Maxwell Research News

Faculty Research

The 150-plus faculty members and roughly 800 graduate students are responsible for research that is influential and innovative.

Much of that research is conducted within the School’s research centers and institutes, but much is also completed by individuals working within their disciplines, toward purely scholarly ends. Similarly, much of Maxwell’s research is externally funded, and yet, much leads to the published books and articles that mark the progress of concepts and ideas in the academy.
In a typical year, Maxwell faculty members publish dozens of books and monographs and hundreds of book chapters and journal articles. Their work provides up-to-date material for the classroom.

It is one of the great distinctions of the Maxwell School that an institution so widely praised for its professional programs is, in fact, a home for esteemed research and scholarship across so a wide range of disciplines.
Research News

Gueorguiev, McDowell study impact of economic threats on public views
"The Impact of Economic Coercion on Public Opinion: The Case of US–China Currency Relations," co-authored by Dimitar Gueorguiev and Daniel McDowell, was published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution. The authors suggest that economic coercion can reduce support for policy change because it leads individuals to update their beliefs about who wins and loses from economic policy changes.
3/26/2020

Gadarian piece on anxiety and trust in experts published in Wash Post
In the article "This is who Americans trust about coronavirus information," published in the Washington Post, Shana Gadarian and co-author Bethany Albertson refer to their research on how political anxiety affects learning, trust and policy support in various situations, including public health crises. The authors found that people who are anxious about health usually put their trust in experts.
3/20/2020

Lerner Center brief focuses on COVID-19, keeping older NYers healthy
"The Spatial Distribution of New York State’s Older Population: Let’s Keep New York’s Older Adults Safe and Healthy during the Coronavirus Pandemic," a research brief written by Mary Helander, a graduate fellow in the Lerner Center, looks at how the distribution of NYS's older adult population matters for coronavirus.
3/19/2020

Shi’s education research funded by Russell Sage and Gates Foundations
Ying Shi, assistant professor of public administration and international affairs, recently won a $29,809 grant jointly funded by the Russell Sage and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations for her upcoming research related to educational inequality and opportunity. John Singleton, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Rochester, will also be an investigator on this project.
3/13/2020

McDowell study on fiscal sanctions, international currency published
Daniel McDowell's article "Financial sanctions and political risk in the international currency system," was published in Review of International Political Economy. McDowell considers how U.S. financial sanctions generate political risk concerns that reduce the dollar's attractiveness as an international currency. The study suggests that policymakers should carefully weigh the downsides of sanctions as a foreign policy tool.
3/12/2020

Griffiths paper on secessionist strategy and tactics published in JGSS
In his article "Secessionist Strategy and Tactical Variation in the Pursuit of Independence," published in the Journal of Global Security Studies, Ryan Griffiths constructs a theoretical framework to clarify the behavior of diverse secessionist movements and accurately predict the tactics they adopt.
3/10/2020

Engelhardt wins grant through the U.S. Social Security Administration
Gary V. Engelhardt, a professor of economics and faculty associate with the Aging Studies Institute in the Maxwell School, was awarded a grant from the U.S. Social Security Administration through the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium. The $100,000 grant will support Engelhardt’s research into the role of housing equity as an asset for retirement planning among older Americans.
3/6/2020

Wiemers reviews earnings instability trends in Equitable Growth essay
"Earnings instability and mobility over our working lives: Improving short- and long-term economic well-being for U.S. workers," co-authored by Associate Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs Emily Wiemers, was published in the Washington Center for Equitable Growth's book of policy ideas for 2020 titled Vision 2020: Evidence for a Stronger Economy.
3/5/2020

McDowell piece on dollar's central role in global payments published
"Payments Power: The Overlooked Role of the Dollar as the Top International Payments Currency," written by Daniel McDowell and included in the article "Global Monetary Order and the Liberal Order Debate," was published in International Studies Perspectives. McDowell considers the role of the US dollar as the top international payments currency and how dominance in this arena is an important power resource for the United States.
3/3/2020

Complementary projects on food insecurity funded by Russell Sage
The Russell Sage Foundation has announced funding for two complementary projects related to food insecurity among older adults, and conducted by Maxwell faculty members. One is a qualitative assessment led by Madonna Harrington Meyer, University Professor of Sociology, while the other involves quantitative analysis, conducted by Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs.
3/3/2020

Weschle paper on interparty interactions, voter perception published
"Elite Interactions and Voters’ Perceptions of Parties’ Policy Positions," co-authored by Simon Weschle, was published in the American Journal of Political Science. The authors found that "voters infer greater left–right agreement between pairs of parties that have more cooperative public relationships, but that this 'cooperation effect' is only evident near the times of national elections."
2/28/2020

Russell Sage funds Michelmore’s study of single mothers' job quality
Katherine Michelmore, assistant professor of public administration and international affairs, has won a $29,272 grant from the Russell Sage Foundation to study the effect of the earned income tax credit (EITC) on job quality among single mothers.
2/27/2020

Young article on open data in US cities published in PAR
"Implementation of Digital‐Era Governance: The Case of Open Data in U.S. Cities," written by Assistant Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs Matthew Young, was published in Public Administration Review. Young assesses the institutional and organizational factors that influence local governments’ implementation of innovation in the form of open data platforms.
2/26/2020

Brown and Hermann publish a study on transnational crime
In their new book, Transnational Crime and Black Spots: Rethinking Sovereignty and the Global Economy, published by Palgrave MacMillan, Maxwell School faculty members Stuart Brown and Margaret Hermann examine 80 safe havens across the globe from which transnational criminal, insurgent, and terrorist organizations operate — areas they term “black spots.”
2/18/2020

