Alice Xu

Hope for a Healthier World With a new book, Professor of Political Science Julia Lynch and colleagues offer legislators a roadmap for reducing health inequality.

Thanks to @ldattaro.bsky.social for this lovely write-up of Getting Better.

If this sparks your interest, you can get the book open access here: policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/getting-better

@profkatsmith.bsky.social @profbambra.bsky.social @pennldi.bsky.social @pennaging.bsky.social

Thanks for your interest in the paper!! We actually find the opposite: certain class of public goods ("unfunded public goods"), e.g., protecting public health, induce support for right populism

Thanks, Catherine! Big congrats too on this paper! Super cool– excited to read. Paula Rettl was also just here visiting Philadelphia this weekend :)

The challenge for the Left is to turn unfunded public goods into funded ones: redistribute their concentrated costs using
–Job retention schemes
–Training and reskilling
–Redistributive compensation

Without credible compensation, right populists will continue to exploit the gap.

We also show negative future expectations predict Trump support:
Counties w/ more pessimistic future economic outlooks voted more heavily for Trump in 2016.

This long-term pessimism, rather than immediate economic loss, fuels right-wing populism.

Same pattern observed using an alternative measure: the share of jobs that can’t be done remotely (“teleworkability”).

We leverage staggered timing of COVID business closures in the U.S.—a rare economic shock decoupled from race. Using an event study design, we find lockdowns boosted Trump support in states with more low-education workers, but had no effect in high-education ones.

These policies don’t require direct taxes. That’s precisely the problem:
They’re “cheap” for governments, yet disproportionately costly for certain workers—esp. those with lower educ or less flexible skills. Without compensation, these voters are vulnerable to populist appeals.

Unfunded public goods, policies that benefit the public but impose concentrated economic costs on specific groups, without compensating them, drives right-wing populism.

Think:
– COVID lockdowns
– Trade liberalization
– Climate policies
– Innovation and competition policy

🚨New paper out in @cpsjournal.bsky.social with Torben Iversen: doi.org/10.1177/0010...
We empirically separate economic factors from cultural backlash as competing explanations for right-wing populism, and find evidence for the former. We define the concept of “unfunded public goods.” 🧵

…So let me get this straight:

New Jersey is represented by legendary badass CORY BOOKER.

While New York is stuck with Chuck “obey in advance” Schumer, and Pennsylvania has John “next Kyrsten Sinema” Fetterman.

As regional rivalries go, that has really gotta sting.

Super happy to see this finally out! Coauthored with a dream team! @gustavodiaz.org Rebecca Weitz-Shapiro & Matthew S. Winters

Check it out! 👇🏼

*long thread with a summary of the argument may be coming soon

2/6 🧵In @cpsjournal.bsky.social, @alicexu.bsky.social & Iversen ask if economic, rather than cultural factors, drive support for right-wing populists. Staggered DiD in the US & covid lockdowns. In states with less educated people (cannot work from home) lockdowns increase Trump support doi.org/pft7

Yesss! 🥳🥂🤘 Thrilled for you –congratulations, Chagai!!

🚨New pre-print! It builds on the State Formation seminar that I teach at Yale, benefiting from rich conversations with brilliant students. The piece tackles state formation, state building, and outlines 3 paths of future research: civil wars, international constraints, and bureaucratic capacity.

Excited to speak at Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice’s webinar on climate’s influence on health, politics, and the labor force.

Register here: upenn.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Hell yeeeee! 🥳🥂🤘

Two of the most important books on climate politics, which need to be read (much) more widely.

This likely confirms that the decision to arrest him was made at the highest levels of government, a terrifying return to the policies of ideological exclusion last seen used during the heights of the Cold War. A very, very worrying precedent at the start of this government.

New Broadstreet post up!

Highlighting some great work rethinking common assumptions about African borders!

@ricarthuguet.bsky.social @jackpaine.bsky.social and Christy Qiu

www.broadstreet.blog/p/african-bo...

🚨 Call for papers 🚨

Political Economy of Climate Change and the Environment (PECE) APSA 2024 mini-conference

Deadline soon: March 1st, 2024

Submit here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
More information:
static1.squarespace.com/static/59bc8...
web.sas.upenn.edu/pece2024/

I don't know how many of us (political scientists) read Cohen and Dawson (1993) during grad school, but it's still one of my all-time favorite papers in REP and beyond.

Two of the greatest cities on Earth — New York City and San Francisco — are getting absolutely wrecked by decades of local and regional political mismanagement, despite having so many other things going for them.

Why did I do 7 survey experiments on the effects of racial priming on White Americans' ACA attitudes, and what can we learn from the heap of null results?

A 🧵, drawn from Chp. 6 of my new book "Stable Condition: Elites' Limited Influence on Health Care Attitudes"

Polisky

1/

At Any Cost: How Ukrainians Think about Self-Defense Against Russia

How do Ukrainians think about self-defense against Russia? In a new paper out in the AJPS, @janinadill.bsky.social, Marnie Howlett and I find through a conjoint experiment that they are categorically against major concessions, even at very high costs of self-defense doi.org/10.1111/ajps... (1/6)

Thanks so much, Antonio! Means a lot from you:)

Thanks so much, Danny! And for all the great feedback too :)

Thanks, Nina!!!

Thank you so much, Moritz!

Thank youu @carlmc.bsky.social!!!