Crowd of Black Lives Matters demonstrators marching in the street.
Feature: The Democratic Necessity of Reckoning

Erica Chenoweth reviews scholarship that overwhelmingly shows the Black Lives Matter movement generated high levels of public awareness about systemic racism and increased support for criminal justice reform.

Electronic stock ticker board with numbers and arabic letters.
Feature: Against Rule-of-Thumb Economics

Dani Rodrik argues against neoliberalism’s universal rule-of-thumb approach and for economic analyses grounded in contextual dependencies.

Several hands of team members covering one another in a huddle above a work table.
Feature: Leaders’ Psychological Bravery

Dana Born explores what skills leaders need to cultivate psychological safety on their teams and across their organizations.

Dollars and Euros piled on top of one another.
Feature: Dollar vs. Euro as International Reserve Currencies

Jeffrey Frankel explores the strengths and weaknesses of using the Dollar and the Euro as international reserve currencies.

Harvard Kennedy School faculty disseminate their research in working publications and papers that contribute to public knowledge and fuel policy innovation. This list features recent faculty publications, including journal articles, books, edited volumes, research papers, and public testimony.

Faculty Publications

Historical Persistence

Acharya, Avidit, Matthew Blackwell, and Maya Sen. "Historical Persistence." The Oxford Handbook of Historical Political Economy. Ed. Jeffrey A. Jenkins, and Jared Rubin. Oxford University Press, 2022, C7.P1–C7.N13.

Sensitive Questions, Spillover Effects, and Asking about Citizenship on the US Census

Baum, Matthew A., Bryce J. Dietrich, and Rebecca Goldstein, and Maya Sen. "Sensitive Questions, Spillover Effects, and Asking about Citizenship on the US Census." The Journal of Politics 84.3 (July 2022): 1869-1873.

A decade-long longitudinal survey shows that the Supreme Court is now much more conservative than the public

Jessee, Stephen, Neil Malhotra, and Maya Sen. "A decade-long longitudinal survey shows that the Supreme Court is now much more conservative than the public." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119.24 (June 2022).

Designing Supreme Court Term Limits

Chilton, Adam, Daniel Epps, Kyle Rozema, and Maya Sen. "Designing Supreme Court Term Limits." Southern California Law Review 95.2 (May 2022): 1-72.

The Endgame of Court-Packing

Chilton, Adam, Daniel Epps, Kyle Rozema, and Maya Sen. "The Endgame of Court-Packing." SSRN (May 2021).

Designing Supreme Court Term Limits

Chilton, Adam, Daniel Epps, Kyle Rozema, and Maya Sen. "Designing Supreme Court Term Limits." Southern California Law Review 95.1 (May 2021): 1-72.

Written Testimony on the Importance of Judicial Diversity

Sen, Maya. "Written Testimony on the Importance of Judicial Diversity." Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet, 03/25/2021.

The Politics of Selecting the Bench from the Bar: The Legal Profession and Partisan Incentives to Introduce Ideology into Judicial Selection

Bonica, Adam, and Maya Sen. "The Politics of Selecting the Bench from the Bar: The Legal Profession and Partisan Incentives to Introduce Ideology into Judicial Selection." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP17-048, December 2017.

How Political Signals Affect Public Support for Judicial Nominations: Evidence from a Conjoint Experiment

Sen, Maya. "How Political Signals Affect Public Support for Judicial Nominations: Evidence from a Conjoint Experiment." Political Research Quarterly 70.2 (April 2017): 374-393.

Genetic Determinism, Technology Optimism, and Race: Views of the American Public

Hochschild, Jennifer L., and Maya Sen. "Genetic Determinism, Technology Optimism, and Race: Views of the American Public." ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 661 (September 2015): 160-180.

The Political Ideologies of
American Lawyers

Bonica, Adam, Adam S. Chilton, and Maya Sen. "The Political Ideologies of American Lawyers." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP15-049, August 2015.

How Uncertainty about Judicial
Nominees Can Distort the
Confirmation Process

Sen, Maya, and William Spaniel. "How Uncertainty about Judicial Nominees Can Distort the Confirmation Process." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP15-050, August 2015.

Technology Optimism or Pessimism about Genomic Science: Variation among Experts and Scholarly Disciplines

Hochschild, Jennifer L. and Maya Sen. "Technology Optimism or Pessimism about Genomic Science: Variation among Experts and Scholarly Disciplines." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 658.1 (March 2015): 236-252.

No! Formal Theory, Causal Inference, and Big Data Are Not Contradictory Trends in Political Science

Monroe, Burt L, Jennifer Pan, Margaret E Roberts, Maya Sen, and Betsy Sinclair. "No! Formal Theory, Causal Inference, and Big Data Are Not Contradictory Trends in Political Science." PS: Political Science and Politics 48.1 (January 2015): 71-74.