Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University

Brendan Nyhan: Inattention and Differential Exposure Join IPR Visiting Scholar Brendan Nyhan as he explores how media questioning of election fraud misinformation often misses the public.

TODAY: Join us in Chambers Hall for a talk by IPR Visiting Scholar @brendannyhan.bsky.social on why media efforts to challenge election fraud misinformation often fail to reach the public. Register here: spr.ly/63327AoJdZ

Over the last half century, two major developments have transformed the nature of workers’ rights and altered the pathways available to low-wage workers to combat their exploitation. First, while national labor law, which regulates unionization and collective bargaining, has grown increasingly ineffective, employment laws establishing minimal workplace standards have proliferated at the state and local levels. Second, as labor unions have declined, a diversity of small, under-resourced nonprofit “alt-labor” groups have emerged in locations across the United States to organize and support marginalized workers. In Alt-Labor and the New Politics of Workers’ Rights, political scientist Daniel J. Galvin draws on rich data and extensive interviews to examine the links between these developments. With nuance and insight, Galvin explains how alt-labor groups are finding creative ways to help their members while navigating the many organizational challenges and structural constraints they face in this new context.

Professor Daniel Galvin's Alt-Labor and the New Politics of Workers' Rights @russellsagefdn.bsky.social named 2024 Noteworthy Books in Industrial Relations and Labor Economics by the Princeton University Industrial Relations Section @ipratnu.bsky.social irs.princeton.edu/post-notewor...
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Schedule of IPR events

IPR events bring together researchers, policymakers, students, and community members to examine and discuss today’s most pressing social issues. Join us at one (or all!) of our events this fall! 🍂 spr.ly/63329AlEMN

Street in Chinatown

This month’s new research examines how racial bias shaped dining patterns in COVID, how people make decisions about asking for help with basic needs, how computational tools can improve conservation, and how universal pre-K can boost economic growth. spr.ly/63323Ad5j3

IPR’s 2025 summer undergraduate research assistants pause for a photo during their training session, with program director Christine Percheski (far right).

IPR's SURA program empowers undergraduates to turn their passions into purpose. Through mentorship and hands-on research, students like Annika Shah and Stacy Yoon are making real contributions to policy and social justice. Read more: spr.ly/63329Ad5VS

Trump wants to punish countries that wrongfully detain U.S. citizens A new executive order aims to strike back against “hostage diplomacy.”

Trump wants to punish countries that wrongfully detain U.S. citizens.

A new executive order aims to strike back against “hostage diplomacy.”

Read the latest from @danigilbert.bsky.social: goodauthority.org/news/trump-w...

Brendan Nyhan: Inattention and Differential Exposure Join IPR Visiting Scholar Brendan Nyhan as he explores how media questioning of election fraud misinformation often misses the public.

Join us on Monday, October 6 for a talk by IPR Visiting Scholar @brendannyhan.bsky.social on why media efforts to challenge election fraud misinformation often fail to reach the public. Register here: spr.ly/63320Ad5re

IPR's new fellows (left to right): Chika Okafor, Elizabeth Thom, and Alexander Coppock

IPR welcomed three new fellows this fall who are investigating power and opportunity in American life—from mass incarceration and political communication to clean energy and fair hiring. Click here to read more: spr.ly/63328Ad53y

Graphic of Christina Vargas and a quote from her that says: I was excited to join a lab at Northwestern that conducts research relevant to the global context and our current society. The lab’s research is crucial as we navigate a world with increasing inequalities and negative health outcomes.

SURA student Christina Vargas worked with IPR health psychologist Edith Chen to investigate the impact of social environments on health and wellbeing. Read more about her summer experience: spr.ly/63320AdKqu

A new study by IPR's Greg Miller and his colleagues finds that children with high blood pressure at age 7 face a sharply increased risk of dying from heart disease by their mid-50s. Read more in @usnews.com: www.usnews.com/news/health-...

