By Carmine Conte

Migration Policy Group (MPG) has released a groundbreaking report that exposes the pervasive, yet often overlooked, forms of racism embedded within the structures of society across eight EU member states: Czechia, Germany, Greece, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, and Sweden. This research was conducted thanks to the Robert Bosch Stiftung’s support. The report reveals how structural and institutional racism systematically disadvantages specific communities, operating within social, economic, and political institutions.

Unlike overt acts of racial violence, structural racism is entrenched in sectors like housing, education, healthcare, employment, policing, and justice. It manifests through seemingly neutral policies and practices that disproportionately impact racial and ethnic groups, perpetuating inequality and marginalisation.

“Addressing structural and institutional racism is crucial for creating a more just and equitable society,” said Isabelle Chopin, Director of MPG. “This requires concerted efforts at both national and European levels to dismantle the systems that sustain racial inequality.”

MPG, a leading advocate for racial equality since the 1990s, has significantly influenced European policy, including the adoption of the Racial and Employment Equality Directives in 2000. The organisation has also provided extensive training and published significant research on racial discrimination.

The new report, part of a broader project led by MPG, offers a comparative analysis of structural racism in the eight examined countries. Despite the absence of explicit legal definitions, EU law mandates protection against racial discrimination. However, many national legal frameworks adopt a “colour-blind” approach, complicating efforts to address systemic issues.

The report highlights how structural racism disproportionately affects Roma, Black people, Muslims, and, in Sweden, the Sámi population. It also underscores challenges such as racial profiling, excessive use of force by law enforcement, and the underreporting of racism against Asians and antisemitism.

Structural racism is particularly evident in the justice system, healthcare, education, employment, and housing, with far-reaching impacts on the lives of racialised groups. The report also points to more subtle forms of racism, including online hate speech, prejudice, and denial of access to services.

While the EU’s Anti-racism Action Plan 2020-2025 acknowledges structural racism, the report notes that most countries still view racism as isolated incidents rather than a systemic problem.

MPG calls for urgent action at both national and European levels to dismantle the structures that perpetuate racial inequality and to empower historically marginalised communities.

Brussels: Migration Policy Group, 2024. 103p.

By Robert A. Pape

Many urgent questions face college campuses in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza, which kicked-off numerous student-led pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protests, intimidation, and violence. In response, the Chicago Project on Security and Threats at the University of Chicago (CPOST) conducted a study of the national campus environment. Based on two national surveys of 5,000 college students from over 600 four-year academic institutions, with an additional 5,000 American adults as a comparison set, which were fielded from mid-December 2023 to mid-January 2024, and with the benefit of a previous baseline survey of 8,000 American adults fielded in Spring of 2023, this study provides the most extensive survey evidence today about the extent of campus fears and changes in antisemitism after October 7. This study is also among the few efforts to disentangle different meanings of antisemitism and compare antisemitism and Islamophobia among respondents.

The overarching finding is that campus fears related to the current Israel-Palestinian conflict are more intense among certain groups and widespread across the student body than previously known. As a consequence of the conflict, numerous students are fearful because of their support of one side or the other:

56% of Jewish college students felt in personal danger

52% of Muslim college students felt in personal danger

16% of other college students felt in personal danger

This equates to 2 to 3 million college students.

The findings also show that Jewish and Muslim students report fearing for their physical safety, and other students fear being caught in the crossfire. Many are additionally concerned about academic discrimination and loss of professional opportunities.

Different perceptions of intent are likely contributing to these fears. 66% of Jewish college students understand the pro-Palestinian protest chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free” to mean the expulsion and genocide of Israeli Jews, while only 14% of Muslim students understand the chant that way; of Jewish students who understand the phrase this way, 62% report feeling afraid. About 10% of college students would permit student groups to call for genocide against Jews, and 13% of college students say that when Jews are attacked, it is because they deserve it. When these same questions are asked about Muslims, we find the same percentages: 10% and 13%.

Campus fears are occurring in a national climate of increasing antisemitism: violent antisemitism has increased 13% nationally since Spring 2023, when CPOST conducted its previous probe of antisemitism.

The findings are concerning. College students of various backgrounds feel personally unsafe on college campuses, and there is a disturbing trend toward greater acceptance of violence, even calls for genocide, than befits the mission of the university to enable all students to flourish.

This study provides extensive information to help university and national leaders better understand and navigate the most intense challenges facing the higher education community and the country today.

