Persistently Present, Inconsistently Regulated: The Story of Asbestos and the Case for a New Approach Toward the Command and Control Regulation of Toxics

Article published in the Michigan State Law Review

Rethinking the Strategy: Using Disaster Law to Combat Climate Change in Indian Country

Article published in the Michigan State University School of Law Student Scholarship Collection

Early Origins of Adult Cancer Risk Among Men and Women: Influence of Childhood Misfortune?

Objective—To examine the effect of five childhood misfortune domains—parental behavior, socioeconomic status, infectious diseases, chronic diseases, and impairments—on all-site and selected site-specific cancer prevalence and all-site cancer incidence. Method—Panel data from the Health and Retirement Study (2004–2012) were used to investigate cancer risk among adults above the age of 50. Results—Risky parental behavior and impairment in childhood were associated with higher odds of all-site cancer prevalence, and childhood chronic disease was associated with prostate cancer, even after adjusting for adult health and socioeconomic factors. Moreover, having one infectious disease in childhood lowered the odds of colon cancer. Cancer trends varied by race and ethnicity, most notably, higher prostate cancer prevalence among Black men and lower all-site cancer among Hispanic adults. Discussion—These findings underscore the importance of examining multiple domains of misfortune because the type and amount of misfortune influence cancer risk in different ways

Entrants in the political arena: new party trajectories during the third wave of democracy in Latin America

The frequency and impact of new parties in Latin America’s new democracies has been profound, especially in comparison to their role in established democracies. From the relatively stable Chile and Uruguay to the highly volatile Ecuador and Bolivia, new entrants have altered national party systems. The electoral fortunes of new parties have been diverse. Most studies of new parties dichotomously classify them into successes and failures. In the more stable party systems of the world, this approach may be sufficient. However, in unstable systems of the developing world where volatility is high, the quality of representation is low, and parties are weakly institutionalized, we are likely to find more than two distinctive categories of party performance. This project begins with an analysis of the legislative electoral performance of all new parties from Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Venezuela using latent trajectory models and finds that there are five distinctive performance profiles among the population. I call these groups the explosive, contender, flash, flat and flop trajectories and classify each party into one group. In the relative stability of Chile there are parties of two types while the other systems have more diversity. Theories of new party success have largely focused on advanced party systems where party competition and linkages with voters are centered around issues and programs. Party systems in Latin America don’t often follow this logic. When they don’t, these theories can’t explain new party performance. In the second part of this project I use a nested research design—a small-N qualitative analysis of new parties in Ecuador nested in a large-N quantitative analysis of new parties in Ecuador, Venezuela and Bolivia—to build and test an alternative explanation of new party performance centered on organizational features of the parties, and specifically on their programmatic, machine, personalistic, or vote-buying strategic orientation. I find that in unstable party systems, to be a contender a new party must build a national network of machine-based linkages with constituents that are geographically rather than economically or socially defined; have access to considerable discretionary resources; and be weakly constrained by organizationally articulated programmatic demands

A Powerful Force for Good : Our Responsibility in Catholic Higher Education

Jan 13, 2021 January 12–14, 2021: Part of the dCEC Winter Conference discussing what it means to “dwell together in unity” and pursue the common good. Hosted by the University of Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. Speaker lineup: https://ethicscenter.nd.edu/programs/fall-conference

Persistently Present, Inconsistently Regulated: The Story of Asbestos and the Case for a New Approach Toward the Command and Control Regulation of Toxics

Article published in the Michigan State Law Review

Avoiding the Major Causes of Death: Does Childhood Misfortune Reduce the Likelihood of Being Disease Free in Later Life?

Objectives: Although previous research reveals the detrimental effects of early misfortune on the development of chronic diseases in later life, few studies have investigated its effects on remaining disease free. This study draws on cumulative inequality theory to investigate whether experiencing childhood misfortune reduces the likelihood of remaining disease free over time. Method: This study utilizes five waves of data from the Health and Retirement Study to test whether five domains of childhood misfortune predict being disease free at baseline (2004) and developing disease over time (2004–2012). Results: Respondents reporting risky parental behaviors during childhood were less likely to be disease free at baseline and had an increased risk of disease onset over time, the latter driven by having a guardian who smoked in combination with more pack-years smoked in adulthood. Furthermore, we find that adult resources, that is wealth, help to mitigate the noxious effects of other misfortunes, notably poor socioeconomic conditions. Discussion: Consistent with cumulative inequality theory, these findings reveal that experiencing multiple types of misfortune during childhood decreases the likelihood of remaining disease free in later life, but engaging in health behaviors, such as physical activity, can help to ameliorate some of the noxious effects of early misfortune

Early Origins of Adult Cancer Risk Among Men and Women: Influence of Childhood Misfortune?

Objective—To examine the effect of five childhood misfortune domains—parental behavior, socioeconomic status, infectious diseases, chronic diseases, and impairments—on all-site and selected site-specific cancer prevalence and all-site cancer incidence. Method—Panel data from the Health and Retirement Study (2004–2012) were used to investigate cancer risk among adults above the age of 50. Results—Risky parental behavior and impairment in childhood were associated with higher odds of all-site cancer prevalence, and childhood chronic disease was associated with prostate cancer, even after adjusting for adult health and socioeconomic factors. Moreover, having one infectious disease in childhood lowered the odds of colon cancer. Cancer trends varied by race and ethnicity, most notably, higher prostate cancer prevalence among Black men and lower all-site cancer among Hispanic adults. Discussion—These findings underscore the importance of examining multiple domains of misfortune because the type and amount of misfortune influence cancer risk in different ways