Justin de Benedictis-Kessner

As @tedsvo.bsky.social says: “learning isn’t just getting answers to questions.” Worth a listen for anyone who teaches, is learning (anything), or cares about the quality of education in the age of AI!

How one college professor uses AI in the classroom Harvard Kennedy School Professor Teddy Svoronos is mostly optimistic on the benefits of AI in higher education.

My friend and colleague at @harvardkennedy.bsky.social @tedsvo.bsky.social shared his expert perspective on the use of AI in education on @npr.org ’s All Things Considered today: www.wbur.org/upnext/2025/...

Crime is nonpartisan and the blame game on crime in cities is wrong – on both sides Mayors from the Democratic Party aren’t making cities any more – or less – dangerous than mayors from the Republican Party.

This partisan finger-pointing is based on falsehoods. To fix crime, we should focus on evidence-based strategies to address crime, rather than engaging in a distracting blame-game. theconversation.com/crime-is-non...

More details on our research here: bsky.app/profile/jdbk...

The partisanship of mayors has no detectable effect on police spending, police employment, crime, or arrests Across hundreds of cities and three decades, there is no impact of a mayor’s partisan affiliation on crime and arrest rates.

Our open-access research shows that the partisanship of mayors has no causal effect on crime rates. Nor does it affect police spending, staffing, or arrest rates. www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Yet again, Trump is falsely claiming that Democrat-controlled cities like DC are letting crime get out of control. Our research – from cities across the US – shows that this just isn't true @chriswarshaw.bsky.social @dbjones.bsky.social @matttheeconguy.bsky.social

Crime is nonpartisan and the blame game on crime in cities is wrong – on both sides Mayors from the Democratic Party aren’t making cities any more – or less – dangerous than mayors from the Republican Party.

Crime is nonpartisan, and neither party is better at fighting crime in cities.

But evidence-backed programs like youth jobs initiatives can help improve public safety. buff.ly/RGmW1ht
@jdbk.bsky.social @harvardkennedy.bsky.social and Christopher S. Warshaw, George Washington University #polisky

Well said, from my colleague David Deming @harvardkennedy.bsky.social: "If government funding goes away, so will much of the research. The long-run cost will be staggering. We’ll have fewer medical breakthroughs, the progress of lifesaving medical treatments will stall, and America may fall behind."

Ideological claims from both sides of the aisle about crime and policing aren't facing the facts: what's happening in cities across the country has little to do with partisanship. Reducing crime should focus on evidence-backed strategies rather than partisan finger-pointing.

screenshot of Figure 2 from paper, which shows the largely null effects of partisanship on the demographics of police chiefs and the police force overall

Nor do we find consistent evidence that Democrats are making police leadership or police forces substantially more diverse than Republicans.

screenshot of Figure 1 from the paper, which shows null effects of partisanship on the number of sworn officers per capita, police expenditures per capita, and corrections expenditures per capita

Nor are Democrats "defunding the police" relative to Republicans. Neither party is reducing the size of the police force, or its funding.

The partisanship of mayors has no detectable effect on police spending, police employment, crime, or arrests Across hundreds of cities and three decades, there is no impact of a mayor’s partisan affiliation on crime and arrest rates.

Implicit in this argument is that Democratic leaders are making crime worse, and Republicans would make it better. That's a causal question, and exactly what we wanted to answer. Our results show that Dems are no worse OR better at reducing crime than Reps www.science.org/doi/full/10....

California Shifts Rightward on Crime in an Election Fueled by Frustration Voters in the Democratic-run state overwhelmingly approved a measure to impose harsher sentences for crimes and were on their way to ousting two progressive district attorneys.

Leaders on both sides of the aisle have said that Democrats need to change their approach on crime–often pointing to elections where progressive politicians have been unseated after widespread frustration with their handling of crime www.nytimes.com/2024/11/08/u...

Abstract of article titled "The partisanship of mayors has no detectable effect on police spending, police employment, crime, or arrests"

Are Democratic leaders making cities more dangerous than Republicans? Trump + others have repeatedly made claims like this. New paper in Science Advances w/ @chriswarshaw.bsky.social, Dan Jones & Matt Harvey shows that, in short, the answer is no.

The essential reforms needed to fix the housing crisis Harvard Kennedy School Associate Professor Justin de Benedictis-Kessner and former Burlington, Vermont, Mayor Miro Weinberger MPP 1998 explain the current crisis and offer solutions for a more afforda...

Fun to talk housing policy and potential reforms with former Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger on a recent PolicyCast @harvardkennedy.bsky.social www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-rese...

Can developers compensate nearby residents to win support for their housing projects? In a new @jpublicpolicy.bsky.social article, @jdbk.bsky.social and I unpack how compensation works, when it fails, and what that teaches us about symbolic attitudes and housing policy. 1/11

job description for postdoc position. Text reads: "The Local Politics Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School, along with faculty director Justin de Benedictis- Kessner, seeks applications for a Postdoctoral Researcher for two years starting in summer 2024. The Postdoctoral Researcher will work on projects related to cities and other local governments in the new Local Politics Lab at the Bloomberg Center at Harvard University with faculty director Justin de Benedictis-Kessner. The candidate will guide research activities on designated projects and give direction on research ideas, hone research questions, design and implement robust research analytic plans, analyze data, interpret results, and review and/or assist in writing academic research papers and writing public-facing research briefs. Projects may include work on elections using the American local elections database, surveys related to local politics and elections, and urban policy.

I'm hiring a postdoc to work with me for 2 years at the Harvard Kennedy School thnx to generous funding from the Bloomberg Center for Cities. Official job posting is up now! Please tell anyone you know who might be interested to apply
#psjminfo cities.harvard.edu/postdoctoral...

Great to have the culmination of 8+ years collecting election data finally published! Excited to see these data help the next generation of scholars working on local politics 🤓

Lots of discussion on how economy will affect 2024 election. Evidence indicates that election year economy matters a lot (esp. real wage growth), but the economy this year prob. doesn't matter much. So a lot depends on what happens next year! See this figure from my paper w/ @jdbk.bsky.social.