Research and Working Papers

Meet IPR's New Fellows

Five faculty members will join IPR as fellows in September, adding their expertise in statistics, political science, psychology, and economics to the Institute's rigorous research output. Robin Nusslock, Terri Sabol, Hannes Schwandt, Chloe Thurston, and Elizabeth Tipton join IPR's more than 140 faculty researchers. Sociologist Julia Behrman will also be coming to campus after a year-long sabbatical at the University of Oxford. MORE

Let Them Eat Clay

IPR anthropologist Sera Young recently presented on pica, or the craving and intentional consumption of earth, starch, chalk, and other non-food items. She examined why people eat earth at a workshop in Amsterdam that encouraged interdisciplinary conversations across art, food traditions, and research. MORE

Lawmakers Who Turn Their Backs on Compromise

In a recent study, IPR political scientist Laurel Harbridge-Yong explored the legislative act of "holding out," which occurs when legislators vote against a plan that is closer to their ideal policy than the status quo. The researchers found that more than a quarter of lawmakers said they would vote against a proposal even though it was closer to their preferred policy. Several current and former IPR graduate research assistants also investigated stereotypes of Republicans and Democrats. MORE

Social Policy Can Save Lives

Income inequality and health inequality are not necessarily connected, according to a new mortality study co-authored by IPR economist Hannes Schwandt. The study examines the often-studied link between poverty and poor health. Social policies could break that link and might explain why health and mortality trends differ between the United States and France. MORE

SURA Students Share Summer Experiences

This year, students in the Summer Undergraduate Research Assistants (SURA) program are sharing their research experience in their own words in a summer blog for IPR. Read recent posts by Dylan Doppelt, Thalia Perez, and Ericka Woods. MORE

IPR Working Papers

Environmental Externalities and Free-Riding in the Household (WP-18-01)

Kelsey Jack, Seema Jayachandran, and Sarojini Rao

The researchers examine how more than 1,200 households use and pay for piped water in a Zambian city. In most households, women use more water than men, for example to cook and clean, and thus have the most scope to reduce the household's water bill. However, women do not have a strong financial reason to do so because men are responsible for paying the bill in most households. The findings indicate that targeting women with financial incentives for lowering the household water bill leads them to conserve more. The study also sheds light on why utility customers might not optimally respond to rate changes.

Do School Spending Cuts Matter? Evidence from the Great Recession

C. Kirabo Jackson, Cora Wigger, and Heyu Xiong

The researchers find that cuts in public school funding due to the Great Recession lowered student achievement and graduation rates. Despite school districts' efforts to cut spending in the non-instructional parts of their budgets—in particular, on construction—the Great Recession took a significant toll on the academic outcomes of public school students. The study is one of the first to examine how school districts respond to large, persistent spending cuts and their effects on student outcomes. It offers more evidence of a causal link between the two.

Infographic: Mapping Sexist Attitudes in the United States

https://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/about/news/2018/infographic-guryan-sexism-labor-outcomes.html

A new IPR working paper is the first to document a persistent gap in women's socioeconomic outcomes across job markets in the United States. MORE

Faculty Awards & Honors

IPR economist Seema Jayachandran was awarded the Sustainability Science Award from the Ecological Society of America. Other IPR faculty who received honors include sociologist Héctor Carrillo, social psychologist Alice Eagly, and medical social sciences professor Brian Mustanski.

Faculty in the Media

The Washington Post

Trump calls on Congress to attach work requirements to food stamps

Work requirements would result in many SNAP recipients losing their benefits, according to research by IPR Director and economist Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach.

Chicago Tonight

Banning Alex Jones: A dangerous move for free speech?

IPR mass communication scholar Rachel Davis Mersey said a company's rule against hate speech and the right to free speech are two very different things.

NPR

NYU's move to make medical school free for all gets mixed reviews

Waiving everyone's medical school tuition "is not the most target-efficient way" to encourage more low-income students to enter medicine or steer students toward primary care, said healthcare economist and IPR associate Craig Garthwaite.