The Russell Sage Foundation has recently approved the following Presidential Authority awards in the Future of Work program, the Social Inequality program, and one non-program project.

Awards approved in the Future of Work program:

The Future of the American Worker
Steven Greenhouse, Journalist

Former New York Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse will write a book investigating the future of the American worker. He will examine broad issues affecting the labor market, including the rise and decline of traditional labor unions and the growth of alternative, non-union worker advocacy groups.

Long-Run Adaptation to Workplace Technological Change
Miguel Morin (University of Cambridge) and Rowena Gray (University of California, Merced)

Economists Miguel Morin and Rowena Gray will analyze the changing structure of American jobs between 1900 and 1940 in response to the spread of electrification. They will produce a comprehensive data series that will shed light on how workers are affected by new technologies.

Awards approved in the Social Inequality program:

Investigating the Political Donations of the Corporate Elite from 1980 to 2014
Jennifer Heerwig (Stony Brook University) and Joshua Murray (Vanderbilt University)

Sociologists Jennifer Heerwig and Joshua Murray will create a new database of all executives and directors of the largest publicly-traded corporations between 1980 and 2014, and merge it with an existing database of political donors to examine changes in the political alignments of corporate elites.

Disadvantaged Students' Access to Charter Schools
Isaac McFarlin (University of Michigan) and Peter Bergman (Columbia University)

Non-program award approved:

Improving Evidence, Improving Outcomes
James Sullivan (University of Notre Dame), William Evans (University of Notre Dame), and Melissa Kearney (University of Maryland)

Economists James Sullivan, William Evans and Melissa Kearney will organize a two-day conference that brings together approximately 30 researchers, social service providers, policy advocates, and funding organizations to lay the groundwork for several large-scale random-assignment research projects that would identify effective, scalable anti-poverty programs.