Research

The Rappaport Institute both sponsors original research and works to identify important Boston-related research being done By scholars at the region’s leading colleges and universities. This work is disseminated through public events, briefings for key officials, publications, articles in the local media, and on our website.

The Rappaport Institute has already begun to provide people concerns about public policy and governance in the state and region - public officials, stakeholders, academics, journalists, and others - with information useful to the policy process.

In the last year, the Rappaport Institute has released a number of reports that provide information critical to understanding the policy challenge of the region. And in the coming year, the Institute's research agenda will develop an even sharper and more strategic edge.

• Major Reports
• Regulation and the Rise in Housing Prices in Greater Boston By Edward L. Glaeser, Jenny Schuetz and Bryce Ward. The impacts of regulation on housing production and prices in the region based on data from 187 communities in Massachusetts. (with Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research)
• Dispelling the Myth of Home Rule: Governance in Boston and Other Cities By David Barron and Gerald Frug. Forthcoming 2005. Comparison of Home Rule in Boston and five other American cities.
• Dispelling the Myth of Home Rule: Local Power in Greater Boston By David Barron, Gerald Frug and Rick Su. The legal and political realities behind state and local authority in Massachusetts.
• Governing Greater Boston: Meeting the Needs of the Region's People edited By Charles C. Euchner. The challenges facing the region in state and local government, civic leadership, immigration, family policy, education, public health, and state and local finance.
• Governing Greater Boston: The Politics and Policy of Place Charles C. Euchner, editor. The challenges facing the region in regionalism, the environment, housing, transportation and planning.
  
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• Rappaport Institute Policy Briefs
  • Reducing Youth Violence: Lessons from the Boston Youth Survey By Renee M. Johnson, Deborah Azrael, Mary Vriniotis, and David Hemenway
  • The Greenness of Cities By Edward L. Glaeser, Harvard University and Matthew Kahn, UCLA
  • The Seven Big Errors of PerformanceStat By Robert D. Behn, John F. Kennedy School of Government
  • The Impacts of Commuter Rail in Greater Boston By Eric Beaton, MUP '06, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University
  • Hard Choices for the Next Governor, Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston
  • The Economic Impact of Restricting Housing Supply By Edward L. Glaeser, Harvard University
  • Why Are Smart Places Getting Smarter By Edward L. Glaeser, Harvard University and Christopher Berry, University of Chicago
  • Regulation and the Rise in Housing Prices in Greater Boston By Edward L. Glaeser, Jenny Schuetz and Bryce Ward, Harvard University
  • Local Services, Local Aid, and Common Challenges By Phineas Baxandall, Assistant Director, Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston
  • Crowd Control That Can Kill: Can American Police Get a Grip on Their New, “Less-Lethal” Weapons Before They Kill Again? By Christopher Stone, Kennedy School of Government, Brian Buchner and Scott Dash, Police Assessment Resource Center
  • Creating an Effective Foundation to Prevent Youth Violence: Lessons Learned from Boston in the 1990s. By Anthony A. Braga, Kennedy School of Government and Christopher Winship, Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
  • Smart Growth:Education, Skilled Workers, and the Future of Cold-Weather Cities. By Edward L. Glaeser, Professor of Economics and Director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and the Taubman Center for State and Local Government
  • Standards-Based Education Reform in the Computer Age: Lessons from Boston's Murphy School. By Frank Levy, Professor of Urban Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Techonology and Richard Murnane, Professor of Education and Society at Harvard's Graduate School of Education
  • Needed Corrections: Promising Strategies for Improving Massachusetts' Prisons and Jails. By Anne Morrison Piehl, Associate Professor of Public Policy at John F. Kennedy School of Government
  • Betting the Future: The Economic Impact of Legalized Gambling. By Phineas Baxadall, Assistant Director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and Bruce Sacerdote, Associate Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College
  • Can Social Capital Last? Lessons from Boston's Villa Victoria Housing Complex. By Mario Luis Small, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Princeton University and Author, Villa Victoria: The Transformation of Social Capital in a Boston Barrio
    
