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Robert M. La Follette
School of Public Affairs
1225 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706

Telephone: 608.262.3581
Fax: 608.265.3233

Last updated:
August 18, 2011

Seminar Series

The La Follette School Seminar Series engages participants in discussion of a range of public policy issues and showcases the research of faculty from La Follette and other departments, as well as invited guests from outside the University of Wisconsin-Madison community. Faculty, students and visitors take part in lively dialogue about topics that include poverty and welfare, health, education, international affairs, trade and finance, and the environment.

Seminars for fall 2010 and later are listed on the school's calendar.

Spring 2010 seminars

Tuesday, April 6
Mark Hayward, University of Texas. 12:20-1:45 p.m. 4308 Sewell Social Sciences Building. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu.

Tuesday, April 20
Food Subsidies for Child-Care Providers: Correlates of Program Participation and Child Outcomes
Rachel Gordon, University of Illinois. 12:20-1:45 p.m. 4308 Sewell Social Sciences Building. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu.

Wednesday, April 21
Early Retirement: The End of an Era?
Joe Quinn, economics at Boston College. 6101 Sewell Social Sciences. 2:30-4 p.m. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu.

Tuesday, May 4
Single Mothers, Union History, and Health at Midlife: Consequences for Two Generations
Kristi Williams, Ohio State University. 12:20-1:45 p.m. 4308 Sewell Social Sciences. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu.

Past spring 2010 seminars

Tuesday, March 23
Investing in Girls’ Education: Building Our Future
1983 La Follette School alum Kurt Thurmaier, president of Tanzania Development Support. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu.

Tuesday, March 2
Early School Skills and Behaviors: Precursors to Young Adult Crime?
La Follette School faculty affiliate Katherine Magnuson, School of Social Work. 12:20-1:45 p.m. 4308 Sewell Social Sciences Building. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu.

Tuesday, February 9
What Works in Work-First Welfare: Designing and Managing Employment Programs in New York City
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development executive assistant Andy Feldman. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu.

Tuesday, February 2
Child Wellbeing in Resident Father Families: The Role of Mother-Father and Parent-Child Relationships by Marital and Biological Status
La Follette School faculty affiliate Lonnie Berger. 12:20-1:45 p.m. 4308 Sewell Social Sciences Building. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu

Past fall-summer 2009 seminars

Tuesday, December 8
Ramona Natera, an attorney with United Migrant Opportunity Services. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: plagman@wisc.edu. News story: UMOS opens Madison office for immigration legal services

Tuesday, December 1
Single Mothers, Minimum Wages and Welfare Participation
Peter Brandon, Broom Professor of Social Demography, Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton College. 12:15-1:30 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Monday, November 16
Rethinking Local School Governance: Tensions and Strategies Brown University education professor Ken Wong. Noon-1 p.m. 8417 Sewell Social Sciences. Information: .

Tuesday, November 10
Increasing Voter Turnout: What Election Policies Work?
La Follette School faculty affiliate Barry Burden will discuss a paper co-authored with associate director Donald Moynihan and faculty affiliates David Canon and Ken Mayer. The paper examines how different election policies affect voter turnout. The 2008 presidential election saw unprecedented use of early voting as a means to foster greater participation in the electoral process. The authors present evidence from this election that shows that while allowing people to register when they vote improves turnout, early voting, by itself, actually reduces turnout. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, October 27
Reducing Child Support Debt and Its Consequences: Can Forgiveness Benefit All?
Director Carolyn Heinrich. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, October 13
Intended and Unintended Effects of Performance-Based Contracting in Social Welfare Services and Implications for Performance
Pierre Koning, Delft Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, will discuss his paper, co-written with La Follette School director Carolyn Heinrich, on the use of performance-based incentives in contracts with Dutch private social welfare providers serving unemployed and disabled workers. They empirically examine cream-skimming and other gaming activities and the impact of these activities on client job placement rates. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, September 29
Quality of Schooling and Inequality of Opportunity in Health
Health economist Andrew Jones, professor of economics and related studies at University of York. Jones' research focuses on the determinants of health, the economics of addiction and socioeconomic inequalities in health and health care. He is co-editor of health economics; research director of the Health, Econometrics and Data Group at the University of York; and a visiting professor at the University of Bergen. 12:15-1:45 p.m. 4308 Sewell Social Sciences. Sponsored by the Center for Demography and Ecology, the Center for Demography of Health and Aging, the La Follette School of Public Affairs, and the RWJ Health & Society Scholars Program. .

Thursday, September 10
The Heterogeneous Effects of Training Incidence and Duration on Labor Market Transitions
Marie Waller, Institute for Economic Research, Department of Applied Econometrics, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany, and Institute for Research on Poverty visiting scholar. 12:15-1:30 p.m. 8417 Sewell Social Science. Co-sponsored by Institute for Research on Poverty. Information: .

