Justin de Benedictis-Kessner
@jdbk
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Assistant Professor @Harvard @Kennedy_School . Urban and local politics + policy; cyclist; 🏳️🌈; he/him. RTs ≠ endorsements
Boston, MA
Joined February 2009
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Move over, Ever Given in the Suez:
@CambMA
has the Tootsie Roll truck stuck on Mass Ave
@universalhub
@OnlyInBOS
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Local offices–like city councilors, mayors, and county legislators–are the most common elected offices in the US. But what determines local election outcomes and what are the consequences of these elections? Our paper out today should help answer those Qs:
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Excited that in July, I’ll be joining the political science department at Boston University! Thrilled to stay in Boston and work with some amazing colleagues
@BU_PoliSci
+
@BUonCities
. I am overcome with gratitude towards everyone who’s helped along the way- thank you.
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What a treat to hear
@leahstokes
deliver the Sid Verba Lecture
@Harvard
this afternoon on her truly impressive climate policy work!
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New article online at APSR today, with Matt Baum
@Kennedy_School
+
@AdamBerinsky
+Teppei Yamamoto
@MITPoliSci
. We show how persuasive partisan media like Fox and MSNBC can contribute to political polarization- and how they may bring people closer together
#SocSciResearch
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Electing Democratic mayors leads to more multi-family housing permitted in big cities, but city councilors have little direct effect on permits. New working paper w/
@daniel_b_jones
+
@cwarshaw
using data on city council/mayoral elections + 🏘️permits in big cities ⬇️
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My mom (lower left here) – in her 70s! – lay down yesterday on Hopkins St to protest inaction on safer streets by the City of Berkeley. Incredibly proud of her for participating in this protest, but sad that she and others (of all ages!) have to demand safe streets like this.
The kids get it: We must make our streets safe for people riding bikes, walking, and taking transit in order to protect people and our climate
Thank you
@WalkBikeBerk
@telegraphforppl
for organizing this powerful "die-in" to demand action for safe, complete streets on Hopkins
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Ever wondered how to run a complex survey in
@Qualtrics
that has block randomization, consults a lookup table based on respondent characteristics, or just randomizes between tons (100s) of different options? I wrote a post on using Javascript to do just that!
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I'm hiring a postdoc to work with me for 2 years
@Kennedy_School
thnx to generous funding from the Bloomberg
@CenterforCities
. Official job posting not up yet but please tell anyone you know who might be interested to email me!
@apsaurban
#psjminfo
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New research w/
@RIBernhard
up today
@PNASNews
: Women candidates who lose elections are no less likely to run again in the future than men.
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Bless the heart of the
@Northeastern
undergrad journalist at my polling place asking to interview me, a professor and political scientist, instead of a “normal voter” about why I showed up to vote this morning 🤓
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Listen folks: sometimes science is hard, but you don't have to struggle in silence. I showed my students this in our 1st class this morning and it deserves emphasis. Undergrads, grad students, and faculty all can struggle. Let's take care of each other this semester.
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This paper introduces a new dataset (available freely on OSF) of over 57,000 elections for mayor, city councilor, county executive, county legislator, sheriff, prosecutor, and school board offices across the last 30+ years.
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Just biked on ~10 miles of barrier-protected bike lanes through multiple small towns & cities... in *Slovenia*. The excuses that major cities in the US make for not doing this are embarrassing.
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Biking along a former highway on an urban river ➡️ direct causal effect on transportation policy opinions, confirmed!
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What’s even better than receiving this honor? Getting to share it with my awesome colleague
@che_shani
! Humbled and thankful,
@apsaurban
The Clarence Stone Scholar Award, our award that recognizes scholars up to 10 years post-PhD who are emerging leaders already having a major impact on the study of urban politics, goes to
@jdbk
and
@che_shani
, both of
@Kennedy_School
. 👏
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City governments issue press releases strategically to over-emphasize good performance. How do they do this? Brief thread:
Cool new paper from
@jdbk
forthcoming PSRM:
Causal evidence that government communications respond to changes in economic conditions and crime, using 110,000 city press releases
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Discovered data inconsistency in pre-1992 Census Building Permits Survey data this morning. Called Census office, spoke to 1 of their statisticians. 3 hours later I have a crosswalk file for the ID-matching problem thanks to his swift investigation.
