In 1962, Anthony Downs wrote that there is a Fundamental Law of Highway Congestion: no matter how much road is built, the highway will end up congested again. In decades since then, the United States has undergone a massive experiment in expanding most major roads, leading to an additional conclusion: there is a Fundamental Law of Traffic Congestion impacting both highways and major roads.

Following last minute meetings with key negotiating countries, COP29 wrapped up 35 hours overtime, with an agreed climate finance target of US$300 billion annually by 2035.

Over a two-day period this fall, more than 70 thought leaders and practitioners from around the world gathered to discuss actionable research approaches to study the human-nature relationship.

When it comes to time in school, both quantity and quality matter. Looking across 74 studies with causal research designs, we see a compelling body of evidence that increasing total school time leads to gains in academic achievement, on average.

Sociologist Margot Jackson and Psychologist Taryn Morrissey examine the effects of state-level public spending on programs targeting children.

This year's economics Nobel prize winners have much to say about November 5.

Professors Jessaca Leinaweaver and Susan Short visited the United Nations on October 29th—the UN's International Day of Care and Support—where Dr. Short participated in a panel launching the Global Report on Children’s Care and Protection, led by SOS Children’s Villages.

Scholars study who benefits most when school funding increases. Photo credit: Laura Baker/Education Week with DigitalVision Vectors

New study highlights the persistent challenge of taking promising interventions to scale.

The housing market has been upended since the pandemic, but for different reasons.

On Tuesday, September 24, the PSTC community gathered to commemorate the beginning of a new academic year, catch-up with their colleagues and classmates, and welcome new affiliates, postdoctoral researchers, and trainees.

Newly released MCAS test results show Massachusetts schools and students have not reversed pandemic learning loss.

Omar Galárraga has been selected for a new online Atlas that recognizes contributions of Hispanic and Latinx scientists and serves as a space to build community and create mentorship opportunities.

“Rhode Island was the first state in the US to legalize OPCs, so we have taken a different pathway than NY by going through the legislative process,” Alexandra Collins, PhD, a medical social scientist in the Department of Epidemiology at Brown University in Providence, told Filter.

New research finds labor stoppages raised wages without harming student learning.

This week tax policy has gotten a star turn on the campaign trail.

Almost 200 faculty and graduate students from 19 countries gathered together on Brown’s campus to exchange knowledge and attend presentations on various topics in social demography, social stratification and public policy.

America’s infatuation with incarceration isn’t just an artifact of its racist past. It is frequently nourished by the support of both Democrats and Republicans, and it is often welcomed by rural communities of color needing help.

The costs and rising expectations of parenthood are making young people think hard about having any children at all.

A year after the fire some try to rebuild life in the city known as the ‘ninth Hawaiian island’ – as temperatures top 117°F. Photo: Marshall Scheuttle/The Guardian

The U.S. and other democracies in the hemisphere are facing a high-stakes test on how they’ll respond to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s claim of reelection victory amid widespread accusations of fraud.

PSTC sociologist Jennifer Candipan recently received funding from the Russell Sage Foundation to pursue innovative research that will explore the relationship between changing neighborhood racial populations and shifts in school discipline.

Matthew Kraft, whose research focuses on the economics of education, will spend a year at the White House to offer economic analysis and inform policy development at the highest level of government.

The first major storm of the 2024 season, Hurricane Beryl, made history by breaking multiple records and causing widespread devastation along its path. In this episode of No Jargon, Elizabeth Fussell shares insights on how extreme weather events impact communities and what we can learn from this storm, and others like it, to improve our responses as climate change makes these disasters more common and powerful.

Texas and Nebraska mandate that kids get the most instructional time of any state. Hawaii and Nevada require the least.

Immigrants comprise nearly 20% of the American workforce. Their share of the workforce has grown steadily over the last 15 years and more rapidly since 2020 as immigrants have returned to work more quickly post COVID-19 than their U.S.-born colleagues.

Many rural communities hosting prisons are connected to them economically. Indiscriminate closures could come with grave consequences to people and businesses relying on their presence, researchers say.

This new initiative seeks to organize engagement in the reproductive justice field within Brown and surrounding communities.

This school year, Montana, a state with fewer than 8,000 teachers, had 1,000 unfilled teaching positions. Meanwhile, Dutton-Brady Public Schools, a rural district about an hour from the Canadian border, easily filled its three vacancies. Photo credit: Rebecca Stumpf/High Country News

“Marketplace Morning Report” spent some time looking at the economic reality behind the war between Israel and Hamas. First, they looked at the economies of Gaza and the West Bank before and during the current conflict. Now they turn to how the conflict has shaped the Israeli economy.

While some of these illnesses have a likely source, there are a few that have researchers stumped.

On Friday, May 24th, members of the PSTC community gathered to celebrate the graduation of 13 PSTC current and former trainees who received PhDs from the Brown University Graduate School this month.

As new synthetic opioids enter the drug supply, fentanyl strips can only help so much.

Teacher strikes can be stressful for educators, parents, and students—but they can help spur bigger investments in schools beyond the districts where they take place, newly published research shows.

In a Michigan jail, educational programming led to a reduction in incarceration-based harms.

New research is showing a clearer cause and effect for many veterans.

Author Emily Oster, known for her influential book "Expecting Better," introduces her fourth book, "The Unexpected: Navigating Pregnancy During and After Complications."

I.G.N.I.T.E., a program at Genessee County Jail, is lowering the number of people re-entering the system. Peter Hull, professor of economics at Brown University and the author of a study on the jail’s program, joined the show to discuss I.G.N.I.T.E.’s mission.

Study shows perceptions of 'good' schools are heavily dependent on the preparation of the students entering them.

Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd speaks with Anthropologist Kate Mason about the Pandemic Journaling Project and how important it is to have a record of this time.

The PSTC is now accepting applications from graduate students for summer 2024 research awards. Summer research support nurtures research projects consistent with the PSTC’s mission to promote innovative and high-quality population science.

In 2023, over 108 million people have been forced to flee worldwide, and 41% of these are children under the age of 18. This creates disparities in human development between migrant children and adolescents and those of the host country, which can, however, be mitigated by access to services and regularization programs.

Appearances of Brown University Faculty, Researchers, and Students at the PAA 2024 Annual Meeting | April 17-20, 2024 | Columbus, OH

The PSTC welcomes proposals to advance Brown’s research and distinctive reputation in anthropological demography.

New methods of measuring racism and sexism find a larger, systemic impact.

Deep in the basement of Harvard’s Indian College, John Eliot worked for 14 years to translate and print the Bible. Completed in 1663, Eliot’s Bible was written in Wôpanâak, the language of local Native American tribes.

In its latest look at teacher staffing in the Providence Public School District, the Annenberg Institute at Brown University says it finds cause “for optimism” in how teachers are being retained in the state’s largest school district and an equal cause “for concern.”

With numbers for January showing that inflation stands at 3.1 percent down from 9.1 percent inflation peak in mid-2022, the “soft landing” scenario — reducing the post-COVID era inflation without tipping into a recession—has become the most likely one.

No perfect parenting method exists. But a number of decades ago, educators thought differently – so much so that they acquired babies from local orphanages for home economics students to "parent."

Researchers studying the COVID-19 pandemic will maintain wide access to this paradigm-shifting historical record at its new placement at Syracuse University