Thursday, September 3
Measuring the Effects of Education on Smoking Behavior: Evidence From Twin Data
Pierre Koning, Delft Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, speaks as part of the Institute for Research on Poverty's Visiting Scholar Seminar Series and La Follette School Seminar. Co-sponsored by the La Follette School of Public Affairs and the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy. 12:15-1:30 p.m. 8417 Sewell Social Sciences. Information: .

Tuesday, June 16
Commercializing University Research: Pressures and Dilemmas
Michael Mintrom, Political Studies, University of Auckland, speaks at La Follette School Seminar. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room.

Past spring 2009 seminars

Tuesday, April 28
Michael Collins, assistant professor of consumer science, School of Human Ecology. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, April 14
Coming Clean: Information Disclosure and Environmental Policy
Michael E. Kraft, professor of public and environmental affairs, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, March 31
Does Charitable Giving for International Development Differ from Giving for Donkey Welfare?
John Micklewright, professor of social statistics and policy analysis, University of Southampton, United Kingdom. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, March 10
Immigrant Entrepreneurs
Robert W. Fairlie, professor of economics, University of California at Santa Cruz. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, February 24
David L. Weimer, professor of public affairs and political science. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Thursday, February 19
Toward Adversarial Legalism in the European Union? Evidence from Data Privacy Regulation
Francesca Bignami, professor of law, George Washington University. 4 p.m. Law School Information: . Sponsored by the La Follette School and the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy.

Past Fall 2008 seminars

Tuesday, November 18
Andrew Leigh, associate professor, Economics Program, Research School of Social Sciences Australian National University. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information:

Tuesday, October 28
The Post-Election Agenda for Health Reform
Thomas R. Oliver, associate professor of Population Health Sciences, and associate director for health policy, University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information:

Tuesday, October 14
Connecting Economic Interests and Preferences on Health Care: The Role of Attitudes toward Authority
Katherine Cramer Walsh, associate professor of political science. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, September 23
Health Care and New Governance: The Search for Effective Regulation
Louise G. Trubek, clinical professor of law and senior fellow, Center for World Affairs & the Global Economy (WAGE). Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, September 30
Beyond College Access: Improving Degree Completion Among Low-Income and First-Generation Students
Faculty affiliate Sara Goldrick-Rab. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: . Working paper .

Spring 2008 seminars

Friday, May 2
Ratcheting Private Standards: New Modes and Mechanisms of Governance in the Forest Sector
Christine Overdevest, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Florida. Noon. 336 Ingraham. Information: . Co-sponsors: Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy, and the Department of Rural Sociology.

Wednesday, April 30
Did Improving Public Health Services in England Pay Political Dividends for the Labour Party under Tony Blair?
Gwyn Bevan, professor of management and health care, London School of Economics. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: . Co-sponsored by Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy.

Monday, April 28
Virtue Out of Necessity? Commitment vs. Compliance Approaches to Improving Working Conditions in Global Supply Chains
Richard Locke, Alvin J. Siteman professor of entrepreneurship and professor of political science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Noon. 206 Ingraham. Information: . Co-sponsored by the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Wednesday, April 16
Closing the Aboriginal–Non-Aboriginal Education Gap in Canada
John Richards, Public Policy Program at Simon Fraser University. Noon-1:30 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, April 8
Happiness After Widowhood: Is It Money or Marriage That Matters?
La Follette School professor Karen Holden. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, April 1
Upgrading Local Enterprises in Developing Economies: Building Standards and Networks
Paola Perez-Aleman, associate professor of strategy and organization at McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management. Noon. 206 Ingraham. Information: . Co-sponsored by the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Tuesday, March 25
Mothers, Men, and Child Protective Services Involvement
La Follette School affiliate Lawrence M. Berger, assistant professor at the School of Social Work and faculty affiliate at Institute for Research on Poverty. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, March 4
Further Examination of Volume-Quality Relationships in Health Care: Some Methodological Considerations
La Follette School affiliate John Mullahy, professor of population health sciences and economics. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, February 26
“Half-Hearted:” Anticorruption Reform in China
Baishun Yuan, visiting scholar at the La Follette School and the Center for East Asian Studies. He is vice dean at the School of Politics and Public Administration and executive associate director of the Anticorruption Research Institute, both at Hunan University. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Monday, February 18
Are China's and India's Growth Miracles Built to Last?
Eswar Prasad, Department of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. 7:30-9 p.m. ATT Lounge, Pyle Center. Information: . Sponsors: Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy and La Follette School of Public Affairs. Co-sponsors: Center for International Business Education and Research, Global Studies, Center for South Asia, Center for East Asian Studies, Wisconsin Department of Commerce, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

