The Russell Sage Foundation has recently approved the following Presidential Authority awards in three program areas—Future of Work; Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; and Social Inequality—as well as a conference for an upcoming issue of the RSF journal. The Foundation is also co-funding two new projects on the Affordable Care Act with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

RSF Journal Conference:

The Underground Gun Market
Philip J. Cook (Duke University) and Harold A. Pollack (University of Chicago)

For an upcoming issue of RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, economist Philip J. Cook and public policy expert Harold A. Pollack will organize a symposium featuring nine invited articles based on the findings of the Multi-City Gun Project, a multi-disciplinary group of experts studying the sources of guns to criminal offenders.

Award approved in the Future of Work program:

The Consequences of Long Working Hours
John Pencavel (Stanford University)

Labor economist John Pencavel will write a book exploring the consequences of long working hours in the current economy. Using data from the Census of Population and the Current Population Survey, he will provide a detailed description of the distribution of working hours, including what fraction of workers are working long hours, and the characteristics of these workers.

Awards approved in the Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration program:

A Historical Examination of Illegal-Status Children and Young Adults in American Law
John Park (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Legal scholar and social policy expert John Park will research how unauthorized immigrants have navigated “illegal status” throughout American history. By using archival methods and analyzing legal cases and disputes, Park will examine how the conditions of illegality and abjectivity—a legal status that defines “another subclass of individuals living in limbo”—have many historical analogs, across many different groups.

Non-citizens' Experiences with Immigrant Detention and the U.S. Legal System
Emily Ryo (University of Southern California)

Sociologist and legal expert Emily Ryo will investigate detainees' everyday experiences in detention that might enhance or erode the detainees’ perceptions of procedural fairness and distributive justice. She will also explore detainee's experiences with navigating the legal system, such as their efforts to obtain legal information, find legal representation, and participate in court hearings.

Awards approved in the Social Inequality program:

Racial Disparities in the Transition to Adulthood After Prison
David Harding (University of California, Berkeley) and Heather Harris (University of California, Berkeley)

Sociologist David Harding and criminologist Heather Harris will examine the extent to which the criminal justice system exacerbates racial inequalities by investigating differences in post-prison outcomes between blacks and whites who were released from prison during the transition to adulthood. They will examine the degree to which prior criminal justice system involvement accounts for racial differences in three post-release outcomes: employment, education, and residential stability.

Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis: Third Edition
Harris Cooper (Duke University), Larry V. Hedges (Northwestern University), and Jeffrey C. Valentine (University of Louisville)

Harris Cooper, Larry Hedges, and Jeffrey Valentine will complete a new edition of the Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis to reflect advances in literature searching techniques, the development of machine-based abstract screening, and the increased use of meta-regression and Bayesian meta-analysis, among other factors.

Awards approved in the Social, Economic and Political Effects of the Affordable Care Act Special Initiative:

Co-funded with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Attitudinal Policy Feedback and the Affordable Care Act
Julianna Pacheco (University of Iowa)

Political scientist Julianna Pacheco will examine variations in state policies and state implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to explore how these differences influence mass attitudes—a process called attitudinal policy feedback. She will use small area estimation techniques to measure state trends in support for the ACA, perceptions of the law’s effect on one’s family, the country, and the uninsured, and support for analogous policies in the future.

Policy Making Politics? The Mass Political Impact of Medicaid Expansions
Michael W. Sances (University of Memphis) and Joshua D. Clinton (Vanderbilt University)

Political scientists Michael Sances and Joshua Clinton will examine the extent to which the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the related expansion of Medicaid affected political behavior and opinions. They will compare the political behavior and attitudes of otherwise similar individuals (or counties or states depending on the level of analysis) who differ primarily in terms of whether or not their state expanded Medicaid and focus on two main questions: 1) To what extent did the Medicaid expansion change voter participation? 2) To what extent did it affect social policy attitudes?