Russell Sage Foundation Research Projects on the Recession

  • Policy Responses to the Economic Crisis in Advanced Industrial States

    Awarded Scholars:
    • Larry M. Bartels, Princeton University
    • Nancy Bermeo, University of Oxford
    • Jonas Pontusson, University of Geneva

    The recent financial crisis created cascading economic problems not only in the United States but throughout much of the world. Although the economic problems in each country are closely tied to each other, the response to the crisis and the impact on individual countries has varied greatly.

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  • The Political Economy of Public Pension Funding

    Awarded Scholar:
    • Nolan McCarthy, Princeton University

    According to The Pew Center on the States, unfunded liabilities in state pension systems amounted to nearly half a trillion dollars even before the financial crisis hit in the fall of 2008. The subsequent collapse of the equity markets and the shrinkage in state tax revenues brought on by the recession only made these pension problems worse.

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  • The Great Recession and Public Attitudes Toward the Role of Government

    Awarded Scholars:
    • Steven S. Smith, Washington University in St. Louis
    • Stanley Feldman, Stony Brook University
    • Cindy D. Kam , Vanderbilt University
    • Steven M. Fazzari, Washington University in St. Louis

    Ever since the Great Depression and the advent of the New Deal, most Americans have accepted the idea that the government should play a role in managing the economy and addressing major social challenges. However, despite general agreement that the government should play some role in managing the economy, attitudes about the nature and size of that role vary widely.

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  • A Broken Public? Response and Non-Response of the American Public to the Great Recession

    Awarded Scholars:
    • Jeff Manza, Northwestern University
    • Clem Brooks, Indiana University

    Surveys of public opinion suggest support for government action on behalf of the unemployed typically grows during market turbulence. In the 50 years after World War II, popular support for government spending on the social safety net typically increased during recessions. But the Great Recession may be different.

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  • The Great Recession and State Criminal Justice Policy: Explaining the Unexpected

    Awarded Scholar:
    • Peter Enns, Cornell University

    Between 2009 and 2010, the total state and federal prison population declined for the first time since 1972, and the number of individuals in state prisons actually peaked in 2008. At the same time, state and federal corrections expenditures in 2010 decreased for the first time since the mid-1970s.

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  • The Recent Performance of Safety-Net Programs

    Awarded Scholar:
    • National Academy of Social Insurance, Washington, D.C.

    The prolonged high rate of unemployment caused by the Great Recession has revealed substantial weaknesses in our nation’s social safety net. During and after the Great Recession, many families facing unemployment have relied on TANF, SNAP, SSDI, and unemployment insurance to provide income support.

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