@uscensusbureau
is awesome!
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Come work with me
@Kennedy_School
! Cities (and local governance) are of critical interest to us here. Join a great community of scholars working on tough urban policy problems!
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Here at
@CityOfBoston
City Hall on a
@Kennedy_School
graduate student field trip. Can’t wait to see students’ applied policy projects this spring!
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Excited to start teaching my new course
@Kennedy_School
today: the Urban Politics Field Lab
#DPI325
. It's an experiential course supported by
@TaubmanCenter
that partners student teams with some terrific cities and towns like
@CityPortland
@arlingtonmagov
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It might have been freezing yesterday, but my
@BU_PoliSci
students braved the cold to do field work checking out bike and ped safety issues in
@arlingtonmagov
. Excited to see their data-driven policy reports at the end of the semester!
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This paper has some clear implications for policy makers trying to solve the opioid crisis, as well as evidence that self-interest can influence public opinion. Glad to see this in print!
#SocSciResearch
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Bus lanes can be transformational but need collaboration b/t
@BostonBTD
@bostonpolice
@MBTA
to work. This is a governance problem: bus lanes need education & enforcement.
Because of this car carrying one person, 80 people on the 7 bus sat in traffic this morning late for work. Bus lanes need to be enforced otherwise the outcome of having one at all is worse.
@MBTA
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Excited that my paper with
@cwarshaw
on county elections and fiscal policy is now forthcoming
@The_JOP
! We show partisan representation in
#localpolitics
: electing Democratic county legislators results in ⬆️ county spending and ⬆️ revenue
#SocSciResearch
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New from me in
@ConversationUS
: local elections data from my research w/
@DleasyPetes
@YamilRVelez
&
@cwarshaw
shows how non-white people are drastically under-represented in city and county governments across the country
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When people ask why local elections matter,
#VisionZero
is one of my top reasons. Cars are killing kids, grandparents, and regular people on our city streets - and local policies can help protect against that.
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New working paper w/
@MaxwellBPalmer
on how car ownership creates barriers to voting. Quick writeup here
@DemocracyDocket
. Takeaway: people who lack access to a car have lower turnout on election day.
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Today in my Introduction to Public Policy class
@BU_PoliSci
we talked abt Policymaking in a Pandemic. Sure, participation w/ 160ppl is tough. But seeing the students' curiosity + engagement in talking about the policy process in the current crisis =😍 The kids are alright, folks.
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My
@Kennedy_School
students this fall took on tough issues like fines & fees reform, homeless services, and transportation logistics. Proud of the hard work they did in partnership with cities and towns highlighted here:
“Students come here to be public leaders, to go solve problems. And if they’re going to go out and hit the ground running when they leave HKS, they need some time to practice those skills.”
—HKS's
@jdbk
on experiential learning
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Can’t believe I’m leaving already. What a wonderful couple days here
@AarhusUni
getting feedback on my work, meeting super sharp Danish political scientists, and enjoying some beautiful midcentury architecture. Thnx for the invite
@mvinaes
!
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Recent focus on abhorrent immigration practices under Trump has made me think more about what
#SocSciResearch
tells us about how to change attitudes on immigration & especially religious rhetoric. Great article by
@mfmargolis
forthcoming
@The_JOP
which has some relevant answers.
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If you've ever wondered whether voting for county politicians matters,
@cwarshaw
and I have an updated paper! We show electing a Democratic county legislator increases county spending by ~5%, and increases redistributive spending by ~9%. Full paper here:
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Excited for one of my fav parts of APSA to be back in 2022: the Local Political Economy pre-conference! Join
@trounstine
,
@prof_mirya
, me & others on Sep 14th if you would like to get (or offer) feedback on research about local politics. Apply here ⬇️
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Out today
@monkeycageblog
:
@cwarshaw
and I analyze how a potential coronavirus recession may impact this year's elections. We show that a 3%⬇️ in wages would lead Rep. candidates to get a ~1%⬇️ voteshare than if there were a 3% wage⬆️
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Terrific group of final presentations from students in my Urban Public Policy Lab today. They used data to show how our partners
@arlingtonmagov
could target bike, pedestrian, and transit improvements.
