Suzanne Mettler

Mettler will investigate the place-based components of the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS and Science Act, as well as more recent policy changes affecting rural areas, in order to understand the conditions under which policy changes can mitigate placed-based social and economic inequality and the political polarization that now accompanies it. Given the rural-urban divide, can public policies that target disadvantaged rural places, aiming to promote economic development, generate supportive constituencies that act politically to sustain them? Conversely, if lawmakers take government largesse away from such areas – or ignore their needs – does that provoke a response? Mettler will consider how policy changes relate to levels of public awareness and support and the conditions and mechanisms that affect policy sustainability or failure.