2014 Moynihan Prize Awarded to Joseph Stiglitz

Joseph Stiglitz, University Professor at Columbia and 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economics, has been named the 2014 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize winner. The Moynihan Prize honors individuals whose work and careers demonstrate the value of using social science evidence to inform public policy.� Most recently, Stiglitz has made considerable contributions to our understanding of the sources and dire ramifications of economic inequality in America (see The Price of Inequality). Stiglitz’s illustrious academic career is coupled with impressive accomplishments in public service: he was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1993 to 1995 during the Clinton administration; and from 1997 to 2000, he was the Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank. Dr. Stiglitz will deliver the 2014 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Lecture on Social Science and Public Policy at 3pm on May 8, 2014, in Washington, DC. Event details will be available on the AAPSS website in the coming weeks.

AAPSS' ANNALS Volume on Great Recession to be Focus of joint Policy Briefing with Brookings

On January 30, 2014, AAPSS, the Brookings Institution, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Sage Publications will cosponsor a policy briefing on “The Effects of the Great Recession”—the November 2013 volume of The ANNALS. Sheldon Danziger, President of the Russell Sage Foundation and special editor of the volume, will give an overview of ANNALS’ findings, followed by a panel discussion of the performance of the social safety net in the years following the recession.� Panelists will include Robert Moffitt (Johns Hopkins), Michael Tanner (Cato Institute), Betsey Stevenson (Council of Economic Advisers), and Robert Greenstein (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities). Ron Haskins (Brookings) will moderate.

The briefing will begin at 9am on January 30 and run about two hours. Further information about the event, once available, can be found on the AAPSS and Brookings websites. Registration will be handled by Brookings, so be sure to check their website for details in January.

AAPSS Fellow Alejandro Portes on Immigration

On November 11, 2013, Dr. Alejandro Portes of Princeton University discussed immigration reform at Iowa State University, focusing on the effects of immigration policy on our nation’s social and cultural fabric. According to Portes, because immigrants experience the effects of “nativism,” they tend to band together to become advocates for political issues that are most pressing to their respective ethnic and cultural groups. Citing immigrants’ contribution to the labor force, Portes argued that fewer immigrants in the U.S. will actually adversely affect the economy. Ultimately, Portes argues, the way the U.S. deals with immigration has direct bearing on the country’s economic and social well-being. �

Coming Up in The ANNALS:

Detaining Democracy? Criminal Justice and American Civic Life
January 2014; Volume 651

The United States leads the world in monitoring, disciplining, and punishing its citizens.� The now well-documented U.S. prison boom has yielded a fivefold increase in the prison population since the early 1970s. But what does America’s high rate of criminal justice contact have to do with equal citizenship, political inclusion, community voice, and collective ends? In this volume of The ANNALS, special editors Christopher Wildeman, Vesla Weaver, and Jacob Hacker (all of Yale University), and their contributors, describe and analyze the state’s role in advancing inequality through increased criminal sanctions, and explore issues of legitimacy and citizenship for individuals and communities.

Social scientists have made great strides in describing the political and criminal justice practices that have led to very high rates of incarceration, but the rapid and voracious expansion of the criminal justice system has remained invisible to most of us.� Racial/ethnic minority and poorer populations are disproportionately drawn into the orbit of the criminal justice system when compared to more affluent and white citizens. For American men of color—especially those living in poverty—and for the people close to them, interaction with local, state, and federal governments may now happen principally through the criminal justice and correctional systems. The implications of the criminal justice system for society are critically important, therefore, to understanding inequality in America.

The American Academy of Political and Social Science
202 S. 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3806
215.746.6500 www.aapss.org