Elizabeth Martin

• 2025 Fall
  • SOC 377 Class, Status, and Power
  • SOC 102 Social Problems
• 2025 Spring
  • SOC 102 Social Problems
• 2024 Fall
  • SOC 300 Selected Topics - Student Debt and Inequality
  • SOC 102 Social Problems

Elizabeth C. Martin (she/her/hers) joins the Sociology Department in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in fall 2024 as a tenure-track assistant professor. She will teach classes in social stratification and inequality, political economy, and quantitative methods.

Prior to joining Syracuse University, Martin was a Frank H.T. Rhodes Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University. Martin’s research focuses on the intersection of inequality and the political economy, with special attention to economic insecurity, credit and debt, social policy, and financial shocks.

A recent award-winning publication demonstrated how U.S. states’ asset exemption laws affect people’s economic security. In other published work, Martin has shown how the Great Recession in the United States exacerbated student loan burden and financial stress, particularly among Black and Hispanic individuals. 

Martin received several prestigious fellowships during her graduate training, including a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and a Distinguished University Fellowship at The Ohio State University. Her scholarly work has been recognized with two Student Paper Awards from the American Sociological Association in 2020 and the 2018 Randy Hodson Graduate Student Paper Award from the Department of Sociology at The Ohio State University. She has held several elected and appointed positions within the American Sociological Association and Ohio State Sociology.

Martin earned a Ph.D. in 2022 and an M.A. in 2017 from The Ohio State University, and a B.S. in international affairs and political science from Florida State University in 2014. 

"Insecure and Unwell? State-Level Economic Insecurity and the Health of Midlife and Older Adults, 1996-2012", Sponsored by National Institutes of Health.

Sponsored by National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Sponsored by Distinguished University Fellowship at Ohio State University.

• Journal Articles
  • Martin, E., "Beyond Past-Due Bills: The Varieties of Medical Debt Used to Finance Healthcare." Social Science and Medicine, 2025.
  • Martin, E., "Regulating the Risk of Debt: Exemption Laws and Economic Insecurity Across US States, 1986-2012." American Journal of Sociology, 2022.
  • Norris, D., Martin, E., "Is Good Credit Good? State Credit Ratings and Economic Insecurity, 1996-2012." Sociological Forum, 2022.
  • Martin, E., Dwyer, R. E., "Financial Stress, Race, and Student Debt During the Great Recession." Social Currents, 2021.
• Book Chapter
  • Downey, D. B., Yoon, A. and Martin, E., "Schools and Inequality: Implications from Seasonal Comparison Research." In Handbook of the Sociology of Education in the 21st Century. Schneider, B. (ed.) Springer, Cham, 2018.
• Dissertation
  • Martin, E., Sheltered from the Storm? Social Policy and Economic Insecurity in US States. , 2022.

Population Association of America Annual Meeting, Population Association of America , "Illness and Insecurity: Worsening Health and Economic Insecurity in US States" (May, 2026)

PSID Workshop, Center for Policy Research, Syracuse University, "Sheltered from the Storm? Political and Policy Environment and Economic Insecurity in US States." (November, 2025)

American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, American Sociological Association, "More Than Just Lost Income? Financial Hardship and the Downsides to Employee Sponsored Health Insurance Coverage" (August, 2025)

Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA) Seminars, Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA) , "Credit, Debt, and Insecurity: The Case of Medical Debt in the United States" (May, 2025)

American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, American Sociological Association, "Coping with Costs: Medical Debt, Foregone Care, and the Economic Impacts of Ill Health" (August, 2023)

Population Association of America Annual Meeting, Population Association of America, "Sheltered from the Storm? Political Environment and Economic Insecurity in US States" (April, 2023)

Innovations in Population Science, Cornell Population Center, Cornell University, "Sheltered from the Storm? Political Environment and Economic Insecurity in US States" (February, 2023)

American Sociological Association Meeting, "Does State Policy Moderate Economic Insecurity?" (August, 2021)

Consumers and Consumption Section Student Paper Award, ASA (2020)

Sociology of Law Section Student Paper Award, ASA (2020)

Randy Hodson Graduate Student Paper Award, OSU Department of Sociology (2018)

Honorable Mention, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (2015)

Kingsbury Data Award, Northwest Evaluation Association (2015)