Faculty Publications

Delivery worker wearing a medical mask and carrying packages.

Feature: The Impact of State Paid Sick Leave Laws on Service Workers

Daniel Schneider finds that state paid sick leave laws increased service workers’ access to paid sick leave and reduced the share of service workers who worked while sick.

A family with a father, mother, and two small children walking on a dirt path.

Feature: Connecting Absolute and Relative Intergenerational Mobility

Deirdre Bloome offers two frameworks for understanding the relationship between types of intergenerational mobility, or whether people are socioeconomically better off than their parents.

Two women in rural India dressed colorfully and carrying baskets on their heads.

Feature: Studying a Government Program to Support Women’s Self-Help Groups

Michael Walton explores the interactions between state and society in rural India within a major community-based development program, finding two major tensions.

A network of computer motherboards and other parts assembled to look like a miniature city.

Feature: The Data-Informed City

Jorrit de Jong presents a comprehensive framework for how cities can use data to address problems more effectively, efficiently, equitably, and with better accountability.

Harvard Kennedy School faculty disseminate their research in working publications and papers that contribute to public knowledge and fuel policy innovation. This list features recent faculty publications, including journal articles, books, edited volumes, research papers, and public testimony.

Faculty Publications

Asking about Complex Policies

Jessee, Stephen, Neil Malhotra, and Maya Sen. "Asking about Complex Policies." Public Opinion Quarterly (7 February 2025).

Off-Balance: How US Courts Privilege Conservative Policy Outcomes

Highsmith, Brian, Maya Sen, and Kathleen Thelen. "Off-Balance: How US Courts Privilege Conservative Policy Outcomes." Perspectives on Politics (6 February 2025).

Effects of a US Supreme Court ruling to restrict abortion rights

Clark, Chelsey S., Elizabeth Levy Paluck, Sean J. Westwood, Maya Sen, Neil Malhotra, and Stephen Jessee. "Effects of a US Supreme Court ruling to restrict abortion rights." Nature Human Behaviour 8.1 (January 2024): 63-71.

Save the Supreme Court and democracy

Sen, Maya. "Save the Supreme Court and democracy." Science 377.6607 (August 2022): 693.

Sensitive Questions, Spillover Effects, and Asking about Citizenship on the US Census

Baum, Matthew A., Bryce J. Dietrich, and Rebecca Goldstein, and Maya Sen. "Sensitive Questions, Spillover Effects, and Asking about Citizenship on the US Census." The Journal of Politics 84.3 (July 2022): 1869-1873.

The Political Consequences of Ethnically Targeted Incarceration: Evidence from Japanese American Internment during World War II

Sen, Maya, Yamil Velez, and Mayya Komisarchik. "The Political Consequences of Ethnically Targeted Incarceration: Evidence from Japanese American Internment during World War II." The Journal of Politics 84.3 (July 2022).

A decade-long longitudinal survey shows that the Supreme Court is now much more conservative than the public

Jessee, Stephen, Neil Malhotra, and Maya Sen. "A decade-long longitudinal survey shows that the Supreme Court is now much more conservative than the public." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119.24 (June 2022).

Designing Supreme Court Term Limits

Chilton, Adam, Daniel Epps, Kyle Rozema, and Maya Sen. "Designing Supreme Court Term Limits." Southern California Law Review 95.2 (May 2022): 1-72.

The Endgame of Court-Packing

Chilton, Adam, Daniel Epps, Kyle Rozema, and Maya Sen. "The Endgame of Court-Packing." SSRN (May 2021).

Designing Supreme Court Term Limits

Chilton, Adam, Daniel Epps, Kyle Rozema, and Maya Sen. "Designing Supreme Court Term Limits." Southern California Law Review 95.1 (May 2021): 1-72.

Estimating Judicial Ideology

Bonica, Adam, and Maya Sen. "Estimating Judicial Ideology." Journal of Economic Perspectives 35.1 (Winter 2021): 97-118.

Improving Supreme Court Forecasting Using Boosted Decision Trees

Kaufman, Aaron, Peter Kraft, and Maya Sen. "Improving Supreme Court Forecasting Using Boosted Decision Trees." Political Analysis 27.3 (July 2019): 381-387.

Bias and Judging

Sen, Maya. "Bias and Judging." Annual Review of Political Science 22 (May 2019): 241-259.

Emotional Arousal Predicts Voting on the U.S. Supreme Court

Dietrich, Bryce, Ryan Enos, and Maya Sen. "Emotional Arousal Predicts Voting on the U.S. Supreme Court." Political Analysis 27.2 (April 2019): 237-243.

