Sanford School of Public Policy
Duke University

Research

Rigorous, relevant research is a hallmark of the Sanford School of Public Policy and its faculty. With expertise in a wide variety of fields, the public policy faculty is recognized for research in health policy, media and democracy, education finance and achievement, and many other areas. Recent publications are highlighted here; for additional publications information, you may visit individual faculty web pages or use the links at the top of this page. To find faculty with a particular area of expertise, browse this list of topic areas or search within our faculty directory.

Recent Publications

Hamilton and de Marchi present research on decision-making styles

Several recent books, from Blink to Freakonomics to Predictably Irrational, have examined how people make choices. But none explain why different people have such different styles of decision making - and why those styles seem consistent across many contexts. For instance, why is a gambler always a gambler, whether at work, on the highway, or in a voting booth?

Duke professors Scott de Marchi and James T. Hamilton present a new theory about how we decide, based on an extensive survey of more than thirty thousand subjects. They show that each of us possesses six core traits that shape every decision, from what to have for lunch to where to invest. We go with “the usual” way of deciding whenever there’s a trade-off between current and future happiness, when facing the risk of a bad outcome, or when a choice might hurt other people. We’re also consistent about how much information we want and how much we care about the opinions of others.

Readers can determine their own decision-making profile with a test in the book or on the authors' website. Once they understand the six core traits, they’ll have a big advantage in their marketing campaigns, management strategies, investments, and many other contexts.  The book was published in November 2009 by Portfolio Publishing at Penguin.

Sociology and Public Policy Professor David Brady publishes book on poverty

In his new book with Oxford University Press, Rich Democracies, Poor People: How Politics Explain Poverty, David Brady takes the stance that poverty is not simply the result of an individual's characteristics, behaviors or abilities. Rather, as Brady demonstrates, poverty is the result of politics. In Rich Democracies, Poor People, Brady investigates why poverty is so entrenched in some affluent democracies whereas it is a solvable problem in others. Drawing on over thirty years of data from eighteen countries, Brady argues that crossnational and historical variations in poverty are principally driven by differences in the generosity of the welfare state.

An explicit challenge to mainstream views of poverty as an inescapable outcome of individual failings or a society’s labor markets and demography, this book offers institutionalized power relations theory as an alternative explanation. The power of coalitions for egalitarianism, Leftist political groups and parties, and the social policies they are able to institutionalize shape the amount of poverty in society. Where poverty is low, equality has been institutionalized. Where poverty is widespread, exemplified by the U.S., there has been a failure to institutionalize equality. A comprehensive and state-of-the-art study, Rich Democracies, Poor People places the inherently political choices over resources and the political organization of states, markets, and societies at the center of the study of poverty and social inequality.

“With this book, David Brady punctures a number of American myths about the causes of poverty in a sophisticated and highly accessible way. Brady finds that welfare state generosity and its political antecedents ultimately drive variations in levels of poverty – thus, poverty, he argues, is a result of political choice. Brady’s book is essential reading for scholars and policymakers interested in poverty in the United States and other affluent democracies.”
JOHN D. STEPHENS, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

“David Brady has written a masterful book on understanding how such wide variation in poverty can exist in rich, democratic societies. This is indeed an abundant resource for understanding and explaining the institutions and politics that perpetually affect differing levels of poverty and inequality across multiple welfare states. It will stand as the definitive explanation of institutional variation in poverty for political economists and sociologists for a long time to come.”
TIMOTHY SMEEDING, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Oxford University Press: http://tinyurl.com/bradybook2
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/bradybook

Poverty, Participation, and Democracy: A Global Perspective
Edited by Anirudh Krishna, Associate Professor of PPS and Political Science Cambridge University Press, 2008, 189pp

The perception of democracy as a luxury for the rich is debunked in this collection of essays edited by Associate Professor of PPS and Political Science Anirudh Krishna. Recent evidence from countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America has shown that poor people value democracy as much as the rich do. Democracy and political participation are related to education, not material wealth. Poverty, Participation, and Democracy supports the case for investments in education if a country strives for a strong and stable democracy.

Renewing Struggles for Social Justice: A Primer for Transformative Leaders 
By Lance C. Buhl on behalf of the Binational Civil Society Forum, with contributions from Kathryn Whetten,Associate Professor of PPS and Rachel Whetten, and a preface by Ambassador James A. Joseph, Professor of the Practice of PPS,  Duke University, 2008, 104pp

Years after the U.S. civil rights movement, there remains much work to be done at home and abroad to further the cause of social justice. In Renewing Struggles for Social Justice, Lance C. Buhl, deputy director of the U.S–Southern Africa Center for Leadership and Public Values, suggests it is every individual’s responsibility to join the struggle for social justice and fairness. He educates the reader on issues such as racial and economic inequalities, the AIDS pandemic, and the conditions that result from poverty in developing countries, and then calls him to action. The citizen-leader is at the center of this book. Social ills are rampant, and according to Buhl, we all can play a role in easing them.

Class on the Sanford Building Lawn