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Metropolitan Policy Center Publications

Part of MPC's mission is to cultivate innovative cross-disciplinary metropolitan and urban research that helps to improve people's lives and public policy. We've accomplished this again and again by producing numerous publications with our findings. In the four years that we've been around, we've published 7 books and 50+ articles, completed 4 projects, and presented in over 115 countries & locations.

Books

Building Walls Book Cover

Building Walls: Excluding Latin People in the United States

The election of Donald Trump has called attention to the border wall and anti-Mexican discourses and policies, yet these issues are not new. Building Walls puts the recent calls to build a border wall along the US-Mexico border into a larger social and historical context. This book describes the building of walls, symbolic and physical, between Americans and Mexicans, as well as the consequences that these walls have in the lives of immigrants and Latin communities in the United States. Learn about a special 30% discount offer!

A Place to Call Home Book Cover

A Place to Call Home: Immigrant Exclusion and Urban Belonging in New York, Paris, and Barcelona

As immigrants settle in new places, they are faced with endless uncertainties that prevent them from feeling that they belong. From language barriers, to differing social norms, to legal boundaries separating them from established residents, they are constantly navigating shifting and contradictory expectations to both assimilate and to honor their native culture. In A Place to Call Home, Ernesto Castañeda offers a uniquely comparative portrait of immigrant expectations and experiences.

Capital Dilemma Book Cover

Capital Dilemma: Growth and Inequality in Washington, DC

This book details the forces driving the contemporary economic growth of the nation's capital. While this book argues that federal and city political decisions relate to Washington's recent rebirth, it carefully connects this development to rising inequality and widespread gentrification. The book, co-edited by Sabiyha Prince, exposes the complexities, challenges, and opportunities associated with modern day urban development.

Cradle to Kindergarten Book Cover

Cradle to Kindergarten 

This book offers a comprehensive, evidence-based strategy that diagnoses the obstacles to accessible early education and charts a path to opportunity for all children. Reducing educational and economic inequalities requires that all children have robust opportunities to learn, fully develop their capacities, and have a fair shot at success. Cradle to Kindergarten presents a blueprint for fulfilling this promise by expanding access to educational and financial resources at a critical stage of child development.

Race, Class, and Politics in the Cappuccino City Book Cover

Race, Class, and Politics in the Cappuccino City

For long-time residents of Washington, DC's Shaw/U Street, the neighborhood has become almost unrecognizable in recent years. Where the city's most infamous open-air drug market once stood, a farmers' market now sells grass-fed beef and homemade duck egg ravioli. Shaw is experiencing a dramatic transformation, from "ghetto" to "gilded ghetto," where white newcomers are rehabbing homes, developing dog parks, and paving the way for a third wave coffee shop on nearly every block.

The Politics of Staying Put Book Cover

The Politics of Staying Put

When cities gentrify, it can be hard for working-class and low-income residents to stay put. Rising rents and property taxes make buildings unaffordable, or landlords may sell buildings to investors interested in redeveloping them into luxury condos. Taking a broad, city-wide assessment of TOPA, Gallaher follows seven buildings through the program's process. She measures the law's level of success and its constraints. Her findings have relevance for debates in urban affairs about condo conversion, urban local autonomy, and displacement.

Immigration and Categorical Inequality Book Cover

Immigration and Categorical Inequality

This book explains the general processes of migration, the categorization of newcomers in urban areas as racial or ethnic others, and the mechanisms that perpetuate inequality among groups. Inspired by the pioneering work of Charles Tilly on chain migration, transnational communities, trust networks, and categorical inequality, renowned migration scholars apply Tilly's theoretical concepts using empirical data gathered in different historical periods and geographical areas ranging from New York to Tokyo and from Barcelona to Nepal.

Projects

DC Area Survey

DC Area Survey

Studying neighborhood and resident well-being in the Washington, DC (DC) metropolitan area.

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Road Map Initiative

The Roadmap Initiative

Mapping the way to the Washington region's economic future.

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Walkability Policy Brief Chart

Walkability Preference Policy Brief

A roundtable discussion about the "walkability preference" proposal put forward by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.

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Articles

Hyra, Derek, Moulden, Dominic, Fullilove, Mindy, Weted, Carley. 2019. "A Method for Making the Just City: Housing, Gentrification, and Health." Housing Policy Debate, 29(3), 421-431.

Hyra, Derek. 2016. "The US Great Recession: Exploring Its Association with Black Neighborhood Rise, Decline and Recovery." Urban Geography.

Hyra, Derek. 2016. "Commentary: Causes and Consequences of Gentrification and the Future of Equitable Development Policy." Cityscape, 18(3), 171-179.

Hyra, Derek. 2015. "Advancing the Future Urban Discourse." City & Community, 14(3), 254-257.

Hyra, Derek. 2015. "The Back-to-the-City Movement: Neighbourhood Redevelopment and Process of Political and Cultural Displacement." Urban Studies.

Hyra, Derek. 2015. "Greasing the Wheels of Integration: Housing and Beyond in Mixed-Income, Mixed-Race Neighborhoods." Housing Policy Debate, 25(4), 785-788.