Legal Rasputins? Law Clerk Influence on Voting at the US Supreme Court

Bonica, Adam, Adam Chilton, Jacob Goldin, Kyle Rozema, and Maya Sen. "Legal Rasputins? Law Clerk Influence on Voting at the US Supreme Court." The Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization 35.1 (March 2019): 1-36.

Analyzing Causal Mechanisms in Survey Experiments

Acharya, Avidit, Matthew Blackwell, and Maya Sen. "Analyzing Causal Mechanisms in Survey Experiments." Political Analysis 26.4 (October 2018): 357-378.

Response to Dion, Sumner and Mitchell

Sen, Maya. "Response to Dion, Sumner and Mitchell." Political Analysis 26.3 (July 2018): 335-337.

Explaining Preferences from Behavior: A Cognitive Dissonance Approach

Acharya, Avidit, Matthew Blackwell, and Maya Sen. "Explaining Preferences from Behavior: A Cognitive Dissonance Approach." The Journal of Politics 80.2 (April 2018).

The Legal Academy's Ideological Uniformity

Sen, Maya. "The Legal Academy's Ideological Uniformity." Journal of Legal Studies 47.1 (January 2018): 1-43.

How Political Signals Affect Public Support for Judicial Nominations: Evidence from a Conjoint Experiment

Sen, Maya. "How Political Signals Affect Public Support for Judicial Nominations: Evidence from a Conjoint Experiment." Political Research Quarterly 70.2 (April 2017): 374-393.

The Political Ideologies of Law Clerks

Bonica, Adam, Adam S. Chilton, Jacob Goldin, Kyle Rozema, and Maya Sen. "The Political Ideologies of Law Clerks." American Law and Economics Review 19.1 (April 2017): 96-128.

How Uncertainty About Judicial Nominees Can Distort the Confirmation Process

Sen, Maya, and William Spaniel. "How Uncertainty About Judicial Nominees Can Distort the Confirmation Process." Journal of Theoretical Politics 29.1 (January 2017): 22-47.

A Common-Space Scaling of the American Judiciary and Legal Profession

Bonica, Adam, and Maya Sen. "A Common-Space Scaling of the American Judiciary and Legal Profession." Political Analysis 25.1 (January 2017): 114-121.

Judicial Reform as a Tug of War: How Ideological Differences Between Politicians and the Bar Explain Attempts at Judicial Reform

Bonica, Adam, and Maya Sen. "Judicial Reform as a Tug of War: How Ideological Differences Between Politicians and the Bar Explain Attempts at Judicial Reform." Vanderbilt Law Review 70.6 (2017): 1781-1811.

Diversity, Qualifications, and Ideology: How Female and Minority Judges Have Changed, or Not Changed, Over Time

Sen, Maya. "Diversity, Qualifications, and Ideology: How Female and Minority Judges Have Changed, or Not Changed, Over Time." Wisconsin Law Review 3 (2017): 367-400.

The Political Ideologies of American Lawyers

Bonica, Adam, Adam S. Chilton, and Maya Sen. "The Political Ideologies of American Lawyers." Journal of Legal Analysis 8.2 (December 2016): 277-335.

Measuring Judicial Ideology Using Law Clerk Hiring

Bonica, Adam, Adam S. Chilton, Jacob Goldin, Kyle Rozema, and Maya Sen. "Measuring Judicial Ideology Using Law Clerk Hiring." American Law and Economics Review (November 2016).

Explaining Causal Findings Without Bias: Detecting and Assessing Direct Effects

Acharya, Avidit, Matthew Blackwell, and Maya Sen. "Explaining Causal Findings Without Bias: Detecting and Assessing Direct Effects." The American Political Science Review 110.3 (August 2016).

The Political Legacy of American Slavery

Sen, Maya. "The Political Legacy of American Slavery." The Journal of Politics 78.3 (July 2016): 621-641.

Race as a ‘Bundle of Sticks’: Designs that Estimate Effects of Seemingly Immutable Characteristics

Sen, Maya, and Omar Wasow. "Race as a ‘Bundle of Sticks’: Designs that Estimate Effects of Seemingly Immutable Characteristics." Annual Review of Political Science 19 (May 2016).

Does Encouragement Matter in Improving Gender Imbalances in Technical Fields? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial

Unkovic, Cait, Maya Sen, and Kevin M. Quinn. "Does Encouragement Matter in Improving Gender Imbalances in Technical Fields? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial." PloS One 11.4 (April 2016).

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