Faculty & Research Published Research Research Education Economics Social Psychology Health Policy Social Entrepreneurship Environmental Policy Ethics Leadership Racial Justice and Equity National Security Political Science Advocacy Domestic Policy & Politics International and Global Affairs Democracy Social Equity International Development Research and Commentary Facet Area of Focus - Research Christopher J. Ruhm Craig Volden Bala Mulloth Eileen Chou Benjamin Castleman Sarah Turner Edgar O. Olsen Sophie Trawalter Benjamin Converse Christine Mahoney Timothy Wilson Adam Leive James H. Wyckoff William Shobe Charles Holt Daniel W. Player Daphna Bassok Harry Harding Jay Shimshack Jeanine Braithwaite John Pepper Richard Bonnie David Leblang John Holbein Leora Friedberg Molly Lipscomb James Savage Sebastian Tello Trillo Frederick P. Hitz Gabrielle Adams Gerald Warburg Isaac Mbiti Paul S. Martin Philip Potter Raymond C. Scheppach Ruth Gaare Bernheim Andrew S. Pennock Gerald Higginbotham Jazmin Brown-Iannuzzi Jennifer Lawless Kyle S. H. Dobson Michele Claibourn Noah Myung Facet People - Research EdPolicyWorks: Center for Education Policy and Workforce Competitiveness Center for Effective Lawmaking National Security Policy Center UVA Humanitarian Collaborative Facet UVA Partner - Research Published Research A Transparency Statement Improves Trust in Community-Police Interactions Authors: Kyle S. H. Dobson New research from UVA Batten assistant professor Kyle S. H. Dobson has identified a simple and cost-effective method for improving police interactions with community members that requires only ten small words. In a paper published last month in Nature Communications, Dobson and his co-researchers found that an officer stating a benevolent intention up front — something as simple as, “I’m walking around trying to get to know the community,” — made a substantial difference in how community members responded. Learn more Published Research Potter to Lead New National Security Data and Policy Institute Authors: Philip Potter Phil Potter, UVA Batten professor of politics and public policy, will lead the new National Security Data and Policy Institute, a partnership between the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the University of Virginia to help address the country’s most pressing national security issues. Learn more Published Research How State Policies Impacted Death Rates During COVID Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm Despite considerable prior research, it remains unclear whether and by how much state COVID-19−related restrictions affected the number of pandemic deaths in the US. In a paper in the JAMA Health Forum, Professor Chris Ruhm finds that on the whole, stricter restrictions saved a substantial number of lives. Learn more Published Research Better Sharing of “Eco-Innovations” Can Combat Rising Climate Despair Authors: Benjamin Converse Climate despair is emerging as a psychosocial threat. Ben Converse, associate professor of public policy and psychology at the Batten School, along with Batten post-doc Maura Austin and other UVA researchers, have found a potential source of hope that is underutilized. Learn more Working Paper Domestic Policy & Politics Political Science Legislative Effectiveness, Progressive Ambition, and Electoral Success Authors: Craig Volden Are effective state lawmakers more likely than ineffective state lawmakers to be elected to Congress? Our findings offer important insights into how American federalism contributes to representation by effective lawmakers. Learn more Published Research Rebecca’s Natural Food: Sparking Small Business and Local Community Involvement in Charlottesville Authors: Bala Mulloth This case study analyzes the growth, evolution, and innovation of Rebecca’s Natural Food, a socially minded grocer that provides locally sourced, sustainable, and healthy products for the public. Founded in 1987 by Norman Dill, the organization’s mission was to orchestrate a movement championing the need for healthy, sustainable, anti-hormone, fresh local food. Learn more Published Research Social Entrepreneurship New Case - Takeout 25: A Community-Driven Entrepreneurial Initiative in Oak Park, Illinois Authors: Bala Mulloth, Ariel Watt In this case, Batten Assistant Professor Bala Mulloth and MPP student Ariel Watt study the growth, evolution, and innovation of Takeout 25, a socially minded initiative that helped revitalize Oak Park’s restaurant industry and local economy in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The brainchild of Ravi Parakkat, an Oak Park citizen and village trustee, Takeout 25’s mission was to orchestrate a movement championing the need for financially viable, community-oriented solutions to keep residents safe while allowing restaurants to prosper. Learn more Published Research Democracy Do constituents know (or care) about the lawmaking effectiveness of their representatives? Authors: Craig Volden Substantial evidence exists that members of the US Congress vary in their lawmaking effectiveness. Less known, however, is whether constituents are sufficiently informed and inclined to hold