Weidenbaum Center Newsletter July 2024

July 2024

Table of Contents

About our Center

The Weidenbaum Center is a research institute at Washington University in St. Louis that supports social scientific research in the fields of public policy, economics, political science, and sociology. Led by Weidenbaum Center Director Andrew Reeves (pictured), the Center funds faculty research, provides administrative support for research activities, and sponsors a wide range of public affairs programs. In doing so, the Center serves as a bridge between scholars, policymakers, and the general public. Through unbiased empirical research and events, the Center addresses many of the pressing public policy issues facing America and the world today. 

The Weidenbaum Center provides significant research support for faculty in the departments of Economics, Political Science, and Sociology. This support allows a wide array of faculty members to participate in a variety of impactful research, and is of particular importance to our younger faculty who are just starting their research careers. Research efforts contribute to work that addresses key social issues locally, nationally, and globally, and enhances the prominence of Washington University in the academic and policy world. Donations fund our grant programs which support this research. We could not support nearly as much research without this generosity. 

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Weidenbaum Center Resident Fellow

Welcome Professor Jaclyn Kaslovsky!

Please join us in welcoming Professor Jaclyn Kaslovsky to the Weidenbaum Center as a Resident Fellow! Jaclyn, Assistant Professor of Political Science, comes to us from Rice University. She specializes in American politics, focusing on Congress, representation, and women in politics. In her current work, Professor Kaslovsky analyzes how legislators choose to allocate their resources, including their time and staff, and the effect of these choices on the legislator-constituent relationship. Professor Kaslovsky's other projects leverage unique time series and congressional speech datasets to explore the consequences of increasing diversity in Congress for representation and how legislator behavior has evolved over time. We are excited to have Professor Kaslovksy join the Weidenbaum Center team!

Congratulations to Professor Christopher Lucas on his recent promotion with tenure!

Please join us in congratulating Professor Christopher Lucas who recently received tenure as associate professor of political science in Arts & Sciences! Professor Lucas is a Weidenbaum Center Grant Recipient, and along with colleagues Professor Jacob Montgomery and Professor Margit Tavits, received a large grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The grant is funding a multilingual study of social media posts made by political parties, candidates, and party coalitions around the world. The researchers were awarded seed monies through the Weidenbaum Center's small grant program for initial research efforts that led to the larger project.

The course closely examines the U.S. Constitution and how we arrived at our current system of government and its various institutions.

Hear Weidenbaum Center Director Andrew Reeves discuss his Introduction to American Politics Course.

Congratulations to Weidenbaum Center Director of Survey Research Professor Taylor Carlson on her new book!

Congratulations to Taylor Carlson, Weidenbaum Center Director of Survey Research and Professor of Political Science, on her new book "Through the Grapevine: Socially Transmitted Information and Distorted Democracy." About one-third of Americans learn about political news chiefly from information shared by their peers in conversation or social media rather than direct engagement with the news. Drawing on evidence from experiments, surveys, and social media, Professor Carlson finds that as information flows first from the media then person to person, it becomes sparse, more biased, less accurate, and more mobilizing. This book was supported by the Weidenbaum Center though survey data collection from The American Social Survey (TASS).

Weidenbaum Center Grant Recipient Margit Tavits publishes paper in the journal of International Organization

Women's participation in politics is essential to advancing women's rights and contributes to countries' overall stability and economic prosperity. However, new research from Weidenbaum Center Grant Recipient and Dr. William Taussig Professor in Arts & Sciences Margit Tavits and colleagues, shows that the progress women have made in politics is threatened when conflict strikes. They conducted an analysis of Ukrainian politicians' engagement on social media in the months leading up to and after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and observed the effect conflict has on politician's behavior in real time. This research is newly published in the journal "International Organization."

Awards, Notables, and Remembrances

Grant Award: Recipient, Prof. M. Bumin Yenmez (Washington University Department of Economics), with Isa Hafalir (University of Technology Sydney), Fuhito Kojima (University of Tokyo), Irene Lo (Stanford University), and Muhammed Yildirim (Koc University).

Awarding entity: Australian Research Council Discovery Project PROJECT TITLE: BROADENING CHOICE AND INCREASING DIVERSITY IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Grant Summary: Currently, most families are limited to the public school in the area in their catchment area, meaning the area in which they can afford to live. This leads to socio-economically and ethnically homogenous schools and entrenches disadvantage. This project aims to investigate a model for allocating public school places that integrates catchment areas with expected outcomes, allowing for wider choice, enabling students to enroll in out-of-area schools, and ensuring that allocations remain fair, equitable, balanced, and diverse. The Weidenbaum Center provided application support for this grant and will aid in the grant's administration.

Q&A Series with Weidenbaum Center faculty, staff, or student affiliates

5 questions with Weidenbaum Center Senior Grants Specialist Anthony Valterra Weidenbaum Center Senior Grants Specialist Anthony Valterra answers questions in our Q&A series highlighting Weidenbaum Center people. Anthony serves as the Senior Grants Specialist at the GAIN/Weidenbaum Center. In this role, he collaborates with faculty during the grant pre-award process, aiding in proposal development, budget preparation, and other administrative tasks related to grant submissions. He also provides support in grant post-award activities including grant reporting, budget reallocation, no-cost extensions, and revisions. He works with faculty and graduate students in the departments of Economics, Political Science, and Sociology, and works in coordination with the Office of Sponsored Research Services.

Remembering long-time Weidenbaum Center member Roxanne Frank

We will miss Roxanne Frank. Roxie was a long-time supporter of the Center and a frequent attendee at our Weidenbaum Center events and programs. She had a deep expertise and passion for art and was proud to have served as a longtime Trustee and Commissioner for the Saint Louis Art Museum. She offered sound counsel as a board member for the National Council of the Sam Fox School of the Arts at Washington University, Laumeier Sculpture Park, and Jazz St. Louis, amongst other organizations. She will be missed.

Remembering long-time Weidenbaum Center member Eugene O'Neill

We will miss Eugene O'Neill. Gene was a long-time supporter and attended many of our Weidenbaum Center events and programs, always asking great questions. Gene was a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and received the Distinguished Business Alumni Award in 2004. He was elected President and CEO of General Grocer Company in 1960, and developed subsidiaries with innovative retail formats, two of which were headquartered in St. Louis: Save-A-Lot Food Stores, Ltd., and Shop 'N Save Stores. He was a founding Director of the Food Marketing Institute in Washington, DC as well as the Food Industry Crusade Against Hunger. We will miss him.

Exciting Upcoming Fall 2024 events!

We have a number of great events coming in September! We will be hosting a special Immigration forum with panelists from the fields of sociology, law, journalism, and local city government. A public policy breakfast will feature a fireside chat with Weidenbaum Center Director Andrew Reeves and James Bullard. Bullard is Dr. Samuel R. Allen Dean of the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business at Purdue University, and former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Lastly, a public policy lunch will feature Sean Trende, the founder of RealClearPolitics and nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Check out the link below to see all our upcoming events.

Fall 2024 Events