Tuesday, February 12
Do BITs Really Work? Revisiting the Empirical Link between Investment Treaties and Foreign Direct Investment
La Follette School affiliate Jason Webb Yackee, assistant professor of law and political science. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, February 5
Coordinating Policies on Climate Change and Air Quality
La Follette School affiliate Tracey Holloway, assistant professor of environmental studies, atmospheric and oceanic sciences, and civil and environmental engineering, Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

2007 seminars

Tuesday, November 25
Parental Job Loss and Children's Educational Attainment in Black and White Middle-Class Families
Ariel Kalil, associate professor of public policy and director of the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy, University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, December 11
Class, Race, and Partisan Change in the Postwar South
La Follette School affiliate Byron Shafer, political science. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Monday, December 10
David Hummels, professor of economics at the Krannert School of Management, at Purdue University and a faculty research fellow with the National Bureau of Economic Research. 11:30 a.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: . He gives a second presentation the same day, 3:45-5:15 p.m in 8417 Sewell Social Science: "Explaining Import Variety and Quality: The Role of the Income Distribution." Copy of paper

Tuesday, December 4
Crisis Management and Network Theory
Donald Moynihan, La Follette School of Public Affairs. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Wednesday, November 28
James Harrigan is research officer and senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; research associate with the International Trade and Investment Program, National Bureau of Economic Research; and adjunct professor in the Department of Economics at Columbia University. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Harrigan speaks again the same day on "Zeros, Quality and Space: Trade Theory and Trade," 4 p.m. 8417 Sewell Social Science. Information: . Presentation paper / Vita

Tuesday, November 6
Choose Your Weapon: Trade Policy, Exchange Rates and the Politics of Protection
Mark Copelovitch, La Follette School of Public Affairs. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, October 30
Can the World's Biggest Borrower Remain the World's Only Superpower?
Brad Setser, fellow at the Geoeconomics Center at the Council on Foreign Relations. A prominent person in the business and policy end of international finance, he is a blogger on the Roubini Global Economics Monitor. Noon. 8417 Sewell Social Science Building.

Monday, October 29
Recent Research on Cross-National Issues: Immigration and Old Age Poverty
Timothy Smeeding, a visiting scholar with the Russell Sage Foundation in New York City, speaks. Noon-1:30 p.m. La Follette School conference room. He presents “Explaining the 21st Century American Welfare State in the Gilded Age” at 4 p.m. in 104 Van Hise. Information: . Smeeding CV / Presentation slides

Tuesday, October 23
Climate Change & Health: Risks and Opportunities
Jonathan Patz, associate professor of environmental studies and population health sciences, Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information: .

Tuesday, October 9
The Gloves-Off Economy: Problems and Possibilities at the Bottom of the Labor Market
Laura Dresser, Center on Wisconsin Strategy. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information:

Tuesday, October 2
Public Policy, Investment, and Improvements in Wind Power in California
Greg Nemet, La Follette School of Public Affairs. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information:

Tuesday, September 25
Sustainability Risk Management: Reducing Risks and Building Business Opportunities Using Sustainable Strategies
Dan Anderson, Business School, speaks. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information:

Tuesday, September 4
A Burned Out Light Bulb? The Wisconsin Idea, Public Universities, and the Shaping of Public Policy
Noel Radomski, managing director of the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison, speaks at the La Follette School Seminar. Noon. La Follette School conference room. Information:

Wednesday, May 2

The Emerging Architecture of Experimentalist Governance in the European Union
La Follette School professor Jonathan Zeitlin. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038. La Follette School working paper

Thursday, April 26

What Makes a Good School Teacher? Evidence from Value-Added Analysis and Implications for Educational Policy

La Follette School alum and University of WisconsinMadison educational policy assistant professor Doug Harris discusses his research on teacher quality. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038.

Wednesday, April 25

La Follette School assistant professor Pamela Herd. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038.

Wednesday, April 11

Raj Shukla of The Climate Project will present the slideshow on global climate change popularized by former Vice President Al Gore's Oscar award-winning movie An Inconvenient Truth. Shukla is one of about 1,000 people Gore and a renowned team of scientists and environmental educators trained to give this slideshow presentation. He is also the husband of first-year La Follette student Tora Frank. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038. Presentation flier

Wednesday, March 28

Increasing Access to Higher Education: the Role of Tax Policy
La Follette School professor Andrew Reschovsky. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038.

Wednesday, March 14

Alasdair Roberts, associate professor at Syracuse Universitys Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Roberts addresses 9/11 and the Crisis of Authority in American Government, a preview of a book he is writing about the Bush administrations response to September 11, 2001. His research interests include public sector restructuring and transparency in government. Sponsored by the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE). Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038.

