Municipal

Considerable research in the field of local governance has focused on how levels of public participation can influence perceptions about the fairness and justice of decisions by municipalities. Common occasions where such dynamics are on display in communities across America are town or city meetings at budgeting time.

Racial profiling and discrimination against African-American youth by police are problems that periodically grab national attention. Yet there is seldom subtle discussion of whether such discrimination is more prevalent in predominantly black or white neighborhoods, or in mixed racial settings. Moreover, data from black adolescents themselves who may face these realities are infrequently collected, analyzed and cited.

The debate over charter schools shows few signs of receding as a central component in the discussion about improving U.S. public education. While proponents see charter schools as a vital source of innovation in public education, opponents feel they are largely ineffective and operate at the expense of large numbers of students. To complicate matters, previous research about the impact of charter schools on student achievement has uncovered mixed results.

The record-breaking number of home foreclosures in recent years has prompted calls to ban subprime mortgage financial instruments. But there are a variety of types of subprime loans, and not all may be associated with higher default rates.

During the 1960s and 1970s, protest was central to American political discourse — against the Vietnam War, for the environment and women’s rights, against the abuse of political power. The Reagan years added social issues to the range of contentious subjects, but large-scale protest fell out of favor in the 1990s.

The financial crisis of 2007-08 resulted in widespread job losses, and the task of recovery has proven to be difficult. While the importance of entrepreneurship is well established in economic theory as well as political discourse, there has been a long-term decline in the number of jobs created by newly established firms in the United States.