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• Working Papers and Case Studies
• Losing Faith? Police, Black Churches, and the Resurgence of Youth Violence in Boston By Anthony Braga and David Hureau (Harvard Kennedy School) and Christopher Winship (Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Kennedy School).
• Land-Use Planning in the Doldrums: Growth Management in Massachusetts' I-495 Region By Christina Rosan (Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Lawrence Susskind (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
• The Massachusetts Community Preservation Act: Who Benefits, Who Pays? By Robin Sherman (MPA '07, Kennedy School of Government) and David Luberoff (Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston)
• Environmental Regulation and Land Use Change: Do Local Wetlands Bylaws Slow the Conversion of Open Spaces to Residential Uses? Katharine R. E. Sims and Jenny Schuetz.
• Leveling the Playing Field: Sincere and Sophisticated Players in the Boston Mechanism By Parag Pathak and Tayfun Sönmez A study of the Boston Public School Assignment Mechanism.
• Power and Interest Groups in City Politics By Jeffrey M. Berry, Kent E. Portney, Robin Liss, Jessica Simoncelli, and Lisa Berger A study on how interest groups impact local governance.
• Massachusetts' Hancock Case and the Adequacy Doctrine By Robert Costrell. Conference Paper for "Adequacy Lawsuits: Their Growing Impact on American Education."
• Guarding the Town Walls: Mechanisims and Motives for Restricting Multi-family Housing in Massachusetts By Jenny Schuetz. A study on how municipalities in Massachusetts utilize land-use regulations.
• Creating an Anti-Growth Regulatory Regime: A Case from Greater Boston By Alexander von Hoffman. A case study on Arlington, Massachusetts' changing views on development.
• The Casino Gamble in Massachusetts: Full Report and Appendices By Phineas Baxandall and Bruce Saccerdote.
  Full Report and Appendices for the Rappaport Institute Policy Brief, "Betting on the Future: The Economic Impact of Legalized Gambling"
• Boston at the Crossroads By Guy Stuart. A study of the racial trends in the Boston metropolitan area from the 1990s and beyond.
• Civic Leadership and the Big Dig By David Luberoff. The role of the Artery Business Committee in the planning, design and construction of the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project.
• Reinventing Boston: 1640 - 2003 By Edward Glaeser. The elements of Boston's history and economy that produce innovation and renewal.
• Can CitiStat work in Greater Boston? By Phineas Baxandall and Charles C. Euchner. The prospects for bringing Baltimore's revolutionary policy and management system to Massachusetts.
• Palladium of the People By James Levitt. How the Boston Common has spawned a wide range of conservation innovations worldwide. The original working paper was commissioned By the Massachusetts Historical Society for the 2003 Charter Day celebrations. It has be picked up By the Harvard University Press for publication in 2004.
• Enhancing Regional Greenfrastructure By Mark Leccese. Analysis of the political and managerial controversies surrounding the Metropolitan District Commission.
• Coming Around By Charles C. Euchner and Anthony Flint. Analysis of the design and political challenges for building the "urban ring" transit line.
• Getting Home By Charles C. Euchner. How regulatory barriers prevent the state and region from producing enough housing to meet the state's growing needs (with the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy.
• Home and Away By Charles Yellin. Policy options for paid leave to allow families to address the needs of elderly parents and young children (with the Center for Women and Enterprise).
• Private Gain, Public Loss By Phil Primack. Why young people do not opt for public service.
• Testing Testing By Michele Kurtz. The controversies surrounding standardized testing in Massachusetts.
  
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• Applied Research
• Housing Regulation Database of Massachusetts Municipalities maintained By the Pioneer Insitute for Public Policy Research and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston
• Downloadable Data and Codebooks for Housing Regulation Database of Massachusetts Municipalities
• Greater Boston Database
• Rappaport Institute Policy Notes Database
• Real Estate and Urban Development Database
• Real Estate and Urban Development Archives
  Recognizing the importance and interdisciplinary nature of real estate development for all major urban regions, the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, the Taubman Center, and faculty members affiliated with both entities have undertaken many projects studying the politics, economics, and implementation of the forces and policies that shape the physical structure of urban regions.
• The Heart of the City Website
• The Heart of the City Final Report By Ashley Lanfer. An analysis of the people and places of neighborhoods in Boston's geographic center.
• Better Management for Better Schools By Lewis H. Spence. A review of the structure and functions of the Cambridge Public Schools administration.
  
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• Rappaport Institute Policy Notes
• Volume 4, Number 1. Includes research on social disparities in premature mortality, the Massachusetts Health Care Revolution, minority participation in state boards, disparities in non-school costs and revenue capacity in Greater Boston, rent control in Massachusetts, mortgage lending in Greater Boston, Boston's home rule powers, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, varieties of CitiStat and welfare reform and work requirements.
  
