Social and Economic Inequality
Economic growth and development depend upon all citizens having the opportunity to maximize their potential, whether this is in terms of family formation, career path, or other long-term objective. MPRC researchers study inequalities by race / ethnicity, social class, age, gender, context, and nativity / immigration status in this and other signature themes.
MPRC research in this category is unique in its focus on key institutional contexts. Although population research usually focuses on the individual or family as the unit of analysis, from an ecological perspective, the individual and family are nested in a set of broader institutional contexts. Such institutions include prisons, the criminal justice system, health care systems, family and welfare policy, the labor market, the military, firms, schools, states, or countries as the context for population-related behaviors.
Areas of focus include :
- Individual and family inequality
- Schools and colleges
- Organizations and firms
- Criminal justice system
- Military
Examples of current projects in these areas are listed here.
Gatekeeping in telephone surveys of female migrants in India
The rise of telephone surveys has increased "gatekeeping" of women
Differences in out-of-pocket spending for maternity care by race and ethnicity
Asian, Black, and Hispanic individuals had higher out-of-pocket spending overall
The Intergenerational Transmission of Inequality in Tanzania
Kenneth Leonard and Sangeetha Madhavan in $2.5 million study
Racial and ethnic discrimination (RED) & tobacco use and cannabis co-use behaviors among young adults
Study by Faculty Associate Craig Fryer links racial discrimination, coping strategies, and tobacco / cannabis use.
The relationship between familial deaths and one's own mortality among Black Americans
Familial loss increases midlife mortality risk among Black Americans
Untapped human capital in sub-Saharan Africa
Kennth Leonard investigates knowledge-practice gaps; emphasizes importance of indigenous solutions
The impact of private high schools on adult earnings in Chile
Private high school attendance in Chile boosts adult earnings significantly
Temporal trends in mental health disparities among sexual minorities
Research shows persistent mental health disparities among sexual minority populations
Examining open-ended survey responses between web and face-to-face
Web-based and face-to-face surveys yield similar open-ended response quality
Educational and economic gains from expanding computer science courses in Maryland
Maryland study shows that computer science courses boost degrees and early career earnings
The built environment and traffic collisions in the United States
Quynh Nguyen and Thu Nguyen examine how built environment features affect U.S. traffic collisions
Elementary School Desegregation and Mid-Life Cognitive Function
Walsemann research identifies integrated early childhood education as factor for improved cognitive function for Black individuals
State level structural racism and alcohol and tobacco use behaviors
New paper by Faculty Associate Kerry Green examines structural racism impacts among a national probability sample of Black Americans
Population neuroscience: Challenges and recommendations for researchers
Arianna Gard discusses generalizability and representation in large-scale neuroimaging datasets
School-based health centers reduce income-based health disparities
Boudreaux evaluates how the policy influences healthcare access outcomes in low-income families
Expanding racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity in Economics
$450k NSF grant awarded to Jessica Goldberg to expand PADE
Built environment features mediate the relationship between neighborhoods' racial and ethnic composition and health outcomes
Quynh Nguyen and colleagues investigate this using Google Maps data
Broader approaches are necessary for formulating evidence-based climate policies
New research published by Alok Bhargava
Work in the time of COVID-19: social norms and pluralistic ignorance
Kreuter explores shifting attitudes surrounding work behaviors in employees and supervisors
The importance of parental engagement in learning activities for socioemotional development in low-income Black and Latinx youth
New publication by Natasha Cabrera and Jay Fagan uses latent growth curve modeling to investigate trajectories of mothers' and fathers' engagement