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

Gadarian article on how information helps voters published in UAR
"Voting Can Be Hard, Information Helps," co-authored by Shana Gadarian, was published in Urban Affairs Review. Americans are often faced with low-information conditions when voting. The authors found that in these conditions, voters use candidates’ race, ethnicity, and gender as cues for whom to support — penalizing candidates of color and benefiting women.
3/15/2019

Karas Montez study examines educational disparities in US adult health
Jennifer Karas Montez and co-authors Mark Hayward and Anna Zajacova draw on contextual theories (e.g., economic policies) of health disparities to illustrate how U.S. states, as institutional actors, shape the importance of education for health. Their study, "Educational Disparities in Adult Health: U.S. States as Institutional Actors on the Association," was published in Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World.
3/12/2019

Mitra paper on land reform enactments published in JDE
"The political economy of land reform enactments: New cross-national evidence (1900–2010)," co-authored by Devashish Mitra, was published in the Journal of Development Economics (JDE). The authors constructed a unique and extensive annual dataset that codifies 372 major land reform enactments across 165 countries during the period 1900–2010.
2/28/2019

Hou paper on China’s property tax plan earns prestigious Pu Shan award
Yilin Hou, professor of public administration and international affairs and senior research associate at the Center for Policy Research, has won a prestigious economic policy research award from the Pu Shan Foundation of China. The paper, "Real Property Tax: Ability to Pay, Distribution of Tax Burden, and Redistribution Effects," is co-authored with Hou’s former doctoral student Ping Zhang, associate professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, China.
2/20/2019

Monnat featured in CityLab article on geography of the opioid crisis
A new working paper written by Shannon Monnat was featured in the CityLab article "There’s a Rural-Urban Divide in the Opiate Crisis." Monnat argues that in both rural and urban communities, two key factors—economic distress and supply of opioids—predict the rate of opioid deaths. "I really do want to push back against this cliche that addiction does not discriminate," Monnat says.
2/14/2019

Monnat paper on opioid users' opinions of fentanyl published
"'You Never Know What You’re Getting': Opioid Users’ Perceptions of Fentanyl in Southwest Pennsylvania," co-authored by Shannon Monnat, was published in Substance Use & Misuse. The authors "sought to describe perceptions of fentanyl within a population of past-year opioid users, while capturing how their motivations for choosing, or avoiding, fentanyl were shaped by similar contextual factors."
1/25/2019

Singleton cited in Psychology Today article on marriage, happiness
A 2012 study by Perry Singleton, associate professor of economics, was cited in the Psychology Today article "Are Married People Happier? Questions Answered." Singleton found that the onset of a work-preventing disability correlates with an increased likelihood of divorce.
1/23/2019

Maxwell leads campuswide initiative in field of autonomous systems
A new interdisciplinary effort at Syracuse University will advance knowledge and teaching in the field of autonomous systems, exploring new frontiers in policy, law and governance of these fast-expanding technologies. Professor Jamie Winders, chair of the Geography Department in the Maxwell School, will lead the initiative.
1/23/2019

Maxwell faculty secure RWJF grant to study preemption effect on health
Doug Wolf, Shannon Monnat, and Jennifer Karas Montez were awarded a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Policies for Action Pogram for their project titled "Local Initiatives, State Preemption, and Public Health." The team will explore pre-emption’s effect on geographic inequities in health, focusing on labor and environmental policies.
1/17/2019

McDowell paper on China's bilateral swap agreements published
"The (Ineffective) Financial Statecraft of China's Bilateral Swap Agreements," written by Daniel McDowell, was published in Development and Change as part of a special issue titled, "Beyond Bretton Woods: Complementarity and Competition in the International Economic Order"
1/15/2019

Monnat publishes study on geographic variation in drug mortality rates
"The contributions of socioeconomic and opioid supply factors to U.S. drug mortality rates: Urban-rural and within-rural differences," written by Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, was published in the Journal of Rural Studies.
1/14/2019

Karas Montez study on educational disparities, mortality published
A new study co-authored by Jennifer Karas Montez was published in Demography. The study, "Educational Disparities in Adult Mortality Across U.S. States: How Do They Differ, and Have They Changed Since the Mid-1980s?," expands knowledge about educational disparities and their growth by examining them at the U.S. state level.
1/11/2019

Sezgin awarded NEH fellowship to study democratization of Islamic laws
Yüksel Sezgin has received a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) fellowship, supporting research into the complex interplay between democracy and Muslim Family Laws (MFLs) in non-uslim-majority countries. He will use the $60,000 fellowship to work on a book-length comparative study of the democratization of Islamic laws in Greece, Ghana, India and Israel.
1/8/2019

Michelmore paper on targeting low-income students for college released
"Closing the Gap: The Effect of a Targeted, Tuition-Free Promise on College Choices of High-Achieving, Low-Income Students," co-authored by Katherine Michelmore, was issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The paper was cited by the New York Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Magazine, and others.
12/13/2018

The Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion announces grant winners
The Lerner Center is pleased to announce the winners of the inaugural Faculty Fellows Grant Program. The purpose of the Fellows Grant Program is to fund population health or health promotion research at SU that focuses on impacting health behaviors, institutions, systems, or policies to reduce risk for and/or consequences of chronic disease and/or premature mortality at the individual, community, or societal levels.
12/10/2018