Schedule of IPR events

IPR events bring together researchers, policymakers, students, and community members to examine and discuss today’s most pressing social issues. Join us at one (or all!) of our events this fall! 🍂 spr.ly/63323AVzyb

Minority groups receive fewer opportunities at work, despite ‘colorblind’ argument Research highlights the important role of social networks in the labor markets

Research by @drchikaokafor.bsky.social finds that minority groups receive fewer economic & social opportunities at work, even under “colorblind” policies. The research challenges assumptions that race-neutral approaches ensure fairness in professional settings. spr.ly/63326ATd7g

The Health Of Latinos And Its Socioeconomic Importance To The U.S. A healthy Latino population is vital to social and economic fabric of the U.S. Continuation of these essential contributions is dependent on a healthy Latino population

Medicaid cuts could jeopardize maternal health gains. Melissa Simon told Forbes that while Latina maternal mortality is declining, reductions in Medicaid—which covers 60% of births to Hispanic women—pose serious risks. spr.ly/63324A3yDO

Seeing Through Color Blindness: Social Networks as a Mechanism for Discrimination | The Journal of Law and Economics: Vol 68, No 3 Abstract I study labor markets in which firms both hire via referrals and are race blind or color-blind. I develop an employment model showing that despite initial equality in ability, employment, wages, and network structure, minorities receive disproportionately fewer jobs through referrals and lower expected wages, simply because their social group is smaller. This discriminatory outcome, which I term “social network discrimination,” arises from homophily and falls outside the dominant economics discrimination models, which are taste based and statistical. I calibrate the model using a nationally representative sample of youth networks to estimate the lower bound welfare gap caused by social network discrimination, which also disadvantages black workers. This paper isolates a potential underlying mechanism for inequality, adding to the understanding of labor-market disparities that have been widely studied across the social sciences. In doing so, the paper disproves the proposition that color-blind policies inherently promote individual merit.

🚨🚨🚨 My new research, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Law and Economics, challenges core assumptions about diversity and merit.

Full paper: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

@ipratnu.bsky.social

#econsky #lawsky #blacksky

A fact-check of President Trump’s claims about Chicago crime The Trump administration may send National Guard troops to Chicago on grounds that crime is out of control. How accurate is that?

On WBEZ’s Reset, @avpapachristos.bsky.social pushed back on the White House's claims about crime in Chicago, noting the city’s progress over the past decade. Chicago, he said, should be known "for violence prevention, not violence." spr.ly/63327AzNAN

A screenshot of the homepage of contexts.org shows a blog post titled "How the Rich Turn Sludge Into Money," by Doron Shiffer-Sebba, illustrated by a photo of enormous stacks of paper.

🚨New sociology! In "How the Rich Turn Sludge into Money," @shdoron1.bsky.social (@ipratnu.bsky.social) keys in on the bureaucratic practices wealthy families use to fend off threats to resources and intergenerational wealth transfers--and how these tactics change families contexts.org/blog/sludge/

Voting stickers

Do U.S. elections have a primary problem?

@polisciatnu.bsky.social's Laurel Harbridge-Yong explains how low voter turnout in primaries gives more power to a small group of voters, which can skew representation. Read more: spr.ly/63327AKpFD

The Best Tips and Tricks to Spot AI Artificial intelligence image generators are getting better and better. Here are a few ways to stay ahead of them… for now.

Can you spot a fake image?

V.S. Subrahmanian told @rollingstone.com that AI-generated photos often slip up on shadows and object transitions. “We’re looking for things that are hard for a deep fake to get quite right,” he said. spr.ly/63323AyriV

What research shows about banning assault weapons in the past For a decade, there was a ban on so-called assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips used in the shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. A study published last fall looked at the ban's effectiveness. Lori Ann Post, a co-author of the report, joins to discuss the research.