In particular, the findings are an opportunity to re-center the national discussion around students and away from politics. The findings show strong support for calming actions, such as major public statements by university and national leaders that would condemn violence of any kind against any group of people. Every leader in a position of power, including protest organizers, should thus find ways to send the message, repeatedly and convincingly, that violence is never justified. They should also clarify policies on permissible political action on campus by students toward students and mechanisms and obligations to report and respond to incidents and inform campus communities about the different perceptions of intent associated with protest phrases that are encouraging campus fears. These steps will not solve everything, but reducing fears for some can have cascading calming effects for many.

Chicago: University of Chicago Project on Security and Threats (CPOST) 2024. 446p.

By Polona Car, Beatrix Immenkamp

Differences between the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) over the regulation of online platforms have taken on a new dimension under the Trump administration. Senior members of the US administration have strongly criticised the EU for 'limiting free speech' and have called the EU's content moderation law 'incompatible with America's free speech tradition'. Much of the debate is informed by misconceptions and misunderstandings. The differences between the US and EU hate speech regimes are striking, largely for historical reasons. The First Amendment to the US Constitution provides almost absolute protection to freedom of expression. By contrast, European and EU law curtails the right to freedom of expression. Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which applies to all EU Member States, states that freedom of expressions 'carries with it duties and responsibilities'. In a democratic society, restrictions may be imposed in the interest, among others, 'of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others'. EU legislation criminalises hate speech that publicly incites to violence or hatred and targets a set of protected characteristics: race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin. Even though legislation in EU Member States varies widely, many have extended protection from hate speech to additional characteristics. In light of the exponential growth of the internet and the use of social media, the debate about hate speech has essentially become about regulating social media companies. The focus has been on the question of whether and to what extent service providers are responsible for removing hate speech published on social media platforms. The US has opted not to impose any obligation on social media companies to remove content created by third parties, merely granting them the right to restrict access to certain material deemed to be 'obscene' or 'otherwise objectionable'. By contrast, the EU has adopted regulation that obliges companies to remove offensive content created by third parties, including hate speech, once it is brought to their attention. Social media companies also self-regulate, by adopting community guidelines that allow users to flag hate speech and ask for its removal.

Brussels: EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service, 2025. 10p.

Edited by Scherto Gill

Collective efforts to address the legacies of slavery and colonialism tend to orient solely towards dealing with material compensation, such as reducing economic disparity, and levelling access to public services. However, communities directly impacted by the dehumanizing legacies have insisted on a broader reckoning—one that recognizes all dimensions of the harms, including the spiritual injury and the relevant psychosocial trauma inflicted across the generations. They remind us that harms of structural injustice extend beyond the material, the physical and the psychological, also entangling the moral, relational, and spiritual fabric of human life. Understanding harms of inhumanity brings to light the layers of damage and is key to identifying interdisciplinary approaches to collective healing, social transformation and the well-being of all.

This book emerges from the ongoing intellectual dialogue as part of the UNESCO Collective Healing Initiative. The Initiative focuses on healing the wounds of inhumanity, co-creating just societies and enhancing the flourishing of current and future generations.

Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2025, 530p.

Larry Diamond, Edward B. Foley, and Richard H. Pildes, editors

In the midst of the political ugliness that has become part of our everyday reality, are there steps that can be taken to counter polarization and extremism—practical steps that are acceptable across the political spectrum? To answer that question, starting from the premise that the way our political processes are designed inevitably creates incentives for certain styles of politics and candidates, the Task Force on American Electoral Reform spent two years exploring alternative ideas for reforming key aspects of the US electoral process. The results of their work are presented in this essential book.

Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2025. 347p.

By Joshua Burraway

What does it mean to exist outside the normative temporality of life, of housed living, and, ultimately, of selfhood? Becoming Somebody Else takes up this question, offering a window into the fragmented and chaotic lives of people experiencing homelessness in urban London as they drink and drug themselves into blackout in post-austerity Britain. A state of being where time, body, agency, and self collapse into a memoryless abyss, the blackout is a prism into how human beings make and unmake their selfhood in the wake of social suffering and personal trauma. Attending to the words and histories of several individuals, Joshua Burraway knits together structural, psychological, and phenomenological approaches to understand the ways in which memory, agency, and selfhood are sites of struggle and belonging, and in doing so, suggests new ways of thinking about addiction, homelessness, and therapeutic possibility.

Chicago: HAU Books, 2025. 329p.

