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Features February 02, 2016
WWS Reacts: The Winners and Losers in Iowa
Voting got underway in the 2016 presidential primary season on Monday, with Sen. Ted Cruz, Class of 1992, scoring a victory on the Republican side and Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders locked in a close race among Democrats. Nolan McCarty, the Susan Dod Brown Professor of Politics and Public Affairs and chair of the Department of Politics, answered questions about the caucus results and what's ahead in the 2016 campaign. McCarty, whose research interests include U.S. politics, democratic political institutions and political game theory, is the author of books including "Political Game Theory," "Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and…
Features January 15, 2016
Policy Task Force Identifies Ways to Improve Health in South Africa
Six million child and 500,000 maternal deaths occur each year worldwide, often from easily-preventable causes. Why do women and children – especially those in developing countries – continue to die at such alarming rates?This was the question posed to members of last fall’s undergraduate Policy Task Force, “Maternal and Child Health in Developing Countries,” offered by Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.Every Task Force at the Wilson School challenges participants to address a specific public policy issue through both independent research and collaboration on joint recommendations the class presents to…
Features January 13, 2016
WWS Reacts: Four Questions for the Country
In his seventh and final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama said he wanted to talk about the future and “the four big questions that we as a country have to answer”: 1) an economy undergoing profound changes; 2) the need for innovation in technology to address critical challenges such as climate change and disease prevention; 3) ensuring national security while refining immigration policy and defining the United States’ leadership role in world events; and 4) returning to a political climate in which debates are constructive and there exists a “willingness to compromise.” Experts from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of…
Features January 11, 2016
Fifteen-Year National Survey of 'Fragile Families' Fuels Wide Range of Research
On the second floor of Lewis Thomas Lab at Princeton University, researchers are working to better understand the complex interactions between environmental conditions and human DNA.At the University of Michigan, researchers are using magnetic resonance imaging to study the brains of adolescents from disadvantaged backgrounds. And researchers at Stony Brook University are examining what affects sleep patterns among such teenagers.These projects and many others have been made possible by the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study — a research project based at Princeton and Columbia University that has built an unmatched trove of data by following 3…
Princeton School of Public and International Affairs logo on a grey background.
Features January 04, 2016
New Website to Bridge the Gap Between Microeconomics and Public Policy
Distilling microeconomics research into direct policy implications will be the focus of a new website developed by researchers at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs; Harvard University; London School of Economics; Northwestern University; University of California, San Diego; University College London; University of Manchester; and Yale University.“Microeconomic Insights” – which launched Jan. 4 while economists gather at the American Economic Association’s annual conference in San Francisco – will bridge the gap between academia and policy by publishing short, non-technical summaries of economic research…
Features January 04, 2016
Students With Influence Over Peers Reduce School Bullying by 30 Percent
Curbing school bullying has been a focal point for educators, administrators, policymakers and parents, but the answer may not lie within rules set by adults, according to new research led by Princeton University. Instead, the solution might actually be to have the students themselves, particularly those most connected to their peers, promote conflict resolution in school.A team of researchers from Princeton, Rutgers University and Yale University engaged groups of influential students in 56 New Jersey middle schools to spread messages about the dangers of bullying and school conflict. Using messaging platforms such as Instagram, print posters and…
Features December 22, 2015
Bernstein Gallery Offers High School Students an Intimate Look at the Cuban Revolution
“The Cuban Revolution” – an exhibit currently on display at the Woodrow Wilson School’s Bernstein Gallery – features 80 rare, black and white photographs documenting a critical period in Cuba’s cultural and political history. Taken between 1947 and the late 1960s, the photos are part of a private collection that belong to David Sellers, a resident of Hopewell, New Jersey.This is the first time the photographs have been publicly exhibited. Each photo was personally selected, matted and framed by Sellers, who also researched and wrote all the captions.On Dec. 16, Sellers welcomed nearly 30 Princeton High School (PHS) Spanish students to the exhibit,…
Features December 17, 2015
WWS Reacts: Looking Back and Forward from the Fed's Rate Increase
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates from record lows on Dec. 16, beginning what many expect to be a period of further increases. The change itself was small – lifting the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans from between zero and 0.25 percent to a range of 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent. But the move drew wide attention for the signal it sends about the Fed's view of the economy and its plans going forward. Alan Blinder, the Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and Public Affairs and former vice chairman of the Fed's Board of Governors, answered questions about the Fed's decision, what it will mean throughout the…
Features December 17, 2015
WWS Reacts: Looking Back and Forward from the Fed's Rate Increase
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates from record lows on Dec. 16, beginning what many expect to be a period of further increases. The change itself was small – lifting the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans from between zero and 0.25 percent to a range of 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent. But the move drew wide attention for the signal it sends about the Fed's view of the economy and its plans going forward. Alan Blinder, the Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and Public Affairs and former vice chairman of the Fed's Board of Governors, answered questions about the Fed's decision, what it will mean throughout the…
Features December 17, 2015
WWS Reacts: Will the Paris Climate Agreement be a 'Turning Point' for the World?