Monnat uses data visualization in latest study on opioid crisis
"Visualizing Age, Period, and Cohort Patterns of Substance Use in the U.S. Opioid Crisis," co-authored by Shannon Monnat, was published in Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World. The authors provide heatmap visualizations of estimated annual rates of past-year substance use, rather than overdose deaths, for prescription pain relievers and heroin.
2/17/2020

Ma’s book analyzes Chinese student experiences in U.S. higher ed
Yingyi Ma has written Ambitious and Anxious: How Chinese College Students Succeed and Struggle in American Higher Education, recently published by Columbia University Press. In the book, Ma discusses both the struggles and successes of Chinese international students within the U.S. higher education system.
2/11/2020

Sociology faculty co-author paper on health care for aging veterans
"A Population-Based Perspective on Health Care for U.S. Veterans," co-authored by Janet Wilmoth, Andrew London, and Scott Landes, was published in the Public Policy & Aging Report. The article provides a "framework that encourages consideration of the shifting needs of the full population of veterans as they age through mid-life into later life."
2/10/2020

Jolly study on representation gaps in European politics published
"Multidimensional incongruence, political disaffection, and support for anti-establishment parties," co-authored by Seth Jolly, was published in the Journal of European Public Policy. The authors found that multidimensional incongruence is associated with disaffection at the national and European level, and that disaffected mainstream party voters are in turn more likely to consider voting for anti-establishment challenger parties.
2/4/2020

Jackson paper on black women’s self-making published in Public Culture
"Private Selves as Public Property: Black Women’s Self-Making in the Contemporary Moment," written by Jenn Jackson, was published in Public Culture. Jackson draws on the autobiographical works of Black enslaved, postbellum, queer, and transgender contemporaries to show how Black women have resisted the fungibility of their bodies through processes of self-formation and self-reclamation.
2/3/2020

Heflin codirects project funded by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs and senior research associate in the Center for Policy Research, has been awarded a $74,986 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The grant will fund research into the effects of parental employment on access to and maintenance of child care and child-care subsidies.
2/3/2020

Hromadžić wins Title VIII grant for research in Bosnia-Herzegovina
Azra Hromadžić, an associate professor of anthropology and O’Hanley Faculty Scholar, has been awarded $8,000 through a Title VIII Scholars appointment by the American Councils for International Education. This award will support Hromadžić over three months of research into riverine citizenship, political imagination, and the struggle for water in postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina
1/30/2020

Cohen critiques U.S. immigration enforcement agencies in new book
Elizabeth F. Cohen, professor of political science, has written Illegal: How America’s Lawless Immigration Regime Threatens Us All, recently published by Basic Books. In the book, Cohen assesses a long history of nativism and anti-immigrant antagonism that she describes as driving forces in U.S. immigration policy, and which began to reemerge during the 1980s.
1/30/2020

Maxwell team wins grant from Department of Justice for opioid study
A group comprised of four researchers — representing the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and the Maxwell X Lab — will receive approximately $500,000 over three years in support of their research on different opioid court treatment interventions across New York State. The funding is part of a $1.35 million grant to the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc. from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance.
1/28/2020

Maxwell faculty co-edit new book on intractable conflicts
Three Maxwell faculty members, Miriam Elman, Catherine Gerard, and Louis Kriesberg, and their colleague Galia Golan at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, have co-edited Overcoming Intractable Conflicts: New Approaches to Constructive Transformations, recently published by Rowman & Littlefield.
1/15/2020

Schwartz study on housing vouchers, academic performance published
"Housing policy is education policy,” says Amy Ellen Schwartz, co-author of a new study published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management titled "Do Housing Vouchers Improve Academic Performance? Evidence from New York City." Schwartz discussed the study in the Chalkbeat article "Housing vouchers, like other anti-poverty programs, increase test scores, NYC study shows."
1/7/2020

Monnat study on opioids cited in CityLab article
A recent study co-authored by Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, was referenced in the CityLab article "The Changing Geography of the Opioid Crisis." The study found that the opioid crisis takes different forms in urban and rural America.
12/12/2019

Rothenberg examines impact of BRT on traffic congestion in VoxDev
Many cities around the world suffering from rising traffic congestion are turning to low-cost Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems but evidence from a recent study co-authored by Alexander Rothenberg suggests that BRT systems can actually worsen traffic congestion. The paper, "‘Second-best’ Bus Rapid Transit and traffic congestion in developing countries: Lessons from TransJakarta," was published by VoxDev.
12/10/2019

PPMG publishes symposium issue on Minnowbrook at 50
Perspectives on Public Management and Governance published a special symposium issue about Minnowbrook at 50, a conference hosted by the Maxwell School in August 2018. The issue includes a brief discussion about the Minnowbrook conferences and the set-up of Minnowbrook 50, and seven articles that are the result of the small group deliberations that took place at the conference.
12/5/2019

Yinger cited in Newsday article on real estate steering
Federal, state and local laws bar real estate agents from steering home buyers (guiding purchasers to communities based on race or ethnicity) yet national studies show the practice has grown increasingly common over the past three decades. John Yinger's research on this topic was cited in the Newsday article "Why Agents Steer."
11/26/2019

Armstrong and collaborators author paper, win grant for excavation
Douglas Armstrong, professor and chair of anthropology, co-authored “Where Strangers Met: Evidence for Early Commerce at LaSoye Point, Dominica,” published last month in the journal Antiquity. The article is based on preliminary research conducted during 2018 at the LaSoye Point archaeological site on the east coast of Dominica, funded by a Northwestern University Research Grant.
11/25/2019

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