Bifulco's research on Say Yes program cited in Cleveland.com article
Robert Bifulco's research on the effects of the Say Yes to Education program in Buffalo, NY was cited in the Cleveland.com article "Would ‘Say Yes’ be a game changer for Cleveland kids? Other cities show modest results." Bifulco found gains in Buffalo after Say Yes when studying the scores of individual students, not just the district as a whole.
12/10/2018

Shybalkina, Bifulco article on participatory budgeting published
"Does Participatory Budgeting Change the Share of Public Funding to Low Income Neighborhoods?," co-authored by PhD student Iuliia Shybalkina and Robert Bifulco, was published in Public Budgeting & Finance. Shybalkina and Bifulco measure the effects of participatory budgeting on the allocation of capital funding among areas of different income levels within NYC council districts.
11/29/2018

Wolf examines features of PSID, use in aging research in The ANNALS
"Uses of Panel Study of Income Dynamics Data in Research on Aging," written by Douglas Wolf, was published in The ANNALS. Wolf examines the key features of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), provides examples of the PSID's uses in aging research (in particular, social gerontology), and provides some methodological issues associated with the PSID.
11/29/2018

ASI community collab benefits older adults with cognitive decline
A community collaboration that includes Syracuse University's Aging Studies Institute was awarded a $51,110 grant by the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York. The study will focus on adults aged 65+ who are served by select community programs in Syracuse neighborhoods with high concentrations of poverty and high proportions of older adults.
11/19/2018

Carboni publishes new report on giving circle membership
Julia Carboni, assistant professor of public administration and international affairs and founding member of the Collective Giving Research Group (CGRG), released a new report titled "Giving Circle Membership: How Collective Giving Impacts Donors." The report looks at how giving circle participation influences members and explores how established members differ from new ones.
11/19/2018

Hou book describes the need for modern property tax in China
Yilin Hou's new book, Development, Governance, and Real Property Tax in China (Palgrave MacMillan, 2018), represents part of an expansive study on local property taxes that also includes Hou’s former work, The Property Tax in China: History, Pilots, and Prospects (Springer, 2014).
11/16/2018

PhD student Angie Mejia publishes paper on mental health, ethnicity
Angie Mejia's paper "Young, Foreign, and Depressed in America: Ruminations of an Immigrant to Prozac Nation" was published in Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies. Mejia, a PhD student in sociology, writes "... this autoethnography aims to challenge sociological analyses on the subjective experience of mental health and most plots found in psychiatric memoirs written by U.S. (White) women.
11/15/2018

Geo PhD student Emily Bukowski publishes paper on Dutch elm disease
"Using the commons to understand the Dutch elm disease epidemic in Syracuse, NY," written by PhD student Emily Bukowski '14 MA (Geog), was published in Geographical Review. Bukowski argues "that elms and their pests are viewed as components of the urban commons but understanding them as such does not align with what strategies managers are able to enact in the patchwork of property ownership that occurs in cities."
11/9/2018

Heflin study on SNAP benefits, childhood asthma published
"SNAP benefits and childhood asthma," co-authored by Colleen Heflin, was published in Social Science & Medicine. The authors explore monthly patterns in children's emergency room (ER) claims for asthma to find out whether these patterns are sensitive to the timing and amount of Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
11/5/2018

Michelmore publishes article on long-term effects of EITC on children
"The Anti-Poverty Policy that Keeps on Giving," written by Katherine Michelmore, was published in the Economic Self-Sufficiency Policy Research Institute (ESSPRI) blog. Michelmore examines how exposure to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in childhood affects subsequent educational attainment and labor market outcomes in adulthood.
10/31/2018

PhD student Jen Brooks publishes paper on disability, job satisfaction
"Just a Little Respect: Differences in Job Satisfaction Among Individuals With and Without Disabilities," written by PhD student Jennifer Brooks '17 MA (Soc), was published in Social Science Quarterly. Brooks explores the relationship between disability and job satisfaction; and examines how differences in job satisfaction between workers with and without disabilities may reflect educational attainment and perceived workplace respect.
10/29/2018

Khalil edits volume based on US and the World Workshop
Bringing together an interdisciplinary group of experts, "United States Relations with China and Iran," edited by Osamah Khalil, examines the past, present, and future of U.S. foreign relations toward the People's Republic of China and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The volume is the product of the inaugural U.S. and the World Workshop hosted by the Maxwell School in 2017.
10/23/2018

Heflin and Rothbart receive grant to study SNAP and school readiness
Colleen Heflin and Michah Rothbart, professor and assistant professor, respectively, of public administration and international affairs, have received a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to research the relationship between student participation in the U.S. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and school readiness.
10/2/2018

Rosenthal research cited in Wash Post article on market-rate housing
Stuart Rosenthal was referenced in the Washington Post article "Why do so many affordable-housing advocates reject the law of supply and demand?" As Rosenthal wrote in an American Economic Review article in 2014, the "direct evidence that housing filters down, on average," is so indisputable that "there should no longer be debate on this point."
9/24/2018

Flores-Lagunes to study effects of education on obesity, mental health
Alfonso Flores-Lagunes, professor of economics, has received a $169,785 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the effects of educational attainment on obesity and mental health. The award forms part of a three-year project, “Genes, Education, and Gene-Education Interactions in Obesity and Mental Health,” led by Central Michigan University.
9/20/2018

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