Monday, March 12

Tribal Members: A Surprisingly Diverse Group
Elizabeth Arbuckle Wabindato, an assistant professor at Northern Arizona University, addresses how tribal members view their tribal identity. 4 p.m. 6240 Sewell Social Science Building. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038. Wabindato CV / Paper: Tribal Members: A Surprisingly Diverse Group

Wednesday, March 7

Distorted Measures of Employment in Charitable Organizations: Causes, Impact and Remedies
Martin H. David, professor emeritus of economics, discusses improving estimates of the number of workers employed by nonprofit organizations in the United States. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038.

Monday, February 19

Greg Nemet, University of California at Berkeley. Nemet's research is in energy policy, technological change and climate change. His dissertation is on innovation in low-carbon energy technologies and policy options for addressing climate change. The intellectual basis of his research encompasses public policy, economics, management, energy systems and earth science; methods include energy and climate modeling, risk analysis, statistics and econometrics. 4-5 p.m. 140 Science Hall. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038.

Wednesday, February 14

The Role of State Governance in the Adoption of Pharmaceutical Technologies in Substance Abuse Treatment
La Follette School professor Carolyn Heinrich. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038. La Follette School working paper

Friday, February 9

Thomas Oliver, associate professor and director, MHS program in health policy, Johns Hopkins University. Noon-1 p.m. 1420 Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, 614 Walnut St. Information: pagrubb@wisc.edu.

Wednesday, February 7

Elizabeth Powers, associate professor of economics and faculty member, Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Noon-1 p.m. 1420 Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, 614 Walnut St. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038.

Friday, February 2

How Much Choice? Nonlinear Relationships Between the Number of Health Plan Options and the Behavior of Medicare Beneficiaries
Brian Elbel, Yale University School of Public Health. Noon-1 p.m. 132 Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, 614 Walnut St. Information: pagrubb@wisc.edu.

Thursday, February 1

Bilateral Investment Treaties and Foreign Direct Investment: Correlation versus Causation

Emma Aisbett, University of California at Berkeley. Noon-1:15 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: info@lafollette.wisc.edu.

Wednesday, January 31

Medical Expenditure Burdens: The Impact of Tax Subsidies, Within-Year Expenditure Concentration, and More

Tom Selden, senior economist, Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Noon-1 p.m. 1420 Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, 614 Walnut St. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038. Thomas Selden's curriculum vita

Friday, January 26

Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance for Early Retirees: Impacts on Retirement, Health and Health Care

Erin Strumpf, Harvard University. Noon-1 p.m. 1420 Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, 614 Walnut St. Information: pagrubb@wisc.edu.

Wednesday, January 24

Thomas DeLeire, associate professor, Department of Economics, Michigan State University (currently on leave in a position as senior analyst at the Health and Human Resources Division of the Congressional Budget Office, Washington, D.C.) Noon-1 p.m. 1420 Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, 614 Walnut St. Information: pagrubb@wisc.edu.

Friday, January 19

Do Newer Prescription Drugs Pay for Themselves? Evidence from Long-Term Treatment for Bipolar Disorder

Yuting Zhang, Harvard University. Noon-1 p.m. 1420 Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, 614 Walnut St. Information: pagrubb@wisc.edu.

2006 seminars

Wednesday, December 6

The 'China' Issue in U.S. Macroeconomic Policy

La Follette School professor Menzie Chinn. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038.

Wednesday, November 29

Visiting Institute for Research on Poverty scholar Scott Allard speaks at La Follette School Seminar Series. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038.

Wednesday, November 8

Election 2006 Recap and Analysis

La Follette School professor Dennis Dresang and political science professor Barry Burden speak at La Follette School Seminar Series. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038.

Wednesday, October 25

Alternative Approaches to Child Support Policy in the Context of Multiple-Partner Fertility

La Follette School professor Maria Cancian. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038.

Wednesday, October 11

Access to Higher Education: Exploring the Variation Among Universities in the Prevalence of Pell Grant Recipients

La Follette School professor Bob Haveman, La Follette School student Matthew Steinberg and Patrizio Piraino of the University of Siena, Italy. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038.

Wednesday, October 4

How Social Experience Gets under the Skin: Neurobiological Approaches to Understanding Children at Risk

Psychology professor Seth Pollak, director of the Child Emotion Research Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room. Information: shelton@lafollette.wisc.edu, 262-3038.

Wednesday, September 27

Medical Governance: Are We Ready to Prescribe?

David Weimer, professor, La Follette School of Public Affairs, discusses his plenary presentation he will give as president of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. The La Follette School hosts the APPAM's national research conference Nov. 2-4 at Monona Terrace. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School conference room.

Wednesday, September 13

La Follette School Director Barbara Wolfe discusses health economics and the field's contribution to public policy decisions. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School Conference Room.

Wednesday, September 6

The Importance of Ability Bias and Leaving School Before the Exam in Analyzing Academic Performance

Sholeh Maani, associate professor of economics at the University of Auckland. Noon-1 p.m. La Follette School Conference Room. Abstract of paper. News story: La Follette School seminar series opens Wednesday.