This Week’s Big Issue
With the start of the academic year, I want to welcome everyone back to campus. The faculty in the school of public and environmental affairs have been hard at work on a number of fascinating research projects.
While the size and scope of these efforts are too numerous to capture in this blog entry, here are a few highlights:
Dr. Kristin Seefeldt received a research award from the Russell Sage Foundation. The $72,583 grant will be used toward the project “Recessionary Events and their Relationship to Health: Evidence from the Michigan Recession and Recovery Study.” Dr. Seefeldt will be working with the University of Michigan’s Sarah Burgard on the project, which will look at what negative events (e.g., job and housing loss, debt) the study survey respondents experienced and how and how often these events were experienced – as well as whether or not negative events or clusters of events are related to aspects of health and mental health.
Dr. Brad Heim recently published several important public finance articles. Co-authored with Ithai Z. Lurie, “The Effect of Self-employed Health Insurance Subsidies on Self-employment” was published in the Journal of Public Economics, and examines the extent to which making the cost of health insurance more favorable for the self-employed through changes in the tax code increases the level of self-employment in the United States. “How Does Charitable Giving Respond to Incentives and Income? New Estimates from Panel Data,” co-authored with Jon Bakija, was published in National Tax Journal, and offers evidence that taxpayers respond significantly to persistent changes in the after-tax price of giving to charity, with estimates implying that a one percent decrease in the price of giving leads to a greater than one percent increase in charitable donations. In addition, taxpayers change their charitable donations in advance in response to large obvious future changes in federal marginal tax rates, though there is less conclusive evidence of a response to more subtle sources of future price changes.
Dr. William (Bill) Resh will be accepting the 2011 Paul A. Volcker Junior Scholar Research Award from the American Political Science Association (APSA) at its annual meeting being held September 1-4 in Seattle, Washington. The Volcker Award is a competitive research grant that is given annually to a junior scholar whose work shows “potential to shed new light on important public administration questions and promise for advancing practice and theory development.”
Dr. Jennifer Brass had two papers accepted for publication. Based on her ongoing research on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Kenya, Dr. Brass examines significant political aspects behind NGO policy and governance. In “Why Do NGOs Go Where They Go? Evidence from Kenya,” forthcoming in World Development, she argues that NGOs chose locations within a country in which to work based on objective need and the ease of accessing needy people, not for political reasons. Contrary to dominant theories of African political economy, political factors like patronage appear to have little or no significant influence. In “Blurring Boundaries: The Integration of NGOs into Governance in Kenya,” forthcoming in Governance, Dr. Brass argues that NGOs are increasingly involved in the public service provision in Kenya, and that because of it, African public management is very slowly becoming more democratic.
Dr. Jeff White is Co-Principal Investigator on a team of IUB scientists who recently received a $2.4 million grant from NASA’s Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP) program. The project, “Measuring Greenland Emissions of Trace Gases as an Analogue for Methane on Mars,” will include field research in Greenland, which contains environments that mimic, in some ways, the places NASA expects to explore for evidence of extraterrestrial life on Mars. A key aspect of the ASTEP program is to link astrobiology research to important areas of Earth science. Dr. White will focus on the measurement of greenhouse gases released from rapidly melting permafrost environments along the edge of the receding Greenland ice sheet. You can read more about the project at http://www.indiana.edu/~spea/research/white_nasa_project.shtml. Dr. White isalso serving as a Co-Principal Investigator for the project “Using Metagenomics and Traditional Ecological Approaches to Assess the Effects of Mycorrhizal Fungal Community Dynamics on Plant Productivity in Warming Boreal Peatlands in Alaska,” a $78,314 research grant
Dr. John Mikesell, whose paper, “The Property Tax in the Largest American Cities during the Great Recession: Instability and Collectability Issues for a Normally Reliable Revenue Source,” was recently selected as the 2011 Best Manuscript by the Public Finance and Budgeting (PFB) section of the WesternSocial Science Association (WSSA). Dr. Mikesell presented his paper at WSSA’s 53rd Annual Conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah, during the PFB panel on “Tax Policy and its Effects.” In addition to a cash prize from PRAcademics Press, the publisher of the Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management (JPBAFM), the winning manuscript will be submitted for possible publication in JPBAFM. In choosing Dr. Mikesell’s piece for the award, the award committee commended it as “timely, informative, and well-written.”
Dr. David Audretsch testified before the Congressional Committee on Small Businesses. His remarks focus on public policy strategies for supporting economic innovation as a means of generating economic growth. His remarks can be found at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THMe_0KO6CU&feature=relmfu
Note: His remarks are in the middle of this youtube video
What’s Happening in SPEA Bloomington?
SPEA-Bloomington faculty recently launched a new research working paper series. To learn more about this new initiative and research being conducted by many SPEA faculty, please visit: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/JELJOUR_Results.cfm?form_name=journalbrowse&journal_id=1754224
SPEA’s Big Number
The percentage of SPEA net revenue for fiscal year 2010-11 that comes from student tuition: 83 percent.
Shout-Out to SPEA Bloomington
Please join me in congratulating SPEA MPA students, Katherine LeBeau, Chloie Favinger, Sharayah Gilbert, and Miranda Hutten on being named a 2011 Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Finalist. PMF is considered to be one of the most prestigious and selective programs offered by the federal government for graduate students who have an interest in public service. This rigorous leadership program recruits outstanding graduate students for a two-year developmental fellowship with various federal agencies. These students truly represent the best and the brightest in being extended the distinction of PMF Finalists.
