Research

My research interests include the political behavior of Latinos the US, with particular interest on behavior related to immigration. I have also done work dealing with environmental policy in comparative politics. This is my current research:

Lopez, Jennifer, Seo-young Silvia Kim, and R. Michael Alvarez. “Latinos, Group Identity, and Equal Opportunity on the 2020 California Ballot.” Social Science Quarterly, 103(7), 1572-1586.

Abstract:

Objective: Racial minority groups are often assumed to support equal opportunity policies, with most research focused on biracial contexts between Whites and Blacks. With a unique opportunity to study richer contexts from California’s 2020 elections, we test whether Latino voters supported ballot measures associated with equal opportunity. Methods: Using data on vote choice for Propositions 15 (raising commercial property taxes) and 16 (repealing prohibition of affirmative action) from a post-election survey of California registrants, we use logistic regression to test whether Latino support for equal opportunity policies is higher than that of Whites. Results: For both propositions, while Latino support was higher than White support, it was not statistically different when controlled for partisanship. Conclusion: There is little evidence to suggest that California Latinos support equal opportunity policies more strongly than White voters. This lukewarm support may explain the fates of both propositions in the election.

Eisenstadt, Todd, and Jennifer Lopez. “Specifying the Gap between Nations’ Outward-Looking and Domestic Climate Policies: A Call for Measures of Domestic Climate Policy.” Climate, 11(9), 192.

Abstract: Analysts have noted an ambition gap widening between international climate policy (enacted by the United Nations) and domestic climate policy (what nations propose at home and as their contributions to the UN). We document this gap by constructing indexes of domestic and international climate policy performance, showing that nations tend to “lead with the international.” Using these climate policy indexes, longstanding fossil fuel subsidies by country, and other data, we find that international policy and fossil fuel subsidies can help explain nations’ greenhouse gas emissions, but that domestic policy formulated since the 1990s does not. We then break the sample into subsets according to international and domestic policy stringency, finding that international policy and fossil fuel subsidies is associated with nations’ emissions, while domestic policy stringency is not. We conclude that emissions can be partly explained by commitments made at international fora, but not by stringent domestic climate policies.

Under review: Eisenstadt, Todd A., Le Bao, Jennifer Lopez, and Cindy Ragab. “The Inter-temporal Trade-off, the “Electoral Connection” in Climate Policy and National Renewable Energy Mixes.” Under Review at Comparative Political Studies.

These are my current works in progress:

Lopez, Jennifer. “Latinos, Physical and Psychological Distance, and Attitudes to the Border.”