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Indeed,
@juliaforboston
does know what's up (with the political science research)! Voter turnout is *much* higher in on-cycle local elections than in off-cycle special elections.
"If we have a special election after a special election, we're going to let a few thousand politically active people decide who will be the mayor for the next four years,"she said. Don't get it twisted. We know who comes out in droves in special elections"
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Is there anything better/worse than discovering a non-advertised API for hundreds of cities' data after spending [redacted] hours gathering data from individual city websites?
#localpolitics
= best/worst, sigh
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Disappointed to see
@OakDOT
retreating from policy to protect the lives of vulnerable road users and instead bending to organized interest groups that are unrepresentative of the city's residents. Demonstrates how biased "community engagement" process can create terrible policy.
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Desperately needed descriptive work on mayoral elections from Trish Kirkland
@PUPolitics
⤵️ – check out her other work here:
About
Assistant Professor of Politics and Public Affairs | Princeton University
patriciakirkland.com
Mayoral candidates & mayors tend to be white & male with prior political experience & professional careers, especially business executives, lawyers, & government employees
#polisciresearch
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Google Scholar alerts are great when they alert you to cool things like
@payson_julia
's new book being available for pre-order. Excited to read this over winter break!
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Urban data alert: transportation data for the entire US, easily downloadable! Can confirm that they are v. cool data as I bought them... immediately.
And if you're doing research and mapping individually or for commercial needs, the data for the entire continent—7,051 stations and >1000 lines—is available for download:
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Building affordable housing is important. But using tools like inclusionary zoning can be dangerous w/o appropriate policy design. Thoughts from
@LJBilmes
@BrianIammartino
@RozalynMock
and me in today's
@BostonGlobe
⬇️
Op-ed in
@GlobeOpinion
: The problem with using inclusionary zoning to build affordable housing
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New paper w/
@msgHankinson
showing that race-based biases have shaped public support to address the opioid crisis ⬇️
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Terrific talk from
@jenny_schuetz
on her new book, Fixer Upper, today
@Harvard_JCHS
. It's clear, both in its science and its recommendations for policymakers, on how to overcome wicked hard politics & address the housing crisis, transportation needs + climate change–all at once!
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Feeling proud of terrific
@Kennedy_School
students from my Urban Politics Field Lab class
#DPI325
as they present to
@TownofBillerica
's Capital Facilities Needs Committee tonight about the 3 town-wide surveys they ran to gauge community input
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Okay snow in
@CityOfBoston
is pretty, I guess (albeit in March)- but even prettier is this bike path in
#Roxbury
plowed before 9am. Thanks
@BostonPWD
!
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New paper on economic voting at all levels of government with
@cwarshaw
shows how the president's party is held accountable for the performance of the economy at multiple levels of government
#SocSciResearch
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At 5:30 this morning I awoke to two pigeons (loudly) mating in the alley behind our apartment. Half awake, I used a water bottle to squirt them in hopes they would kindly go somewhere other than our backyard. Anyways, am I a NIMBY now? Will
#pigeontwitter
cancel me? 🤔
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Is there anything better than seeing rockstar students present to a mayor, and hear that
@CityBrockton
now has a research-based roadmap to take action + save lives of vulnerable road users? Proud of these
@Kennedy_School
students + thankful for support from
@RappaportInst
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Sure, giving a talk and getting feedback on your research at another university is great. But
@KuSamf
takes this up a level: loaner bikes + real-life tour guide
@AsmusOlsen
. Can’t wait to return soon!
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Proud of this top-notch social scientist and friend
@leahstokes
!