• Volume 3, Number 3. Includes research on the impact of commuter rail lines on property values, Massachusetts Education Reform, the forests of Massachusetts, the challeges of New England energy policy, metropolitan demographic shifts in minority populations since 2000, and the impact of philanthropy on the region.
  
• Volume 3, Number 2. Includes research on large-lot housing construction in the Greater Boston area, changing the Boston School Choice Mechanism, mortgage lending in Greater Boston, the effects of increasing minimum wage in Massachusetts and the results of the 2004 Boston Youth Survey.
  
• Volume 3, Number 1. Includes research on US socioeconomic health inequalities, what happens to technological centers during economic downturns, who lives downtown, if Boston is a magnet for young adults and exposure to ecological hazards.
  
• Volume 2, Number 3. Includes research on demographic shifts in the region, the challenges of bringing smart growth to Massachusetts, the state of Greater Boston's housing market, Boston's high labor costs, and the New England-China relationship as well as other research.
  
• Volume 2, Number 2. Includes research on lessons from the Fleet/BankBoston merger; Boston's position in the global economy; blacks and job sprawl; the environmental and economic impacts of Massachusetts' smoking ban; barriers to adopting children in foster care; results from a Massachusetts study on poverty and mental illness; New England's looming water shortage; and policy churn and civic leadership (June 2005)
  
• Volume 2, Issue 1 Includes research on subdivision zoning trends; Boston school assignment games; charter schools; gay marriage demographics; convention center dreams and realities; effects of introducing casinos to Massachusetts; how living-wage laws affect Boston businesses; subprime mortgage lending and race; and conflicts over airport expansion. (March 2005)
  
• Volume 1, Issue 2 Includes research on When Black Urban Churches are not Community Churches; Segregation Trends at the Crossroads; Skilled Cities Grow Because They Adapt Better to Decline; Parents Interest and Knowledge About Alternative Schooling Options; Why Land Availability Affects Support for School Spending; Using the MCAS to Target Skills for the New Economy; Costs and Quality at Academic Versus Community Hospitals; How Massachusetts Taxes Measure Up; A Field Experiment in Employment Discrimination; Commuting in Massachusetts (December 2004)
  
• Volume 1, Issue 1 Includes research on Social Capital in Boston’s Villa Victoria Housing Complex; Designing Stable School Finance Systems; Management Challenges in Starting Boston’s Excel Charter School; The Economic and Health Effects of Moving From Low-Income Neighborhoods; Low-Income Families in Boston After Welfare Reform; Changing Asian Demographics in Greater Boston. (October 2004)