Hyra, Derek. 2015. "The Obama Administration's Place-Based Initiatives: Why Not Include Small Business Lending Components? Journal of Urban Affairs.

Hyra, Derek and Meghan Doughty. 2015. "SBA Lending: Equity and Efficiency Challenges." White paper commissioned by the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders.

Hyra, Derek and Ellen Harpel. 2015. "Growth Opportunities and Constraints: Perspectives from CEOs and High-Ranking Executives." The Roadmap for the Washington Region's Economic Future.

Hyra, Derek and Jocelyn Johnston, Bradley Hardy, and Meghan Doughty. 2015. "A State and Local Level Economic Development Policy Gap Analysis." The Roadmap for the Washington Region's Economic Future.

Hyra, D. and J. Rugh. 2016. "The US Great Recession: Exploring Its Association with Black Neighborhood Rise, Decline and Recovery." Urban Geography, 37(5), 700-726.

Bader, Michael. 2014. "Validity of an Ecometric Neighborhood Physical Disorder Measure Constructed by Virtual Street Audit." American Journal of Epidemiology. 

Bader, Michael, 2015. "Development and Deployment of the Computer Assisted Neighborhood Visual Assessment System (CANVAS) to Measure Health-Related Neighborhood Conditions." Health & Place. 

Bader, Michael. 2015. Community Attraction and Avoidance in Chicago: What's Race Got to Do with It? The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 

Bader, Michael. 2015. "Realizing Racial and Ethnic Neighborhood Preferences? Exploring the Mismatches Between What People Want, Where They Search, and Where They Live." Population Research and Policy Review. 

Bader, Michael. 2016. Diversity in the D.C. Area: Findings from the 2016 DC Area Survey. CLALS Working Paper Series. Number 14. American University, Washington, DC. 

Bader, Michael. 2016. "The Fragmented Evolution of Racial Integration since the Civil Rights Movement." Sociological Science. 

Bader, Michael. 2016. "Use of Google Street View to Assess Environmental Contributions to Pedestrian Injury." American Journal of Public Health.

Media Appearances
October 14, 2015. “A Nation of Nations.” Gregg Sangillo. News. American University.

September 24, 2015. “Getting to Know Them.” Gregg Sangillo. College News. American University.

After the Peace: Loyalist Paramilitaries in Post-accord Northern Ireland, Cornell University Press, 2007.

"The Role of Protestant Missionaries in Mexico's Indigenous Awakening." Bulletin of Latin American Research, 2007.

"The Geography of Loyalist Paramilitary Feuding in Belfast." Space and Polity, 2006, with Peter Shirlow.

"Fine-tuning, Standing Firm, 'Fessing Up." ACME, 2004.

"The Religious Right Reacts to Globalization." In Gods, Guns, and Globalization: Religious Radicalism and International Political Economy, M. Tétreault and R. Denemark, eds. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2004.

"Mainstreaming the Militia." Spaces of Hate and Intolerance in the United States of America, C. Flint, ed. London: Routledge, 2004

"Workers on the Fault Line: Engaging the Militia Movement." Left Turn 2004, with Matthew Bowles.

On the Fault Line: Race, Class, and the American Patriot Movement, Rowman and Littlefield, 2003.

"Teaching about Political Violence: A Primer on Representation." Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 2003.

Hardy, Bradley L., Timothy Smeeding, and James P. Ziliak. 2018. “The Changing Safety Net for Low Income Parents and Their Children: Structural or Cyclical Changes in Income Support Policy?” Demography.

Andrews, Rodney, Marcus Casey, Bradley L. Hardy, and Trevon D. Logan. 2017. “Location Matters: Historical Racial Segregation and Intergenerational Mobility.” Economics Letters 158: 67-72.

Hardy, Bradley L. 2016. "Income Instability and the Response of the Safety Net." Contemporary Economic Policy 35(2): 312-330.

Brown-Robertson, LaTanya, Marcus Casey, Bradley Hardy, and Daniel Muhammad. 2016. "Does Does the EITC Buffer Against Neighborhood Transition? Evidence from Washington D.C.?" Forthcoming at the American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings.

Hardy, Bradley L. 2014. “Childhood Income Volatility and Adult Outcomes.” Demography 51(5): 1641-1655.

Hardy, Bradley L., and James P. Ziliak. 2014. “Decomposing Rising Income Volatility:The ‘Wild Ride’ at the Top and Bottom.” Economic Inquiry 52(1): 459-476.

Hardy, Bradley L. 2012. “Black Female Earnings and Income Volatility.” The Review of Black Political Economy (39) 465-75.

Ziliak, James P., Bradley Hardy, and Christopher Bollinger. 2011. “Earnings Volatility in America: Evidence from Matched CPS.” Labour Economics 18(6) 742-754.

Ziliak, James P., Charles Hokayem, and Bradley Hardy. 2008. “Child Care Subsidies and the Economic Well-Being of Recipient Families: A Survey and Implications for Kentucky,” Technical Report to Kentucky Youth Advocates and the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Hardy, Bradley, James P. Ziliak, and Charles Hokayem. 2008. “The economic impact of child care subsidies for Kentucky,” University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Occasional Policy Brief No. 3.