their representatives accountable, based on their effectiveness. Learn more Published Research Racial Justice and Equity When an Irresistible Prejudice Meets Immovable Politics: Black Legal Gun Ownership Undermines Racially Resentful White Americans’ Gun Rights Advocacy Authors: Gerald Higginbotham, David O. Sears, Lauren Goldstein Historical evidence suggests that White Americans’ support for gun rights (i.e., opposition to gun control) is challenged by Black Americans exercising their legal rights to guns (e.g., The Black Panther Party and the Mulford Act of 1967). This study examined two empirical questions. In both studies, racially resentful White Americans expressed less support for a gun right (i.e., concealed-carry) when informed that Black (vs. White) Americans showed greater utilization of the gun right. Overall, these results support that Black legal gun ownership can reduce opposition to gun control among gun rights’ most entrenched advocates. Learn more Published Research Education Hard-to-staff centers: Exploring center-level variation in the persistence of child care teacher turnover Authors: Daphna Bassok, Justin B. Doromal, Laura Bellows, Anna J. Markowitz High rates of teacher turnover in child care settings have negative implications for young children's learning experiences and for efforts to improve child care quality. Prior research has explored the prevalence and predictors of turnover at the individual teacher level, but less is known about turnover at the center level––specifically, how turnover varies across child care centers or whether staffing challenges persist year after year for some centers. This study tracks annual turnover rates for all publicly funded child care centers that were continuously operating in Louisiana from the 2015-16 to 2018-19 school years. Learn more Published Research Social Psychology Once bitten, twice shy: The negative spillover effect of seeing betrayal of trust. Authors: Eileen Chou, Noah Myung, Dennis Y. Hsu Our research demonstrates that people who had perceived a recent betrayal were significantly less likely to trust a new entity that shared nominal group membership with the previous trust transgressor. By systematically investigating whether, why, and to what extent betrayal spillover can subsequently contaminate trust development, we present a robust account of the downstream economic and behavioral consequences of observing others who have been betrayed by a similar entity, particularly in the context of charitable organizations. Learn more Published Research International and Global Affairs Labor Market Policy as Immigration Control: The Case of Temporary Protected Status Authors: David Leblang, Benjamin Helms Controlling immigration has become a central political goal in advanced democracies. Politicians across the world have experimented with a range of policies such as foreign aid in the hopes that aid will spur development in migrant origin countries and decrease the demand for emigration. We argue that internal policy tools are more effective, in particular, the use of policies that allow temporary migrants short-term access to host country labor markets. Learn more Pagination Current page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Next page Next ›
Published Research A Transparency Statement Improves Trust in Community-Police Interactions Authors: Kyle S. H. Dobson New research from UVA Batten assistant professor Kyle S. H. Dobson has identified a simple and cost-effective method for improving police interactions with community members that requires only ten small words. In a paper published last month in Nature Communications, Dobson and his co-researchers found that an officer stating a benevolent intention up front — something as simple as, “I’m walking around trying to get to know the community,” — made a substantial difference in how community members responded. Learn more
Published Research Potter to Lead New National Security Data and Policy Institute Authors: Philip Potter Phil Potter, UVA Batten professor of politics and public policy, will lead the new National Security Data and Policy Institute, a partnership between the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the University of Virginia to help address the country’s most pressing national security issues. Learn more
Published Research How State Policies Impacted Death Rates During COVID Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm Despite considerable prior research, it remains unclear whether and by how much state COVID-19−related restrictions affected the number of pandemic deaths in the US. In a paper in the JAMA Health Forum, Professor Chris Ruhm finds that on the whole, stricter restrictions saved a substantial number of lives. Learn more
Published Research Better Sharing of “Eco-Innovations” Can Combat Rising Climate Despair Authors: Benjamin Converse Climate despair is emerging as a psychosocial threat. Ben Converse, associate professor of public policy and psychology at the Batten School, along with Batten post-doc Maura Austin and other UVA researchers, have found a potential source of hope that is underutilized. Learn more