By Philip Hans Franses

The econometric analysis of economic and business time series is a major field of research and application. The last few decades have witnessed an increasing interest in both theoretical and empirical developments in constructing time series models and in their important application in forecasting. In Time Series Models for Business and Economic Forecasting, Philip Franses examines recent developments in time series analysis. The early parts of the book focus on the typical features of time series data in business and economics. Part III is concerned with the discussion of some important concepts in time series analysis, the discussion focuses on the techniques which can be readily applied in practice. Parts IV-VIII suggest different modeling methods and model structures. Part IX extends the concepts in chapter three to multivariate time series. Part X examines common aspects across time series.

Cambridge University Press, Oct 15, 1998, 280 pages

By Michael Banton

On the fourteenth of August 1862, Abraham Lincoln summoned to the White House a group of black Americans to explain to them his despair about the future of black people in the United States and his interest in schemes for sending them back to Africa. He began: ’You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence.”

Avalon Publishing, 1978, 194 pages

By Christian Gourieroux, Alain Monfort

In this book Christian Gourieroux and Alain Monfort provide an up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of modern time series econometrics. They have succeeded in synthesising in an organised and integrated way a broad and diverse literature. While the book does not assume a deep knowledge of economics, one of its most attractive features is the close attention it pays to economic models and phenomena throughout. The coverage represents a major reference tool for graduate students, researchers and applied economists. The book is divided into four sections. Section one gives a detailed treatment of classical seasonal adjustment or smoothing methods. Section two provides a thorough coverage of various mathematical tools. Section three is the heart of the book, and is devoted to a range of important topics including causality, exogeneity shocks, multipliers, cointegration and fractionally integrated models. The final section describes the main contribution of filtering and smoothing theory to time series econometric problems.

Cambridge University Press, 1997, 668 pages

By Guy Rundle

Known for his wild wit and irreverent commentary, Guy Rundle is one of Australia's most virtuosic minds. Practice distils his best writing on politics, culture, class and more. In it, Rundle roves the campaign trails of Obama, Palin and Trump; rides the Amtrak around a desolate America; bails up Bob Katter and Pauline Hanson; and excavates the deeper meanings of True Detective and Joy Division. Insightful and hilarious, Practice reveals Rundle as among Australia's sharpest and most entertaining minds, with a genuinely awe-inducing range and an utterly inimitable voice. There is only one Guy Rundle.

Black Incorporated, 2019, 369 pages

By Arnold A. Rogow and Harold D. Lasswell

When Lord Acton observed without qualification that “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely/’ he found words for one of the deepest convictions of modem liberals and democrats. Based on broad and unstated sentiments, the Acton aphorism instantly took on something of the quality of a law or of a fundamental axiom of mathematics. Everywhere there was a feeling that in the mechanics of achieving power men and institutions acquired some malignancy and the greater the power the greater the degree of malignancy. “Power . . . corrupts . . seemed to be the trickle of truth brilliantly squeezed out of a mountain of agreement, sentiment, and experience. Tire aphorism was immediately incorporated into the doctrinal exercises of the professional philosophers of democratic and liberal outlook. But it went much further. It appealed to the common sense of the citizen at large and became a mandatory article of faith in the public declarations of men of democratic action.

prentice-hall, INC. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1963, 141p.

By Blerta Aliu and Dren Gërguri

The rapid digital transformation and the rise of disinformation pose significant challenges to democratic societies, making Media and Information Literacy (MIL) a critical tool in combating misinformation, fostering critical thinking, and promoting responsible media engagement. Kosovo ranks among the lowest in Europe in media literacy, leaving its population highly susceptible to disinformation, biased reporting, and digital manipulation. Despite this urgent need, Kosovo lacks a comprehensive MIL strategy, a structured curriculum, and adequate teacher training, making it essential to develop systematic policies that integrate media education across institutions. This document consolidates six policy briefs that assess key MIL challenges and propose strategic solutions. The findings emphasize the need for a comprehensive and coordinated approach, including integrating MIL into the formal education system as a core subject, equipping teachers with necessary training, and expanding public awareness initiatives. AI literacy is also highlighted as a growing necessity, as artificial intelligence plays an increasing role in shaping information ecosystems. The policy briefs further address the importance of ethical and inclusive media representation of marginalized groups, particularly in combating stereotypes and biased reporting. Additionally, strengthening students' digital competencies is vital to navigating online risks such as misinformation, cyberbullying, and manipulation. AI-based fact-checking tools are also identified as crucial for verifying information efficiently, while addressing gender stereotypes in popular media is essential to fostering more inclusive and equitable societal narratives. The OSCE Mission in Kosovo plays a central role in advocating for MIL reforms by fostering collaboration among policymakers, educators, media professionals, and civil society actors. Through its support for responsible journalism, digital literacy programs, and fact-based public discourse, the Mission contributes to the development of a more informed and resilient society. Investing in MIL is not just about strengthening Kosovo’s ability to counter misinformation - it is a fundamental step toward safeguarding democratic principles, ensuring media freedom, and fostering a culture of informed and active citizen engagement in an increasingly digital world.

