Nations

Jennifer M. Nations

San Diego SSN Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California San Diego
Chapter Member: San Diego SSN, California SSN
Areas of Expertise:

Connect with Jennifer

(661) 709-9422

About Jennifer

Nations focuses her research on redistribution via education. She is interested in how voters and elected officials are influenced by racial inequalities and the nature of organizations as they make decisions about education funding. Nations currently serves as the Postdoctoral Fellow on the Democracy Project at UC San Diego, a research group studying voter support for municipal tax reform.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

Why U.S. States Must Increase Efforts to Help Low-Income College Students – and How They Can Do It

Basic Facts Brief,

In the News

"My Turn: Here's Where Gas Tax Repeal Would Hurt the Most," Jennifer M. Nations, CALMatters, September 20, 2018.

Publications

"Resisting the Market University: Political Challenges to the Locus of Authority in Public University Tuition Policy" Social Science History 42, no. 3 (2018): 575-600.

Discusses how public university boards determine tuition levels for college students in every state but New York and Florida. Argues that structural features of states and universities created beliefs about the types of policies that were appropriate in a given state, ultimately constraining politicians' decisions and leading them to reject the devolution of tuition authority to university boards.

"Taxation and Citizen Voice in School District Parcel Tax Elections" (with Isaac W. Martin). Sociological Science (2018).

Shows that voters are more likely to approve local school taxes if the policy is written to require citizen-state consultation on how the funds are spent. Provides evidence that citizens may trade increased taxation for increased voice even within an established democracy.