MPSA Award Recipients - 2014
The MPSA sponsors many awards for outstanding research
presented at the MPSA Conference and one award for the best article published
in each volume of the American Journal of Political Science (AJPS). Nominations
are made by conference chairs, discussants, and section heads after the
conference. Award committees select the winning papers. Awards are announced at
the MPSA business meeting during the conference the following year.
The following awards were presented at the 2014
conference for research presented at the 2013 conference:
AJPS Best Article Award.
A $1,000 award for the best
article appearing in the volume of the American Journal of Political Science
preceding the conference.
Winners: Kate Baldwin, Yale University
Title: “Why Vote with the Chief? Political Connections and
the Performance of Representatives in Zambia"
Award Committee: Harvey D. Palmer, SUNY Buffalo (Chair);
John Patty, Washington University in St. Louis; Orit Kedar, Hebrew University
Best Paper in Comparative Policy Award.
A $500 award
sponsored by the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice
(JCPA) and International Comparative Policy Analysis Forum for the best paper
in comparative policy. The winner(s) may submit their paper to JCPA for an
expedited triple blind-fold review process.
Winners: Edmund James Malesky, Duke University, Cuong
Viet Nguyen, National Economics University, Hanoi, and Anh Ngoc Tran, Indiana
University
Title: “The Economic Impact of Recentralization: A
Quasi-Experiment on Abolishing Elected Councils in Vietnam"
Award Committee: Charles Blake, James Madison University
(Chair); Joshua Sapotichne, Michigan
State University, Christoffer Green-Pederson, Aarhus University, Denmark
Citation from the Committee: The potential benefits from
centralizing or decentralizing government have been hotly debated in the praxis
and study of comparative public administration for many years. This innovative
project employs a quasi-experimental approach to isolating the impact of
centralization by comparing outcomes in Vietnam from regions that were
recentralized with those found in regions that remained decentralized. In addition to providing a theoretically
informed empirical project, the authors glean a series of potential lessons for
practitioners in Vietnam and elsewhere. In addition to the strength of their
research design, the authors express forthrightly the merits and the
limitations of their findings.
Best Paper by an Emerging Scholar Award.
A $250 award
given for the best paper, regardless of field of topic, authored by a scholar
or scholars who have received their terminal degree(s) no sooner than six years
prior to the year in which the paper was delivered.
Winners: Eitan Hersh, Yale University, and Clayton M.
Nall, Stanford University
Title: “The Primacy of Race in the Geography of
Income-Based Voting: New Evidence from Public Voting Records"
Award Committee: Lynn Vavreck, University of California,
Los Angeles (Chair); Jay Goodliffe, Brigham Young University; Cindy Kam,
Vanderbilt University
Best Paper in International Relations.
A $250 award for
the best paper on the topic of international relations.
No winner was selected for papers submitted in 2013.
Award Committee: Allan Stam, University of Michigan
(Chair); Lisa Martin, University of Wisconsin; Johannes Urpelainen, Columbia
University
Best Poster Award.
A $250 award for the best poster
presentation.
No winner was selected for papers submitted in 2013.
Award Committee: Jennifer Jerit, Florida State University
(Chair); Kevin Arceneaux, Temple University; Elizabeth Suhay, Laffayete College
Best Undergraduate Poster Award.
A $250 award for the
best poster presented by an undergraduate.
Winner: Brittany Shanielle Macon, University of the South
Title: “Gender vs. Racial Descriptive Representation: An
Analysis of Voter Preferences When Evaluating Candidates”
Award Committee: Clyde Wilcox, Georgetown University
(Chair); Byron D'Andra Orey, Jackson State University; Cheryl Boudreau,
University of California, Davis
Committee Citation:
This poster explored questions of race and gender in evaluating
hypothetical and real African American male and white female candidates. The project includes a good review of the
literature, a well-designed survey experiment, and a thoughtful discussion of
the results. It was sensitive to the
possible confounding effects of ideology, while controlling for partisanship. Overall this is a strong project that augers
well for the career of this student.
Herbert A. Simon Award.
A $500 award for a scholar who has made a significant contribution to the scientific study of bureaucracy. Submissions are handled by the Midwest Caucus on Policy Administration.
Winners: John Brehm and Scott Gates
Award Committee: Midwest Caucus for Public Administration
Kellogg/Notre Dame Award.
A $250 award for the best paper
in comparative politics.
Co-Winners: Janet Ingram Lewis, Harvard University, and
Guy Grossman, University of Pennsylvania
Title: “Intergovernmental Balance of Power and Administrative
Unit Proliferation”
Co-Winners: Fernando Daniel Hidalgo, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, and Simeon Nichter, University of California, San
Diego
Title: "Voter Buying: Shaping the Electorate through
Clientelism"
Award Committee: Kaare Strom, University of California,
San Diego (Chair): Bonnie Meguid, University of Rochester; Eric Magar,
Instituto Tecnologico Autonono de Mexico
Lucius Barker Award.
A $250 award for the author or
authors of the best paper presented at the annual meeting on a topic
investigating race or ethnicity and politics honoring the spirit and work of
Professor Barker.
