Academic Publications
with Tali Mendelberg
Annual Review of Political Science 2022
Whether education affects political participation is a long-standing and central question in political philosophy and political science. In this review, we provide an overview of the three main theoretical models that explain different causal pathways. We then synthesize the surge in research using causal inference strategies and show that this literature has generated mixed results about the causal impact of education, even when using similar methods and data. These findings do not provide clear support for any of the three theories. Our next section covers research on civic education and political participation. The quantity of civic education matters little for political participation, but how civic education is taught does matter. Namely, strategies falling under the rubric of active learning show promise. These strategies seem especially effective for historically marginalized students. Our final section calls for more research on how civic education is taught.
with Tali Mendelberg
Political Behavior 2025
Young people are much less likely to participate in politics. Universities are expected to help remedy this problem. How can they do so? The answer remains unclear, as studies typically test one or two small interventions at a time, or the interventions have a voluntary, opt-in component. Yet universities have the capacity to use potentially more effective, bundled and opt-out “nudges”. In this study we leverage universities’ bureaucratic power to implement such interventions. We test the effects of a bundle of cognitive behavioral nudges embedded in a simulated university administrative check-in required of all students. We find that this intervention meaningfully increases turnout. It also has beneficial spillovers to other political attitudes and actions. The role of higher education in a robust democracy is not limited to teaching or service learning. It extends to the institutional power of universities to structure the choice environment to facilitate the actions people wish to take but often find difficult.