Prague: The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), 2025. 34p.

By Linda Schlegel, Lars Wiegold, Constantin Winkler, Julian Jung

The last 4 years have seen a stark increase in research on extremist activities in digital gaming spaces, particularly on gaming- and gaming-adjacent platforms. However, one area that has not received much attention so far are mod forums. While a large number of mods with hateful content have been created over the last two decades, the forums used to disseminate and discuss such mods have not yet been examined by extremism researchers. Considering the popularity of modding and mod forums among gaming communities, this is a crucial gap in our current understanding of extremist activities in digital gaming spaces. In an effort to address this research gap, this article offers an exploratory analysis of hateful and extremist posts on the popular mod forum Mod DB, including right-wing extremist, jihadist, antisemitic and mixed-ideology content. We seek to provide a preliminary glimpse into this under-researched digital space, complementing existing research on extremist activities on other gaming (−adjacent) platforms. Our research thereby broadens the current state of knowledge regarding the various gaming-related platforms frequented by extremist actors and radicalized individuals and contributes new insights about a thus far under-explored digital space.

Front. Psychol., 11 February 2025, 15p.

By Rachel Kowert, Elizabeth Kilmer and Alex Newhouse

More than half of all game players report experiencing some form of hate, harassment or abuse within gaming spaces. While prevalence assessments of these actions in digital gaming spaces are ongoing, little remains known about the more extreme forms of these behaviors. Specifically, experiences of extremism. This paper addresses the gap in research knowledge around the expression of extremist sentiment in games by evaluating their prevalence, location, and nature, and impact. Assessing experiences via an online survey, game players (n  =  423) reported an alarmingly high rate of frequency for being the direct target of, as well as a witness to, all forms of extremist content. Most of these experiences were text-based, reported to be happening in-game. Most players endorsed statements relating to a normalization of extreme ideologies within gaming cultures. It is promising that reporting these behaviors was the primary action taken by players for most of the players; however, “ignoring” these actions was also a common strategy. It is possible that player inaction reflects the embeddedness and normalization of these actions in gaming spaces and/or a lack of trust in moderation systems to be responsive. The prevalence of extreme sentiment in gaming cultures should raise concern from game makers, members of the gaming community, parents, and policy makers alike.

Front. Psychol., 15 August 2024

By Ghayda Hassan 1 Sébastien Brouillette-Alarie 1 Sarah Ousman 1 Deniz Kilinc 1 Éléa Laetitia Savard 1 Wynnpaul Varela 1 Lysiane Lavoie 1 Arber Fetiu 1