The 1994–2004 Federal Assault Weapons Ban included high-capacity magazines like those used in the recent Minneapolis school shooting. On CBSNews, Lori Ann Post shared research showing the ban reduced both the number and lethality of mass shootings. spr.ly/63327AGURS

Ali Zaidi has led efforts to expand clean energy, reduce pollution, and support communities most impacted by climate change. Click here to reserve your seat for his lecture on September 30: www.eventbrite.com/e/1412826093...

Northwestern trustee and husband gift $20 million to Center for Enlightened Disagreement A Northwestern University trustee and her husband have donated $20 million to support the school’s Center for Enlightened Disagreement.

📢 MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT 📢

@nourkteily.bsky.social and I are delighted to introduce the Litowitz Center for Enlightened Disagreement, supercharged by a $20M gift from Jennifer and Alec Litowitz.

The #LitowitzCenter helps people harness the power of difference.

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/03/n...

Bullied teens less likely to be depressed if they feel connected at school, study finds 'Every child deserves to begin the year feeling safe, supported and included'

How can schools protect teens from the lasting harm of bullying? New research co-authored by Nia Heard-Garris finds that teens who feel safe, included, and supported at school are less likely to experience depression linked to bullying. spr.ly/63321ffRAT

IPR faculty are tackling urgent challenges—from wage theft and water insecurity to sentencing reform and gun violence. In statehouses, courtrooms, city halls, and beyond, our experts ensure evidence guides policy decisions.

Read more: www.ipr.northwestern.edu/news/2025/bo...

How Dads’ Stress and Mental Health Can Influence Their Children’s Development A meta-analysis of research studies affirms that mental distress in dads before and after the birth of a baby can affect child development.

A father’s mental health—before and after a baby’s birth—can influence a child’s development. Craig Garfield told
@the74.bsky.social that dads’ need for postpartum support is often overlooked, but their well-being directly affects their families. www.the74million.org/zero2eight/h...

Brief screen time isn’t likely to harm young children’s attention development, IPR psychologist Sandra Waxman told
the Evanston RoundTable. The concern is when screens become their primary way of engaging with the world. evanstonroundtable.com/2025/08/20/h...

YouTube video by NBC News LIVE: NBC News NOW

It’s rush season, and millions are watching sorority recruitment unfold on TikTok.

Simone Ispa-Landa told
@nbcnews.com that her research shows that sorority members themselves are critical of the rush process and realize that it favors affluent White women. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQZC...

Join us and @trienensinst.bsky.social for a Distinguished Public Policy Lecture with Ali Zaidi, former U.S. national climate advisor and head of the White House Climate Policy Office, on September 30. Register now: www.eventbrite.com/e/1412826093...

Stephanie Edgerly and Sergio Rebelo awarded Ver Steeg Fellowship Annual award honors tenured faculty for research excellence

Congratulations to @medillschool.bsky.social's @stephedgerly.bsky.social on receiving the Ver Steeg Distinguished Research Fellowship Award, which supports research that elevates Northwestern’s national and global reputation! Read more: news.northwestern.edu/stories/2025...

Trump’s big beautiful bill may force your local grocery store to close | CNN Business Large chains like Walmart, Kroger, and Dollar General can absorb the cuts to SNAP. It’s the small, independent grocers that depend heavily on the program that will be hit hardest.

Work requirement changes to SNAP will push people off food assistance, not into jobs, Diane Schanzenbach told @cnn.com. She said instead of spending money at grocery stores, more people will turn to food banks, which can’t fill this need. www.cnn.com/2025/07/28/b...

American Eagle's Crystal-Clear Defense Of Controversial Sydney Sweeney Ads Signals A Lot Experts say that American Eagle's response to the outrage over its campaign featuring the "Euphoria" actor tells us a lot about the current political climate.

American Eagle brushed off concerns about eugenic messaging in its recent ad with Sydney Sweeney.
@tabithabonilla.bsky.social told HuffPost the response reflects how companies are distancing themselves from diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. www.huffpost.com/entry/sydney...