On Dec. 12, the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris ended with the first climate change agreement in which the representatives of all 195 nations have agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The deal comes after more than 20 years of deliberation following the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) treaty, which set goals and procedures for signatory nations to contain and reduce carbon emissions. We discussed the agreement with two Princeton University researchers who attended the Paris climate talks: Michael Oppenheimer, the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs and director…
Features December 09, 2015
“Impassioned Debate” Results in Noteworthy Journal
While producing the annual Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA) is no small task, a review of this year’s 26th edition clearly reveals a publication worthy of the time and effort involved.Preparing the journal necessitated bringing together, over the course of a long winter “reading weekend” on the Princeton University campus, 47 editors, all graduate students representing 17 member schools in the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA). These dedicated individuals carefully reviewed 85 papers submitted by graduate students from around the world, “and following an impassioned debate, the editors selected the…
Features December 08, 2015
Nancy Duff Campbell: A Path to Public Service
Nancy Duff Campbell is the founder and co-president of the National Women's Law Center. This fall, she visited the Woodrow Wilson School in October as the Judith H. Rawson and Robert Rawson Distinguished Visitor. A recognized expert on women's law and public policy issues for more than 40 years, Campbell has participated in the development and implementation of key legislative initiatives and litigation protecting women's rights, with a particular emphasis on issues affecting low-income women and their families. In this WooCast, she discusses her path to public service.
Features December 07, 2015
WWS Reacts: Is Gun Violence an American 'Epidemic'?
Two shooters opened fire at a party in San Bernadino, Calif., last week, killing 14 people and injuring 21, the latest in a series of mass shootings this year ranging from Charleston, South Carolina, to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Roseburg, Oregon. Records show that, on average, there is now a mass shooting every day in the United States, with a mass shooting defined as incidents in which four or more people are reported to have been either injured or killed. More than 30,000 people die annually from some sort of gun violence. We discussed the "epidemic" of gun violence as it relates to public health with Heather Howard, director of the State…
Features December 07, 2015
More Aggressive Climate Policies Are Needed to Save the Future Poor
People often believe that future generations will be better off than their predecessors, but that may be a dangerous assumption when it comes to climate change, according to new Princeton research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Past research shows the poor bear the brunt of climate change impacts, especially in terms of long-term income growth. A new model developed at Princeton University predicts that, if the poor continue to be affected in this way — and current climate policies remain the same — the world’s future poor will be even worse off than impoverished people today.The model is the first to consider how the effects…
Features December 07, 2015
WooCast: Sailing the Water's Edge: The Domestic Politics of American Foreign Policy
When engaging with other countries, the U.S. government has a number of different policy instruments at its disposal, including foreign aid, international trade and the use of military force. But what determines which policies are chosen?A new book released by a Princeton-Harvard team focuses on how domestic U.S. politics – in particular the interactions between the president, Congress, interest groups, bureaucratic institutions and the public – have influenced foreign policy choices since World War II and shows why presidents have more control over some policy instruments than others. Presidential power matters, and it varies systematically across…