  Over the past two decades, planned and executed attacks attributed to extremist movements or “lone actors” have intensified and spread throughout many parts of the world, amplifying the fears of local populations and prompting a number of governments to invest significant sums of money into preventing violent radicalization and extremism  Despite these investments, current knowledge regarding best practices for prevention remains disparate, and the effectiveness of current practices has not yet been clearly established. This means that trillions of dollars are currently being spent funding programs whose effectiveness and potential side effects are unknown. Considering the above, the Canadian Practitioners Network for Prevention of Radicalization and Extremist Violence (CPNPREV; https://cpnprev.ca/) has conducted a systematic review on the effectiveness of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention programs in the field of preventing violent extremism (PVE). The goals of this review were threefold: 1) to determine if primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention programs are able to counter violent radicalization; 2) to identify specific program modalities associated with a higher chance of success or failure for the targeted populations; and 3) to assess the quality of the literature in order to identify less reliable evidence, knowledge gaps, and studies which should be given more weight in the interpretation of results The review integrated evidence on the following: a) religiously-inspired (e.g., Islamist), right-wing, extreme-left, and “singleissue” (e.g., misogyny) violent radicalization; b) outcomes classified by prevention levels; and c) benefits/harms, costs, transferability, and community-related implementation issues when mentioned by the authors. We used systematic review methods developed by the Campbell and Cochrane collaborations. The logic model driving the review is grounded in an ecosystemic public health model, dividing programs into primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention levels. Because the outcomes of primary/secondary PVE programs and those of tertiary prevention programs were very disparate, we decided to treat results of primary/secondary prevention programs separately from those of tertiary prevention programs. However, we used a common method for both reviews. Of the 11,836 studies generated from the searches undertaken (up to June 2019), only 56 were found to be eligible for this review (i.e., they included an empirical—quantitative or qualitative—evaluation of a primary or secondary prevention initiative using primary data). Among these, 23 were found to be of insufficient methodological quality (score of 3/10 or less on the Quality of Study Assessment tool) and were therefore excluded The final set of studies comprised 33 evaluations of primary or secondary prevention programs. They reached a total sample of 6,520 individuals from 15 countries, with sample sizes ranging from 5 to 1,446 participants (M = 210.32, SD = 396.0). Most of the identified studies (k = 24) evaluated programs targeting violent Islamist radicalization. Nine studies assessed the outcomes of “general” prevention programs, that is, programs that do not target a specific type of violent radicalization but rather aim to improve openness towards others, respect, civic education, etc., within both “vulnerable” individuals and the general population. Only one study assessed programs targeting violent far-right radicalization, and none targeted far-left or single-issue violent radicalization. Among the 33 program evaluation studies, 18 reported mostly positive outcomes, seven reported mixed outcomes (both positive and negative), and eight reported mostly negative outcomes. Of note, all negative assessments were related to initiatives under Prevent, the UK’s national PVE strategy. On average, primary and secondary prevention programs seemed more effective than targeted primary prevention programs. However, this result is inevitably linked to the multiple negative assessments of Prevent, a strategy encompassing multiple targeted primary prevention programs.  

Montreal::Canadian Practitioners Network for the Prevention of Radicalization and Extremist Violence., 

2021. 152p.

By Pauline Moore, Melissa Kay Diliberti, Isaiah Simmons, Heather L. Schwartz, Brian A. Jackson

Ensuring the safety of students, faculty, and staff is a multifaceted challenge that requires institutions of higher education (IHEs) to navigate myriad threats, hazards, and risks. Concerns about safety and security at IHE campuses encompass everything from various forms of violence to the safety of pedestrian traffic, to the security of personal and institutional property. The strategies that IHEs rely on to help prevent crime and violence, protect their communities and buildings, and respond to violence are far from uniform. However, there is relatively little comprehensive information about the ways IHEs are addressing the variety of threats and risks they face and little guidance about how they can best work within their communities and in collaboration with outside partners.

In this report, the authors seek to shed light on trends in crime and violence at IHE campuses across the United States and what institutions are doing to ensure the safety and security of their communities. The authors develop a set of actionable recommendations for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—on its own or in partnership with other federal government agencies—to provide additional support to IHEs in the broad area of safety and security. The authors highlight current practices in the areas of violence prevention, physical security, response, and emergency preparedness and discuss the various stakeholders IHEs work with, both within and outside their immediate communities, to address safety needs.

Key Findings

The increasing prevalence of mental health issues among students and heightened sensitivities to gun violence among postsecondary students who have experienced school shootings, as well as the complexities involved in managing campus protests, are especially pressing emerging concerns across IHEs in the United States.

The IHEs represented in the sample largely rely on a collaborative approach to keeping their campus communities safe. Effective campus safety and security efforts involve collaboration among multiple institutional stakeholders, community-level partners, and federal agencies.

Physical security measures, including the use of security personnel, are key to keeping campuses safe. IHEs also rely heavily on security personnel to promote safety and protect their campuses. Community policing seems to be especially important when it comes to fostering positive relationships between campus law enforcement and the broader campus community, although perceptions of campus police vary across student populations.

Although IHEs are making considerable efforts to keep their communities safe, resource constraints, including limited funding and staff time, pose important challenges to maintaining and improving safety and security strategies.

IHE campuses across the United States are often a microcosm of broader societal issues, which can complicate the work of campus safety personnel.

Future research related to safety and security at IHEs is needed. In particular, more up-to-date data are needed in several areas, including about postsecondary students’ perceptions of threats, trends in reporting safety-related concerns, and the shifting nature of the challenges that IHEs are facing.

