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Friday, November 13th 2015
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Welcome to this week’s roundup of articles from LSE’s USAPP – American Politics and Policy blog.

Below is a list of all of the posts that we have carried over the last week from expert academic commentators and thinkers. Please feel free to forward this list to colleagues and friends who might find it to be of interest.

If you wish to contribute a piece to USAPP, or want to contact us for any other reason, please email the Managing Editor, Chris Gilson, at uscentre@lse.ac.uk. 

All the best, and thanks for reading,

Chris Gilson
Managing Editor, USAPP
Obama’s rest of term to do list, Carson under scrutiny, and Obamacare’s back at SCOTUS: US national blog round up for 7 – 13 November

USAPP Managing Editor, Chris Gilson looks at the best in the week's political blogging from around the Beltway. 
How exposure to conspiracy theories can reduce trust in government.

In new research, Katherine Levine Einstein and David M. Glick find that people who are exposed to conspiracy theories tend to trust government less. In light of these findings, they argue that the media and scholars need to think more carefully about how the reporting of conspiracy theories shapes people’s relationship with democracy.
North American cities aren’t just gentrifying, they’re youthifying as well

Nick Revington looks at new research from Markus Moos which finds that high-density urban redevelopment is also associated with a younger population. This process of ‘youthification’ is driven by young people’s desire for smaller households and closer proximity to amenities, as well as higher housing costs and a more uncertain labor market.
In Canada’s election, Trudeau got the messaging right, as the other parties fumbled.

Last month, Justin Trudeau led Canada’s Liberal Party to victory in the country’s federal election. Cristine de Clercy reviews the election campaign of the three major parties, and examines how the party’s leaders managed their party’s messaging to voters.
Constituent pressure may be more effective than lobbying in determining whether a bill passes or fails.

What has a greater effect on legislative outcomes, campaign donations and lobbying efforts (the inside game) or constituent activism (the outside game)? In new research, Jeff Smith – who once served in the Missouri Senate, representing 175,000 St. Louisans – analyzes the impact of each method. He finds that contributions had no statistically significant impact on policy outcomes.
The link between casinos and problem gaming in nearby neighborhoods.

In new research, Moira Conway uses GIS to examine the vulnerability of neighborhoods near to urban casinos to problem gaming. She finds that for most casinos, nearby neighborhoods are vulnerable to problem gaming, and recommends that similar analyses are undertaken to understand the potential effects of casinos on other cities.
Partisan sorting is a very recent phenomenon, and has been driven by the Southern realignment.

In new research which utilizes data on presidential voting by county from 1972-2012, Corey Lang and Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz find that while partisan sorting is on the rise, it is a fairly recent phenomenon, which appears to be mainly driven by the Southern realignment and not housing decisions.
From ballot to binder: How women in political appointments tell a different story of political ambition than women in elected office.

Despite some progress, women are still woefully underrepresented in running and holding elected office in the US. But what about political appointments? In new research which uses state-level survey data, Kaitlin Sidorsky looks at whether or not women’s political ambitions change when they are appointed rather than elected. She finds that while more women could be found in appointed rather than elected offices, the more qualified many felt for higher office, the less ambitious they were to achieve it. 
The 2014 Farm Bill reaffirmed protection for farmers against low prices, but limits US leadership in trade reform.

Ahead of the World Trade Organization’s Ministerial Conference in December, David Orden and Carl Zulauf give an overview of the aims and guarantees of 2014’s Farm Bill. They write that while the Bill eliminates fixed payments, it continues past countercyclical programs in the form of protections against low prices or revenues. They write that while the Farm Bill will help preserve farming incomes, it does little to move the US in the WTO’s desired direction of reining in farm support.
How police use of force at arrest can lead to greater mental health problems among prison inmates.

In many arrests, police use force to restrain suspects, often when suspects are not resisting. But what are the long-term effects of the use of force on those who are arrested? Benjamin Meade, Benjamin Steiner, and Charles Klahm examine the effects of exposure to police use of force, finding that it is significantly associated with increased mental health problems among prison inmates. 
Book Review: Why Are We Waiting?: The Logic, Urgency and Promise of Tackling Climate Change by Nicholas Stern

In Why Are We Waiting?: The Logic, Urgency and Promise of Tackling Climate Change, Nicholas Stern expands upon the 2006 Stern Review to offer a timely argument in favour of global action on climate change. As Stern goes beyond economic analysis to discuss the scientific, political, ethical and practical aspects of forging pathways to international cooperation, Chandni Singh welcomes the book as a valuable contribution to the task of tackling the twin challenges of this century: global poverty and climate change.
Book Review: Mission Accomplished?: The Crisis of International Intervention by Simon Jenkins

Collating commentaries produced over the past two decades, Mission Accomplished?: The Crisis of International Intervention presents Simon Jenkins’s impassioned interrogation of the ‘new interventionism’. While Chris Harmer highlights the slightly repetitive nature of Jenkins’s argument and his tendency to sideline evidence that runs contrary to his own perspective, she writes that Mission Accomplished? nonetheless offers an engrossing, eloquent and powerful critique of the era of ‘liberal interventionism’.

Convenience and controversy: the Uber business model could be here to stay

The US firm’s successful expansion into many different countries raises important questions about the regulation of technology-dependent businesses. Some tough decisions will need to be made, says Thomas Hastings.
Run by the LSE's new US Centre, USAPP’s central mission is to increase the public understanding of social science in the context of American politics and policymaking. Our focus is broad-based and multidisciplinary, covering all aspects of governance, economics, politics, culture and society in the United States, and in its continental neighbours, Canada and Mexico.