Research Briefs

So-called purple voting districts that change hands between Republicans and Democrats — rather than reliably conservative and liberal districts — are an underappreciated source of rising political polarization in state legislatures, according to a study co-authored by a Princeton University researcher.As judged by the views of…

China has implemented some of the world’s most ambitious policies to protect and restore forests, yet these programs still miss the mark, according to a team of researchers led by Princeton University.Using satellite imagery and household interviews, the team looked at how government policies affected land use in southwestern…

Improving job prospects for people in economically depressed parts of the United States is unlikely to help curb the opioid epidemic, according to a study by researchers at Princeton University. On the other hand, opioid use may actually help some women — but not men — stay in the labor force when they would otherwise leave…

A $1,000 tuition increase at four-year nonselective public institutions is associated with a 4.5 percent drop in campus diversity among full-time freshmen, according to researchers at Princeton University and New York University.But tuition hikes at nearby private institutions led to an increase in student diversity at public…

Losing a job often leads to lower earnings that stretch long beyond the time of unemployment. Yet it’s hard to know exactly what causes these lower lifetime earnings.For displaced workers in Washington state during the Great Recession, earnings dropped suddenly and had still not fully recovered five years later, according to a…

A lot of pro-environmental messages suggest that people will feel guilty if they don’t make an effort to live more sustainably or takes steps to ameliorate climate change. But a recent study from Princeton University finds that highlighting the pride people will feel if they take such actions may be a better way to change…