Recommendations

Create a centralized clearinghouse of safety and security federal grant opportunities specifically for IHEs. Identified grants could promote opportunities for IHEs to make improvements to safety and security infrastructure, including physical security measures, and mental health services for college-age populations.

Further facilitate information-sharing and collaboration among IHEs, local law enforcement, and state and federal agencies. This could include publishing resources that highlight best practices in dealing with various types of threats and opportunities to conduct joint training exercises or host a library of tabletop exercises accessible to IHE administrators, campus safety and security personnel (including campus law enforcement agencies), and local law enforcement partners.

Further encourage mutual aid agreements on safety and security. DHS can be an important leader in fostering and supporting the development of mutual aid agreements among IHEs and between IHEs and local emergency responders to ensure coordinated responses during large events and emergencies.

Provide guidance to help IHEs develop user-friendly and accessible reporting systems for their campus communities and improve reporting outreach.

Provide additional resources and guidance to help IHEs address the threat of targeted violence on college campuses. Addressing targeted violence, including gun violence, on IHE campuses requires measures that support prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery.

Given the heightened sensitivities to gun violence with which many postsecondary students are coming to college, DHS could consider expanding guidance to IHEs on how to adequately consider and respond to the potential psychological impacts of measures designed to improve response to targeted violence.

Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2025. 143p.

By Robert VerBruggen

Antidiscrimination law has become a flashpoint in American political debates once again. With the Supreme Court’s decision striking down affirmative action and a legal campaign against race-conscious “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programs—a campaign that now enjoys the support of the executive branch—there has been increased attention to how these laws protect not only black, Hispanic, and Native Americans, but also white and Asian Americans. Some on the right have also resuscitated age-old libertarian arguments that antidiscrimination law necessarily violates freedom of association and should be pared back in general. Meanwhile, given ongoing racial gaps in many important outcomes, DEI advocates on the political left have fought to protect and expand race-conscious programs and policies. This report explains the history and current state of play of antidiscrimination law, with a focus on racial discrimination in employment, contracting, housing, and admissions to selective schools and colleges—areas in which interpersonal discrimination can limit access to important opportunities. It also assesses the role of discrimination in racial disparities over time and offers suggestions for reform.

New York: Manhattan Institute, 2025. 26p.

By Qiwei He Scott Barkowski

Little evidence exists on the effect of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on criminal behavior, a gap in the literature that this paper seeks to address. Using a simple model, we argue we should anticipate a decrease in time devoted to criminal activities in response to the expansion, since the availability of the ACA Medicaid coverage raises the opportunity cost of crime. This prediction is particularly relevant for the ACA expansion since it primarily affects childless adults, a population likely to contain individuals who engage in criminal behavior. We validate this forecast empirically using a difference-in-differences framework, estimating the expansion’s effects on panel datasets of state- and county-level crime rates. Our estimates suggest that the ACA Medicaid expansion was negatively associated with burglary, vehicle theft, homicide, robbery, and assault. These crime-reduction spillover effects represent an important offset to the government’s cost burden for the ACA Medicaid expansion.

Health Economics. 2020; 1– 17.

By Konstantin Sonin, David Van Dijcke, and Austin L. Wright 

The massive violent protest at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, was a rare event for a mature democracy. We investigate its drivers using location data from 40 million mobile devices. Leveraging a novel approach for estimating spatially-dispersed protest participation, we show that political isolation amplified the effect of partisanship on participation. Increased mobilization occurred in states with close Trump losses and politically isolated counties with proBiden election-night shifts. These results align with a model in which protesters from isolated communities are more sensitive to information from their preferred sources. Our findings shed light on deep motivations and immediate triggers of violent collective action.  

  WORKING PAPER · NO. 2021-13, 2023. 75p.

By Robert Kupiecki, Filip Bryjka and Tomasz Chłoń

Dive into the world of disinformation with this groundbreaking book. Uncover how Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) shapes modern politics and society, and how it impacts your own life. Explore answers to key questions: What are the origins and characteristics of disinformation? How can we identify it? How do we counteract it? Packed with historical and current data, this book reveals the tactics states use to manipulate information. Understand strategies, from micro-targeting to crafting strategic disinformation campaigns. This essential read empowers you to navigate today's complex media landscape and build your own resilience against disinformation.

Leiden; Boston: Brill: 2024. 286p.