Winners: Camille D. Burge, Vanderbilt University, and
Cindy Kam, Vanderbilt University
Title: “The Meaning and Implications of Racial Resentment
across the Racial Divide”
Award Committee: Ted Carmines, Indiana University
(Chair); David Wilson, University of Delaware; Candis Watts-Smith, Williams
College
Patrick J. Fett Award.
A $250 award for best paper on the
scientific study of Congress and the presidency.
Winners: Joshua Clinton, Vanderbilt University, Molly
Jackman, Stanford University and Saul Jackman, Vanderbilt University
Title: “Characterizing the Chief Executive: Using the
Electoral Connection to Estimate Presidential Positions”
Award Committee: Charles Stewart, MIT (Chair); Gisela
Sin, University of Illinois; Craig Volden, University of Virginia
Pi Sigma Alpha Award.
A $250 award for the best paper
presented at the MPSA Annual National Conference. Sponsored by Pi Sigma Alpha,
the national political science honor society.
Co-Winners: Eitan Hersh, Yale University, and Clayton M.
Nall, Stanford University
Title: “The Primacy of Race in the Geography of
Income-Based Voting: New Evidence from Public Voting Records”
Co-Winners: Jenny
Guardado, New York University
Title: “Sale of Colonial Appointments and Rent
Extraction”
Award Committee: Amaney Jamal, Princeton University
(Chair); Dara Strolovitch, University of Minnesota; Will Howell,University of
Chicago
Review of Politics Award.
A $250 award for the best paper
in normative political theory.
Winners: Jim Josefson, Bridgewater College
Title: “Imagination and Spirit in Kant and Arendt”
Award Committee: Lisa Disch, University of Michigan
(Chair); Peter Steinberger, Reed College; Ted Miller, University of Alabama
Robert H. Durr Award.
A $250 award for best paper
applying quantitative methods to a substantive problem.
Winners: Barry C. Burden, University of Wisconsin, David
Canon, University of Wisconsin, Kenneth Mayer, University of Wisconsin,
Madison, and Donald Moynihan, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Title: “Election Laws and Partisan Gains: What are the
Effects of Early Voting and Same Day Registration on the Parties' Vote Shares”
Award Committee: Simon Jackman, Stanford University
(Chair); Sean Gailmard, University of California, Berkeley; Suzanna Linn, Penn
State University
Sophonisba Breckinridge Award.
A $250 award for the best
paper delivered on women and politics.
Winners: Alan E. Wiseman, Vanderbilt University,
Dana E. Wittmer, Colorado College,
and Craig Volden, University of Virginia
Title: “Women's Issues and Their Fates in Congress”
Award Committee: Kira Sanbonmatsu, Rutgers University
(Chair); Kathy Dolan, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Jennifer Wolak,
University of Colorado
Westview Press Award.
A $250 award sponsored by Westview
Press for best paper by delivered by a graduate student.
Co-Winner: Adrian Lucardi, Washington University, St.
Louis
Title: “The Curse of Revenue-Sharing: Assessing the
Subnational Impact of Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers”
Committee Citation: In "The Curse of
Revenue-Sharing? Assessing the Impact of Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers at
the Subnational Level," Adrian Lucardi, Ph.D. candidate at Washington
University in St. Louis, examines the relationship between intergovernmental
fiscal transfers and the quality of life across various jurisdictions in a
country. Based on a review of prior
theoretical and empirical literature, Lucardi argues that subnational
governments that raise their own taxes should be more responsive to their
citizens, but that receiving more transfers from the center will not increase
their provision of government services.
He finds support for both hypotheses, using an ambitious, time-series
cross-sectional dataset of Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, and an innovative
research design that uses legislative overrepresentation as an instrument for
intergovernmental transfers, and takes infant mortality as a standard measures
across time and countries. This paper is
well conceived and executed, and is a promising foundation for a successful
academic career.
Co-Winner: Viktoryia Schnose, Washington University, St.
Louis
Title: “Bureaucratic Drift in Comparative Perspective”
Award Committee: Karthick Ramakrishnan, University of
California, Riverside (Chair); Kirk Randazzo, University of South Carolina;
Joanne Miller, University of Minnesota
Committee Citation:
In "Who is in Charge Here: Legislators, Bureaucrats and the Policy
Making Process," Viktoryia Schnose, Ph.D. candidate at Washington
University in St. Louis, argues that cross-country variation in bureaucracies
are an important yet often overlooked factor in the development of public
policies in democracies. She hypothesizes
that institutions that govern the nomination process by which parties in
government select bureaucrats (meritocratic vs partisan recruitment) determine
the levels of bureaucratic involvement in the policy making process, especially
with respect to policy volatility. She
tests these hypotheses using two different datasets, of 20 European countries
and 152 world countries, respectively, and employs innovative ways to measure
potential discretion in budgetary decisions and other policy volatility. This paper is an excellent candidate for
revision and submission to a high-impact peer reviewed journal, and is a
promising foundation for a successful academic career.