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• "It All Starts Here: The Politics of Planning in a Small Town," ArchitectureBoston, Spring 2008.
• "A Level Playing Field for Cities," by Edward L. Glaeser, Boston Globe, 2/28/2008.
• "What About the Cities," By Edward Glaeser, Op-ed in The Boston Globe, 1/4/2008.
• "Building a Better Springfield," By Edward Glaeser, Op-ed to The Boston Globe, 12/7/2007.
• "Violence, Learning, and the Gender Divide," Op-ed by Edward Glaeser, The Boston Globe, 11/1/2007.
• "Outdated Tax Policy," Op-ed by Edward Glaeser, The Boston Globe, 10/7/2007.
• "Sensible Solutions to the Lending Mess," Op-ed by Edward Glaeser, The Boston Globe, 9/7/2007.
• "When the Unstoppable Meets the Immovable," Roundtable Discussion featuring David Luberoff, Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston on City Hall Plaza in ArchitectureBoston, September/October 2007.
• "A Focus on Parks and Beaches," Op-ed by Edward Glaeser, The Boston Globe, 8/3/2007.
• "Revisiting Community Preservation," Op-ed by Robin Sherman and David Luberoff, The Boston Globe, 7/27/2007.
• "A Grand Bargain for Local Aid," Op-ed by David Luberoff, The Boston Globe, 3/26/2007.
• "Truth in Affordable Housing," Op-ed by Edward Glaeser, The Boston Globe, 2/12/2007.
• "Getting Smart," by David Luberoff, CommonWealth Magazine, Winter 2007.
• "Commuter Rail Can Take Us Only So Far," by David Luberoff, The Boston Globe, 11/3/2006.
• "Election Forum: Turning Point - Get Out of the Way," by Edward Glaeser, Boston Globe Ideas Section, 10/29/2006.
• "Lessons from the Big Dig," CommonWealth Magazine article featuring David Luberoff, Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, October 2006.
• "Balancing Housing Options," Op-ed by Edward Glaeser, Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, The Boston Globe, 9/3/2006.
• "The Culture of Stressing Costs Over Safety," by David Luberoff, Boston Globe Op-ed, 7/16/2006.
• "Which State Will We Be?" Editorial in The Boston Globe, 5/1/2006.
• "A Smaller New Orleans," Boston Globe Editorial by Edward L. Glaeser, The Boston Globe, 2/1/2006.
• "Housing Study Was Skewed Heavily Toward Developers," Boston Globe Letter to the Editor, 1/26/2006.
• "Affordability Remains Elusive," Editorial by James Stergios, The Boston Globe Editorial Page, 1/25/2006.
• "Turning the Corner on Housing Crisis," By Douglas I. Foy, Letter to the Editor in The Boston Globe, 1/18/2006.
• "State Must Step Up on Housing Issues," By Boston Herald Editorial Staff, The Boston Herald, 1/8/2006.
• "The Stranglehold on Housing," Op-ed by James Stergios of the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research, The Boston Globe, 1/6/06.
• "The Price is (Not) Right," By Edward L. Glaeser, Jenny Schuetz and Bryce Ward, Commonwealth Magazine, Growth and Development Extra 2006, 1/5/06.
• "Bitter Pill: In Arlington, Aversion to Apartments Turned the Tide Against Growth," By Alexander von Hoffman, Commonwealth Magazine, Growth and Development Extra 2006, 1/6/2006.
• "Will Foy Save the T?" By Charles D. Chieppo, The Boston Globe op-ed, 12/23/2005.
• "Should the Government Rebuild New Orleans, Or Just Give Residents Checks?" by Edward L. Glaeser, The Economists' Voice, September 2005.
• "Easy as A-B-C," Kennedy School Bulletin, Spring 2005.
• "Dug In: It's Time to Reconsider Big Dig-related Transit Projects," by David Luberoff, Commonwealth Magazine, Spring 2005.
• "Somerville counts on wonks-in-training for budget overhaul," by Robert Preer in Commonwealth Magazine Winter 2005
• "Learning from Ammann: Politics as a Design Problem," by David Luberoff, ArchitectureBoston, 7/1/2004.
• "Easy as ABC," by David Luberoff, Commonwealth Magazine, Summer 2004.
• "Overruling Home Rule," by David Barron, Gerald Frug and Rick Su, Commonwealth Magazine, Winter 2004 (Free registration required).
• "Mother of Reinvention: How Boston's Economy Has Bounced Back from Decline," by Edward Glaeser, Commonwealth Magazine, Fall 2003.
• "Life After 40B: Anti-snob Zoning and the Dilemma of Affordable Housing," ArchitectureBoston, May/June 2003.
  