Hardy, Bradley, Richard Kogan, and Arloc Sherman, and. 2005. “What Are The Effects of Cutting Domestic Appropriations Another Two Percent?,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Parrott, Sharon, Arloc Sherman, and Bradley Hardy. 2005. “House Budget Resolution Would Require Much Deeper Cuts In Key Low-Income Programs Than Senate Budget Plan: Depth and Breadth of Cuts a Key Issue in the Budget Resolution Conference,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Parrott, Sharon, Jim Horney, Isaac Shapiro, Ruth Carlitz, Bradley Hardy, and David Kamin. 2005. “Where Would the Cuts Be Made Under the President’s Budget? An Analysis of Reductions in Education, Human Services, Environment, and Community Development Programs,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“Contracting: Promise, Performance, Perils, Possibilities,” (forthcoming), with Barbara S. Romzek, in Robert F. Durant, Ed., The Oxford Handbook of American Bureaucracy, Oxford University Press.

“Commentary on J. Edwin Benton, ‘Trends in Local Government Revenues: The Old, the New, and the Future’,” (forthcoming) proceedings from “The Changing Landscape of Local Public Revenues,” 2009 Land Policy Conference, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, May 31-June 2, 2009, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“American Exceptionalism, Human Resource Management, and The Contract State,” (2009), with Robert F. Durant and Amanda M. Girth, Review of Public Personnel Administration, 29, 3, September: 207-229

“Welfare Reform – a Devolution Success Story?” (2008), in Paul Posner and Timothy Conlan, eds., Intergovernmental Management For The 21st Century, sponsored by the National Academy of Public Administration. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution Press.

“Social Welfare Contracts as Networks: The Impact of Network Stability on Management and Performance,” (2008), with Barbara S. Romzek, Administration and Society, 40, 2, April: 115-146.

“State Social Services Contracting: Exploring Determinants of Effective Contract Accountability,” (2005), with Barbara S. Romzek, Public Administration Review, 65, 4, July/August.

“Traditional Contracts as Partnerships: Effective Accountability in Social Services Contracts in the American States," (2005), with Barbara S. Romzek, in Carsten Greve and Graeme Hodge, eds., The Challenge of Public-Private Partnerships- Learning from International Experience (Edward Elgar Publishing.)

“The Challenges of Contracting and Accountability across the Federal System: From Ambulances to Space Shuttles,” (2004), with Barbara S. Romzek and Curtis Wood, Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 34, 3, Summer.

“The Impacts of School Finance Reform in Kansas: Equity is in the Eye of the Beholder,” (2004) with William Duncombe, in John Yinger, ed., Helping Children Left Behind: State Aid and the Pursuit of Educational Equity, John Yinger (MIT Press).

“Contracting and Accountability: A Model of Effective Contracting Drawn from the U.S. Experience,” (2004) with Barbara S. Romzek, in Unbundled Government: A Critical Analysis of the Global Trend to Agencies, Quangos, and Contractualisation, Christopher Pollitt and Colin Talbot, eds. (London: Routledge).

Derelict Paradise: Homelessness and Urban Development in Cleveland, Ohio

"Story of a Minor Term: Racial Capitalism and Imaginaries of Black Masculinity from Colonialism to Crisis."

Morrissey, Taryn. 2016. "Child care and parental labor force participation: A review of the research." Review of Economics of the Household.

Morrissey, Taryn & Vinopal, K. (2018). "Center-based early care and education and children’s school readiness: Do impacts vary by neighborhood poverty?" Developmental Psychology, 54(4), 757-771.

Morrissey, Taryn & Vinopal, K. (2018). "Neighborhood poverty and children’s elementary school outcomes." Journal of Marriage and Family, 80(1), 182-197.

Pike, David. 2015. " World Streets and Viae Ferae: The Nineteenth-Century Cityscape in Space and Time." Studies in the Humanities.

Pike, David. 2016. " 'Slum' A New Vocabulary for Global Modernism . " Columbia University Press.

Ranganathan, Malini. 2014. " Paying for Water, Claiming Citizenship: Political Agency and Water Reforms at the Urban Periphery." International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.

Ranganathan, Malini. 2014. " Mafias in the Waterscape: Urban Informality and Everyday Public Authority in Bangalore." Water Alternatives.

Ranganathan, Malini. 2014. " High Tech and the Monsoon." Governing Urban Futures, London School of Economics and Political Science Urban Age Series.

Ranganathan, Malini. 2016. " Thinking with Flint: Racial Liberalism and the Roots of an American Water Tragedy." Capitalism Nature Socialism.

Ranganathan, Malini. 2015. " Storm Drains as Assemblages: The Political Ecology of Flood Risk in Post-Colonial Bangalore." Antipode.

Ranganathan, Malini. 2015. " Water Marginalization at the Urban Fringe: Environmental Justice and Political Ecology Across the North-South Divide." Urban Geography.