Maxwell School News

Merril Silverstein, professor and chair of sociology, says that because today’s grandparents are so involved with family life on the whole, both logistically and emotionally, we might expect that great-grandparents will keep becoming more tied in as well.

Research by Kristy Buzard, associate professor of economics, confirms the idea that people tend to assume mothers are the default parent, even when they explicitly ask not to be. Part of the reason, Buzard posits, is “this underlying belief that moms are more available and are going to be more responsive.”

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with our grandmothers,” says University Professor Madonna Harrington Meyer. “But I think there’s plenty wrong with our welfare state.”

Scientific expertise itself is now being billed as a political liability, which opens the door to “a populist approach to what counts as valid scientific knowledge,” says University Professor Amy Fairchild.

So much of the response following disasters can feel piecemeal and reactive, says Sarah Pralle, associate professor of poltical science. “Every dollar we put into prevention is going to be a lot more efficiently spent,” she explains. In a world reshaped by climate change, “this idea that there’s safe places you can go hide is unrealistic.”

"In a threatening environment, Americans reward candidates and parties perceived to hold hawkish positions" and "punish candidates perceived to be dovish," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.

"You can’t just turn the lights out and say, we’ll be back," says University Professor Sean O’Keefe. "[The space station] is an asset that needs constant operational attention."

"If martial law were invoked, the government would be conducted ad hoc by the president or a military commander based entirely on his or her opinion of what was needed to meet the emergency, unbound by any laws and with no transparency or public participation, and probably no accountability afterward," writes William C. Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs. 

"I think it is fair to say that the tax increase—assuming it is as big as Senator Sanders projects—is about as large as the [13-point] tax increases enacted to finance World War II," as measured as a share of GDP, says Leonard Burman, Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics.

Leonard Burman, Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics, says raising significantly more tax revenue to fund Medicare for All "is plausible in the sense that it is theoretically possible. But the revolution that would come along with it would get in the way." 

"Community groups like the Urban League started doing audits and tests to show discrimination," John Yinger, Trustee Professor of Economics and Public Administration and International Affairs, said. "In 1973, the Urban League found a lot of discrimination in some of the properties that Trump Management owned."

"I’d argue that much of the dysfunction we see in online interactions is just a symptom of much larger and older social problems, including but not limited to racism and misogyny," says Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science.

Theresa Singleton, professor of anthropology, says the discovery of a woman's DNA in Belvoir matching with people living in Sierra Leone today holds "great promise" for future research—but the cost of DNA analysis may put it out of reach for some archaeologists.

"It [undocumented immigration] was invented by legislators who wanted to close the border. And the vast, costly deportation apparatus that has been built as a result has created new problems, too,"  writes Elizabeth Cohen, associate professor of political science.

Professor of Economics Mary Lovely argues that Trump’s trade actions "are a prime example of 20th-century tools aimed at the knowledge-embodying trade flows of the 21st century."

Mary Lovely, professor of economics, explains why lower-income consumers, who tend to buy more goods from countries such as China, might end up feeling squeezed more than their higher-income counterparts.