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• Powerpoint presentation by Martin Horn from Using PerformanceStat to Improve Public Safety at the Department of Homeland Security and the New York City Departments of Correction and Probation on 4/14/2008.
• Powerpoint presentation by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy from Eds, Meds, and Municipalities Conference on 4/7/2008.
• Powerpoint presentation by Steve Cecil from Eds, Meds, and Municipalities Conference on 4/7/2008.
• Powerpoint presentation by Dale Allen, The Cecil Group from Eds, Meds, and Municipalities Conference on 4/7/2008.
• Powerpoint presentation by Michael F. Collins from Eds, Meds, and Municipalities Conference on 4/7/2008.
• Powerpoint presentation by Monica Anderson from Eds, Meds, and Municipalities Conference on 4/7/2008.
• Powerpoint presentation by Jack Foley from Eds, Meds, and Municipalities Conference on 4/7/2008.
• Online streaming of The HBO Series - The Wire: A Compelling Portrayal of an American City from 4/4/2008.
• Powerpoint presentation by Jon Kingsdale from Towards Universal Health Insurance: Lessons from the Massachusetts Experiment on 3/19/2008.
• Powerpoint presentation given by Matthew Gallagher from Using PerformanceStat to Improve State Government on 3/12/2008.
• Powerpoint presentation by Daniel Schrag from Green Cities: Lessons from Boston and Beyond on 3/5/2008.
• Powerpoint presentation by Edward Glaeser from Green Cities: Lessons from Boston and Beyond on 3/5/2008.
• Powerpoint presentation by James Hunt from Green Cities: Lessons from Boston and Beyond on 3/5/2008.
• Powerpoint presentation by Paul Willen from Subprime Outcomes: Risky Mortgages, Homeownership Experiences, and Foreclosures in Massachusetts on 2/13/2008.
• Powerpoint presentation by Professor Bruce Western from Incarceration and Inequality: The Effects of "Cracking Down" on Crime 10/17/2007.
• Powerpoint presentation by Judge Robert Mulligan from Incarceration and Inequality: The Effects of "Cracking Down" on Crime 10/17/2007.
• David Luberoff on New England Cable News on the Massachusetts expansion of Commuter Rail to the South Coast 4/9/2007.
• Powerpoint Presentation given by Samuel Tyler from Critical Conditions: Can Local Governments Afford Soaring Health Care Costs? 3/22/2007.
• Powerpoint Presentation given by Thomas Payzant from Tough Choices or Tough Times? Rebuilding American Schools for the 21st Century 3/19/2007.
• Powerpoint Presentation given by Katharine Bradbury and Bo Zhao from Redesigning Local Aid in Massachusetts 2/28/2007.
• Powerpoint Presentation given by Christopher Stone from Crime and Punishment: The Future of Incarceration in Massachusetts and the Nation 2/26/2007.
• Powerpoint Presentation given by Jeffrey Berry and Kent Portney from Power and Interest Groups in City Politics: Findings from the Bay State Cities Project 12/2/2006.
• Powerpoint Presentation given by Elizabeth Keating and Eric Berman from The Elephants in the Room: Paying for Pensions and Other Post-Retirement Benefits 11/1/2006.
• "Boston at the Crossroads," WBUR 5-part series, 5/22/2006 - 5/26/2006.
• Video coverage of "A Less Lethal Death: How Victoria Snelgrove's Death is Changing Policing on NECN
• "David Luberoff appears on The Connection speaking on The Big Dig," 3/22/2006.
• Powerpoint presentation given by Mindy Tarlow from Crime, Time, and Employment: Realistic Options for Helping People Leaving Prison Find Better Jobs 3/13/2006.
• Powerpoint presentation given by Alex von Hoffman from Developing Concerns: Lessons from Arlington, Massachusetts’ Changing Views on Development 2/28/2006.
• Expanding Health Care Coverage: What Can States Do? Streaming video of discussion 2/9/2006.
• Powerpoint Presentation given by Matt Kahn from The Effects of New Rail Transit: Lessons from Boston 12/7/2005.
• Powerpoint presentation given by John Hamill from Funding Local Government: Revisiting the Fiscal Partnership 11/2/2005.
• Conference Proceedings from Conference on Adequacy Lawsuits: Their Growing Impact on American Education 10/13 - 10/14/2005.
• Powerpoint presentation given by Secretary of the Environment Ellen Roy Herzfelder from Oceans: The Last Wild Frontier 3/21/2005.
• Powerpoint presentation given by Terry Regan of The Planners Collaborative from Getting Around:
  The Transportation System of Greater Boston 3/16/2004.
  
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• Civic Leadership and the Big Dig. The effects of the Artery Business Committee on the Big Dig. Forthcoming 2004.
• The D Word. The challenges of promoting density to combat regional sprawl.
• Uncommon Ground. The legacy of the Boston Common on the U.S. conservation movement.
• Varieties of Regionalism. An exploration of different approaches to regional planning and development.
• What Does A Healthy City Look Like? By William Walczak. How a community's social structures affect the health of its people.
• Living Together By Stephanie Pollack. The challenges of growing smart in an age of sprawl.
• The Peanut Principle By Thomas Keane, Jr. How small actions and systems affect broad patterns of social interaction.
  
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• The Long View By Phil Primack. The debate over whether Massachusetts should adopt a two-year budget cycle to improve fiscal planning and public policy.
• Analyze This By Phil Primack. The case for more robust in-house policy analysis to drive the state's administrative and legislative agendas.
• A New Paradigm for Housing in Greater Boston By Barry Bluestone, Charles C. Euchner, and Gretchen Weismann. A major report on the housing crisis facing Greater Boston (Center for Urban and Regional Policy, Northeastern University).
  
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Research Grants

The Institute encourages faculty and students to conduct high quality, policy-relevant research into issues of importance for Greater Boston. To do so, it provides seed and start-up funding for new projects, helps identify other funding sources for that research, helps scholars connect with local officials and leaders who can help scholars with their projects, and works with scholars to disseminate their findings to practitioners in timely and accessible ways. For more information on research grants, please contact David Luberoff, Executive Director of the Rappaport Institute, at 617-495-1346 or David_Luberoff@harvard.edu.