Leah has an uncanny capacity to translate scientific facts into language anyone can understand. Her work helped us pass this country's largest investment in clean energy.
I was honored to write her TIME100 Next biography – congratulations, Leah!
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This has been *quite* the week for SCOTUS decisions relating to cases just covered in my Intro Public Policy class this spring (
#DACADecision
#LGBTQRights
)! Never thought I'd be so excited that some lecture slides are now out of date...
#BREAKING
: The Supreme Court has ruled against the Trump administration and extended a lifeline to the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, allowing the program that has permitted about 650,000 "Dreamers" to stay and work in the U.S. legally to continue.
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Quite happy that
@MITelectionlab
is supporting this data project, soon to be a public resource that will hopefully make it easier for many people to do local politics research!
With funding from
@MITelectionlab
, I've been working with
@jdbk
,
@danmthomp
, and others to produce a unified file of city, county, and sheriff elections results. The pandemic has slowed progress. But we're getting close!
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Excellent distillation of academic research on cities and the policy problems they face in today's
@nytimes
, featuring some data from my research w/
@cwarshaw
, quotes from
@TKOPolitics
+ others!
Great story from
@emilymbadger
in today’s
@nytimes
on partisanship in city governments. Draws on work from me,
@jdbk
, Liz Gerber, and lots of other scholars.
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@JakeMGrumbach
I will join you in our new show entitled “Political Scientists Read Ridiculous PSR Posts About Them Aloud”
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Hey
@BostonBTD
+
@BostonPWD
: you haven't cleared the Melnea Cass Blvd sidewalks or bike path of snow after almost every storm this winter. Today was no exception, sadly.
@BOS311
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Pretty cool at last night's
#BosMayorDebate
to hear
@wutrain
's in-depth knowledge of real-world disparities in basic service provision in Boston. As she said, 311 isn't enough! Satisfaction with the city's 311 responses to sidewalk repair has huge differences by race+income ⬇️
Ummm...
@jdbk
, did
@wutrain
just reference your amazing research on inequities in public services (specifically road and sidewalk repair) based on community racial makeup?!
#bosmayordebate
#bospoli
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Pretty proud that my mom voted today in the
#CAprimary
election- she even researched her local ballot measures! Bonus: I got to drop off her ballot for her!
#localpolitics
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We use these data for one illustrative application in the paper and assess descriptive representation. We show that women and non-white people remain incredibly under-represented in local politics across the last 3 decades:
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These data are the culmination of a ton of work collecting local elections data for 8+ years w/
@cwarshaw
, who first asked me "has anyone collected city council elections data?" back in March 2015 while we were both
@MITPoliSci
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Teaching about infrastructure in class today because, well, it's
#InfrastructureWeek
and the world is burning, and that's as good a time as any to read great research by
@leahstokes
,
@msgHankinson
, + others
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After yesterday's
#MBTA
#RedLine
derailment, fascinating to see the blame game go into high gear. But what do we know about how voters will actually react? Some evidence from my research in
@The_JOP
, in brief: (1/n)
It is always funny on bad MBTA days to see how much blame the mayor of Boston catches from the Twitterati. (I know, I know, bus lanes.)
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“Riding the bus isn’t a *choice*” for people from certain strata of society, says
@AyannaPressley
. She’s right: that’s why better infrastructure and
#transportationequity
are just one way to ensure overall equity
@dukakiscenter
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Watching
@AyannaPressley
drop facts and
#data
on transportation in Boston to a room full of policymakers and academics is inspiring. Can’t wait to see my rep in Congress.
#ChangeCantWait
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Get you a city councilor who does the homework (and puts up with nerdy professors offering books) 🙌🏼
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Care about the politics of housing, the affordability crisis, and cities? (You should) --> If so, you'll want to read this book.
