SAN FRANCISCO, California, August 18, 1998 – Studies examining the role of race and ethnicity in college admissions and the extent and causes of urban sprawl are among the eight projects awarded funding through the Public Policy Institute of California’s Extramural Research Program (ERP) this year.
PPIC President and CEO David Lyon today announced the 1998 ERP contracts, noting that “the researchers involved in this important work are among the nation’s finest scholars and through the ERP program, we’ve put them to work for California.”
“Many of the major issues facing California remain understudied and misunderstood,” said Lyon. “Combined with the work of PPIC’s own staff, these external research projects are taking on a number of crucial and complex topics, from investigating the connection between homelessness and income inequality in the state to encouraging greater regional planning and cooperation in the Central Valley by mapping land use patterns. We hope that as these projects are completed, they will heighten our knowledge and improve the quality of policymaking at the local and state levels.”
PPIC established its Extramural Research Program in 1996 to fund rigorous and innovative external research on California issues. There are currently sixteen projects in progress. An ERP study by Steven Sheffrin (University of California, Davis) and Terri Sexton (California State University, Sacramento) will be published in September 1998. The study, Proposition 13 in Recession and Recovery, analyzes disparity between the market value and assessed value of property in the post-Proposition 13 era and the far-reaching effects this disparity has had on property tax administration in California.
The Public Policy Institute of California is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to nonpartisan research on economic, social, and political issues that affect the lives of Californians. PPIC was established in 1994 with an endowment from William R. Hewlett. The Institute plans to fund up to $1 million in external research each fiscal year (see www.ppic.org for deadlines and issue areas).
1998 Contracts were awarded for the following studies:
Education
“The Role of Race and Ethnicity in College Admission Since 1972”
Dominic Brewer, RAND
Eric Eide, Department of Economics, Brigham Young University
Dan Goldhaber, Human Capital, Inc.
Health Care
“Inpatient Complication Rates in California: Does Payer Source Matter?”
Rebecca M. Stein, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania
Philip A. Haile, Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Immigration
“The Intergenerational Progress of Mexican Americans”
Jeff Grogger, School of Public Policy and Social Research, University of California, Los Angeles
Stephen Trejo, Department of Economics, University of California, Santa Barbara
Income Distribution
“Homelessness, Housing Markets, and Income Distribution in California”
John M. Quigley, Department of Economics and The Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley
Eugene Smolensky, The Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley
Poverty and Welfare
“The Dynamics of Work and General Relief in Los Angeles County”
Robert Reville and Robert Schoeni, RAND
“Employer Demand for Welfare Recipients: Los Angeles and Other Metro Areas”
Harry J. Holzer, Department of Economics, Michigan State University
Regional Planning
“The Extent and Causes of Urban Sprawl in California”
John D. Landis, Institute of Urban and Regional Development, University of California, Berkeley
“Mapping Planned Land Use in the Central Valley”
Mike Schmandt, California State University, Stanislaus