In the News

Tobin Project Holds Conference on Inequality and Decision Making

Tobin Project Holds Conference on Inequality and Decision Making

August 26, 2016

Tobin Project | A number of Inequality & Social Policy affiliates participated in the Tobin Project's Conference on Inequality and Decision-Making, held Aug 4-5 in Cambridge. The conference, whose organizers included faculty members David Moss and Michael Norton of Harvard Business School, "brought together leading scholars from across the social and behavioral sciences to explore the effects of economic inequality on individual behavior and decision making."

"Participants examined the ways in which rising inequality might influence the perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors of Americans..., [with the aim] to improve understanding of the mechanisms through which inequality affects our democracy, economy, and society as a whole."

In addition to Moss and Norton, speakers included Inequality & Social Policy doctoral fellow Beth Truesdale (Ph.D. candidate in Sociology) and alumnae Jennifer Sheehy-Skeffington (Ph.D. '14) and Vanessa Williamson (Ph.D. '15), who presented pilot research at the conference. Robert Manduca (Ph.D. student in Sociology & Social Policy) presented research in progress on income inequality and structural change at a smaller doctoral student workshop organized by the Tobin Project on August 6.
View conference program 

The big change that could help poor people move to lower poverty neighborhoods

The big change that could help poor people move to lower poverty neighborhoods

June 17, 2016

Washington Post | Quotes and cites research of Eva Rosen (Ph.D. '14), now a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University. Also cites research by faculty affiliate Matthew Desmond and Kristin L. Perkins (Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and Social Policy), and by Robert Collinson and Peter Ganong (Harvard Ph.D. '16, now Chicago Harris School of Public Policy).

More Evidence for Lead Poisoning as a Key Crime Driver

More Evidence for Lead Poisoning as a Key Crime Driver

May 3, 2016

Talking Points Memo | Features research by James Feigenbaum (Ph.D. candidate in Economics) and Christopher Muller (Ph.D. '14, now an 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 Seminar on April 18. Read the Feigenbaum and Muller paper.

The Republican-big business alliance is fraying. Now what?

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.

After Trump: How authoritarian voters will change American politics

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.

Cities that used lead pipes to carry water have higher murder rates says new study

Cities that used lead pipes to carry water have higher murder rates says new study

April 22, 2016

International Business Times | Coverage of research by James Feigenbaum (Ph.D. candidate in Economics) and Christopher Muller (Ph.D. '14, now an RWJ Health & Society Scholar and Assistant Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley) linking lead exposure and violent crime in the early 20th century. Feigenbaum and Muller presented their paper, which is forthcoming in Explorations in Economic History, in the April 18 Inequality Seminar.