Justin Wolfers (Ph.D. '01) of University of Michigan.
The Untapped Potential of Data-Driven Policy
April 6, 2016
City Journal—10 Blocks Podcast | Interview with Michael Luca on new uses of data for cities. Luca is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Business School. [Full transcript and audio: 15 minutes]
How Longer School Days Can Fight the Effects of Income Inequality
April 5, 2016
The Boston Globe Magazine | Cites faculty affiliates Robert Putnam on what affluent families spend on after-school, vacation, and summer learning opportunities for their children, and Roland Fryer on the benefits of increased school time as a predictor of student success.
The stories behind the unseen eviction crisis
April 5, 2016
PBS Newshour | Sociologist Matthew Desmond examined the experiences of evicted families for his new book Evicted, and joins Jeffrey Brown of Newshour to discuss what he learned. [Video: 7 minutes]
In poor neighborhoods, is it better to fix up or move out?
April 4, 2016
Christian Science Monitor | Quotes Robert J. Sampson (Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences) on the limitations of focusing on moving people out of bad neighborhoods. Also cites finding by Raj Chetty (Stanford University) and Harvard's Nathaniel Hendren (Assistant Professor of Economics) that "the causal effects of place" account for 50-70 percent of the differences in intergenerational mobility.
Boston hopes data can aid its efforts in fighting fires
April 4, 2016
Boston Globe | Quotes Jeffrey B. Liebman, Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy, who notes that "Over the past several years the City of Boston has emerged as a national leader in creatively using technology to improve public services." The article details a brief released by the Harvard Kennedy School Rapport Institute, which tracks how the city of Boston is using data and digital technology.
Satellite Images Can Pinpoint Poverty Where Surveys Can’t
April 3, 2016
The New York Times | By Sendhil Mullainathan, Professor of Economics.
A conversation on immigration and policy
March 30, 2016
Bloggingheads.tv | Economist Glenn Loury (Brown University) talks immigration with George Borjas, Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy, Harvard Kennedy School. [video: 39 minutes]
New data show how liberal Merrick Garland really is
March 30, 2016
Washington Post | By Adam Bonica (Stanford University), Adam Chilton (University of Chicago Law School), Jacob Goldin (Stanford Law), Kyle Rozema (Northwestern Pritzker School of Law) and Maya Sen (Harvard Kennedy School).
In A High-Rent World, Affordable And Safe Housing Is Hard To Come By
March 30, 2016
All Things Considered | NPR special series on "Staving Off Eviction" features Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted and the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences. [Text and audio: 5:35 minutes]
On Chicago’s West Side, no rebound from the recession
March 29, 2016
The Chicago Reporter | Article examining black joblessness quotes Devah Pager on the effects of a criminal record and racial discrimination that African-American job-seekers face. Pager is Professor of Sociology and Public Policy and Director of the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality & Social Policy.
Anger Management and Gun Control? New Ways to Reduce Violence in Latin America
March 29, 2016
Americas Quarterly | By Viridiana Rios (Ph.D.'13), currently a Global Fellow at The Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. A small number of criminals and gang leaders have the power to control violence. Latin America should focus on shaping their behavior, Rios argues.
Will This New Book Change the National Debate on Poverty?
March 29, 2016
The Nation | Discusses faculty affiliate Matthew Desmond's new book Evicted.
The Lifelong Health Toll of Schoolyard Racism
March 29, 2016
Pacific Standard | Quotes and cites David R. Williams, the Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health at the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) and Professor of African and African American Studies and of Sociology at Harvard University. Williams discussed this research in his Inequality & Social Policy Seminar presentation, Feb 8, 2016.
Hillary and Bernie, Tax Fantasists
March 28, 2016
Wall Street Journal | By Scott Winship (Ph.D. '09), Walter B. Wriston Fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
