Maxwell School News and Commentary

“When interest rates were very low, companies basically had endless money—and investors were telling them to focus on growth, not profitability,” says Aaron Benanav, assistant professor of sociology. “But because interest rates are rising, there’s a shift from big investors to say, ‘No, now you really have to focus on profitability.’ And the big way to do that is through cuts.”

“Trump starts off with a huge advantage in terms of name recognition and money in the bank—not his own money, but money from 2020 and money that he’s raising now,” says Shana Kushner Gadarian, professor and chair of political science. “So there is absolutely the case that he could be the nominee.”

"If people decide that they will vote for somebody, regardless of what they may have done in their past, that's one thing," says Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science. "But if they vote under the misconception that somebody is what they say they are and then they find out later when it's too late that [it] is wrong. That's a very different situation."

"Powering the next wave of green energy innovation," co-authored by David Popp, professor of public administration and international affairs, was published in PLOS Climate.

"Because what we have been experiencing in recent years has been really historic levels of in terms of increase of the cost of living," says Gretchen Purser, associate professor of sociology. "And so this increased minimum wage doesn't reflect what we have all been experiencing, which is the rising cost of living."

"Attitudes about Refugees and Immigrants Arriving in the United States: A Conjoint Experiment," authored by Associate Professor of Political Science Lamis Abdelaaty, was published in Ethnic and Racial Studies.

"The Problem with Primaries," written by Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of public administration and international affairs, was published in American Purpose. "To free political parties from fringe candidates, we need to eliminate primaries that favor extremes," says Barton.

"Nurses are really bargaining for the collective good. They are putting, first and foremost, patients' safety above all else and that was the breaking point—they've been working under less-than-ideal conditions that jeopardized the safety of patients," says Gretchen Purser, associate professor of sociology. 

“Pumping groundwater in Arizona remains largely unregulated,” writes Natalie Koch, professor of geography. “It’s this legal failing that, in part, allows the Saudi company to draw unlimited amounts of water to grow an alfalfa crop that feeds dairy cows 8,000 miles away.”

Published by Cultural Dynamics, Christopher DeCorse, professor and chair of anthropology, reviews "Reconstructing the Landscapes of Slavery: A Visual History of the Plantation in the Nineteenth-Century Atlantic World," where the authors examine the economic and political restructuring of 19th century slavery through contemporary paintings, plans and images.