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Louder for the ones in back 🗣️📢: County elections matter! Some exciting local election results coming out of yesterday, especially those like
#VAelections
#delcovote
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Median household income along this path is <$30k. In Back Bay along this bike path you're plowing so nicely? Well over $100k. I appreciate that bike lanes are plowed anywhere, but you can't ignore the disparity in access to services here that aligns with socioeconomic differences
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Found when looking through papers on
#localpolitics
from decades past: this 🔥 quote from V.O. Key (1953)
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Standing room only here
@TaubmanCenter
@RappaportInstit
lunch conversation about
@CambMA
guaranteed income pilot program w/
@MayorSiddiqui
of Cambridge and
@Kennedy_School
students!
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Transportation policy 🚂 is finally getting the attention it deserves in Boston politics! Great to see coverage of the way this issue has evolved and shapes tomorrow's mayoral election from
@jblumgart
@GOVERNING
#bospoli
#mapoli
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@eitanhersh
I really wish there were more than two options to choose among here, geez. Perhaps then I could rank the options?
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Some sharp analyses by
@vavreck
&
@cwarshaw
using granular data on COVID-19 + 300,000 survey interviews (
@DemocracyFund
) to show within-county shifts in Trump approval. Bad news for approval of GOP Senate and House candidates, too ⬇️
The survey data is clear on this point: Local coronavirus fatalities are hurting Republicans running for federal offices.
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@LorenCrowe
I cannot get over how ridiculous this statement is. "No room for the haves," when the average home price in Cambridge is astronomical, and street parking is free + readily available in most residential neighborhoods. Departed from reality!
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Quarantined 3000 miles away from family when I was supposed to be celebrating my mom’s 70th birthday with her today. A lovely reminder from
@karinadanielle6
that at least we have scents and flavors to connect us, even in isolation.
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Such a joy to have my
@BU_PoliSci
students learn from
@d_tribone
of
@RideBluebikes
- our guest speaker in class today - about public transit and bike infrastructure, and the ways policy shapes these critical transportation services!
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Excited to get to work on the individual-level opinion side of these questions. Eventually we can get some more answers to the [many, many] questions we still don't have answers to in
#localpolitics
!
I'm excited by a new project with
@cwarshaw
and
@jdbk
on representation and inequality in local politics. We thank the
@RussellSageFdn
for their support! Here's more detail:
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What an awesome way to be welcomed back to the Bay Area during
#PrideMonth
: a shiny new
@SFBART
train with this neat lil sticker
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A big "heck yes" to this new report from
@MassBudget
showing that eliminating bus fares can make our transportation systems (👀
@MBTA
) faster and more equitable ⬇️
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Glad to have built upon this work w/
@DleasyPetes
&
@YamilRVelez
in the last couple years, and thankful for the contributions of data along the way from
@danmthomp
@dhopkins1776
@CBHessick
@MichaelZoorob
@SamKrumholz
+ others not on twitter
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@bennyjet34
@universalhub
Can confirm that
@EatBlunch
was bustling with more happy customers than there were protestors. Thanks to Nikki + team for feeding the hard-working and vaccinated staff of
@The_BMC
!
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Couldn’t be prouder to be
@Oakland
City Council meeting
#oakmtg
supporting my sister, exec director of
@TemescalDist
. She’s here to advocate for the
@oakdot
Telegraph Ave repaving plan- something that will fix currently unsafe conditions on a major business and transit corridor
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Other things this APSA paper taught us: hunting down county election results is tough, but full of fun old newspaper stories!
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New evidence that non-prosecution of low-level offenses can reduce reoffending, leveraging
@DARollins
policy change right here in Suffolk County
#bospoli
. Can’t wait to see how my neighborhood Facebook group responds to this research against many ppl’s very strong priors... 🙃
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Excited that this paper is finally out
@poli_com
! In it, we (
@AdamBerinsky
@Meg_E_Goldberg
@mfmargolis
) use real-world stimuli from a low-information local campaign in which a candidate – according to media reports – duped voters into thinking he was black.
This paper was a long time coming. But has, I think, the most creative stimuli used in one of my published papers. The Effect of Associative Racial Cues in Elections
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@melanierucinski
hey
@melanierucinski
- I don't know you, but I've got a monitor in my office
@Kennedy_School
that you're welcome to have. DM/email me and I'll get it to you.
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