Working Paper Domestic Policy & Politics Political Science Legislative Effectiveness, Progressive Ambition, and Electoral Success Authors: Craig Volden Are effective state lawmakers more likely than ineffective state lawmakers to be elected to Congress? Our findings offer important insights into how American federalism contributes to representation by effective lawmakers. Learn more
Published Research Rebecca’s Natural Food: Sparking Small Business and Local Community Involvement in Charlottesville Authors: Bala Mulloth This case study analyzes the growth, evolution, and innovation of Rebecca’s Natural Food, a socially minded grocer that provides locally sourced, sustainable, and healthy products for the public. Founded in 1987 by Norman Dill, the organization’s mission was to orchestrate a movement championing the need for healthy, sustainable, anti-hormone, fresh local food. Learn more
Published Research Social Entrepreneurship New Case - Takeout 25: A Community-Driven Entrepreneurial Initiative in Oak Park, Illinois Authors: Bala Mulloth, Ariel Watt In this case, Batten Assistant Professor Bala Mulloth and MPP student Ariel Watt study the growth, evolution, and innovation of Takeout 25, a socially minded initiative that helped revitalize Oak Park’s restaurant industry and local economy in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The brainchild of Ravi Parakkat, an Oak Park citizen and village trustee, Takeout 25’s mission was to orchestrate a movement championing the need for financially viable, community-oriented solutions to keep residents safe while allowing restaurants to prosper. Learn more
Published Research Democracy Do constituents know (or care) about the lawmaking effectiveness of their representatives? Authors: Craig Volden Substantial evidence exists that members of the US Congress vary in their lawmaking effectiveness. Less known, however, is whether constituents are sufficiently informed and inclined to hold their representatives accountable, based on their effectiveness. Learn more
Published Research Racial Justice and Equity When an Irresistible Prejudice Meets Immovable Politics: Black Legal Gun Ownership Undermines Racially Resentful White Americans’ Gun Rights Advocacy Authors: Gerald Higginbotham, David O. Sears, Lauren Goldstein Historical evidence suggests that White Americans’ support for gun rights (i.e., opposition to gun control) is challenged by Black Americans exercising their legal rights to guns (e.g., The Black Panther Party and the Mulford Act of 1967). This study examined two empirical questions. In both studies, racially resentful White Americans expressed less support for a gun right (i.e., concealed-carry) when informed that Black (vs. White) Americans showed greater utilization of the gun right. Overall, these results support that Black legal gun ownership can reduce opposition to gun control among gun rights’ most entrenched advocates. Learn more
Published Research Education Hard-to-staff centers: Exploring center-level variation in the persistence of child care teacher turnover Authors: Daphna Bassok, Justin B. Doromal, Laura Bellows, Anna J. Markowitz High rates of teacher turnover in child care settings have negative implications for young children's learning experiences and for efforts to improve child care quality. Prior research has explored the prevalence and predictors of turnover at the individual teacher level, but less is known about turnover at the center level––specifically, how turnover varies across child care centers or whether staffing challenges persist year after year for some centers. This study tracks annual turnover rates for all publicly funded child care centers that were continuously operating in Louisiana from the 2015-16 to 2018-19 school years. Learn more
Published Research Social Psychology Once bitten, twice shy: The negative spillover effect of seeing betrayal of trust. Authors: Eileen Chou, Noah Myung, Dennis Y. Hsu Our research demonstrates that people who had perceived a recent betrayal were significantly less likely to trust a new entity that shared nominal group membership with the previous trust transgressor. By systematically investigating whether, why, and to what extent betrayal spillover can subsequently contaminate trust development, we present a robust account of the downstream economic and behavioral consequences of observing others who have been betrayed by a similar entity, particularly in the context of charitable organizations. Learn more
Published Research International and Global Affairs Labor Market Policy as Immigration Control: The Case of Temporary Protected Status Authors: David Leblang, Benjamin Helms Controlling immigration has become a central political goal in advanced democracies. Politicians across the world have experimented with a range of policies such as foreign aid in the hopes that aid will spur development in migrant origin countries and decrease the demand for emigration. We argue that internal policy tools are more effective, in particular, the use of policies that allow temporary migrants short-term access to host country labor markets. Learn more