This week we are highlighting an episode from Have You Heard, a podcast co-hosted by SSN member Jack Schneider and journalist Jennifer Berkshire. They spoke with Sally Nuamah about the long-term effects of school closures on communities, like declining voter turnout.

For more on this topic:

• Read Nuamah’s paper, The paradox of educational attitudes: Racial differences in public opinion on school closure or check out her website.
• Find more episodes of Have You Heard online or wherever you get your podcasts

Further reading:

• How (and why) to build a better measure of school quality, Jack Schneider, College of the Holy Cross
• Standardized Ratings of Urban Public Schools Ignore Contributions to their Students and Communities, Keith Eric Benson, Camden City School District
• Does Public Education Improve When Urban Districts Manage A “Portfolio” of Schools? , Katrina Elizabeth Bulkey, Montclair State University

As Republicans move forward with their tax overhaul, this week’s episode revisits Vanessa Williamson’s interview on the misconception that Americans hate taxes. She outlines how anti-tax policies became popular despite the fact that most Americans support increasing taxes for services they care about.  

For more on this topic:

• Read her brief, Who Pays America’s Taxes?, with Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Columbia University
• Check out her opinion piece on Trump’s original tax plan during the 2016 campaign.

Further Reading:

• How Republican Approaches to Social Spending Increase Income Inequality in the United States , Christopher Faricy, Syracuse University
• Reforming Tax Policy for the Wealthiest One Percent, Michael Nau, The Ohio Colleges of Medicine Government Resource Center

Political rumors are spreading across the country and the widening divide between parties is only making them more potent. Professor Adam Berinsky discusses where these rumors come from and what, if anything, can be done to combat them.

For More on This Topic:

• Read Berinsky’s brief, What Works - and What Doesn’t - To Discredit Harmful Rumors And Correct Information
• Check out his feature and a web extra on an episode of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

Further Reading:

• How a Citizen’s Initiative Review Improve Elections Where Voters Directly Decide on Policy Issues, John Gastil, Pennsylvania State University
• Episode 13: The Misinformation Age, Brian G. Southwell, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

For the final act of the live show, Professors Erin O’Brien and Peter Ubertaccio tackle Massachusetts politics. They dig into the character of the Democratic and Republican parties in the state, and show how the state isn’t as deep blue as many think.

For More on This Topic:

• Check out O’Brien, Ubertaccio, and other scholars on WGBH’s MassPoliticsProfs blog
• Watch the live show video to see full show and audience Q&A

Further Reading:

• Massachusetts as a Surprising Pioneer in the Turn to Mandatory Sentencing as a Response to Crime, Charles Houston Decker, Yale University
• Episode 2: Voter Fraud or Voter Suppression?, Erin O’Brien, University of Massachusetts Boston