Robert Apel
@bobapel.bsky.social
Social scientist at Rutgers with expertise in criminology and social policy
Reposted by Robert Apel
News coverage of the Trump administration's proposed "compact" with universities has been, so far, shockingly bad.
I hate to pick on NPR reporter Elissa Nadworny, who's usually a solid reporter, but almost every important thing I heard her say this morning about the proposed "compact" was false.
I hate to pick on NPR reporter Elissa Nadworny, who's usually a solid reporter, but almost every important thing I heard her say this morning about the proposed "compact" was false.
October 3, 2025 at 8:20 PM
News coverage of the Trump administration's proposed "compact" with universities has been, so far, shockingly bad.
I hate to pick on NPR reporter Elissa Nadworny, who's usually a solid reporter, but almost every important thing I heard her say this morning about the proposed "compact" was false.
I hate to pick on NPR reporter Elissa Nadworny, who's usually a solid reporter, but almost every important thing I heard her say this morning about the proposed "compact" was false.
1/ Do body-worn cameras (BWCs) improve public attitudes toward the police? Or is how officers treat people what really matters? My new Justice Quarterly article with Mustafa Demir from John Jay tackles these questions with a vignette experiment. 🧵
August 6, 2025 at 6:52 PM
1/ Do body-worn cameras (BWCs) improve public attitudes toward the police? Or is how officers treat people what really matters? My new Justice Quarterly article with Mustafa Demir from John Jay tackles these questions with a vignette experiment. 🧵
I’ve watched with interest as the number of ASC divisions has grown over the course of my career, from 4 to 21. I’m now tempted to start a petition to create an all-new division: Division of Criminology. Curious if there would be any takers.
July 7, 2025 at 6:22 PM
I’ve watched with interest as the number of ASC divisions has grown over the course of my career, from 4 to 21. I’m now tempted to start a petition to create an all-new division: Division of Criminology. Curious if there would be any takers.
1/ Can a Google search hurt your chances of getting a job more than a background check? A new study with Sarah Lageson on criminal records, race, and willingness to hire has surprising answers. 🧵
June 23, 2025 at 5:00 PM
1/ Can a Google search hurt your chances of getting a job more than a background check? A new study with Sarah Lageson on criminal records, race, and willingness to hire has surprising answers. 🧵
Reposted by Robert Apel
The political theory behind IRA was roughly as follows: We have lost control of the information landscape and can no longer win rhetorical or purely political battles; however, if we make substantive policy progress that directly touches voters' lives, they will notice and reward us.
May 23, 2025 at 5:43 PM
The political theory behind IRA was roughly as follows: We have lost control of the information landscape and can no longer win rhetorical or purely political battles; however, if we make substantive policy progress that directly touches voters' lives, they will notice and reward us.
The menswear guy: social theorist. Some interesting history and sociological insight here.
I wrote something about how we're seeing the rise of the online "alpha male." This is someone who speaks in clipped imperatives, squeezes into tight suits, and performs for our feed. They present a vision of masculinity shaped by politics, tech, and 100 years of cultural history 🧵
April 22, 2025 at 11:10 PM
The menswear guy: social theorist. Some interesting history and sociological insight here.
Enjoyable for those interested in history of urban issues. With some justified finger-wagging at Jane Jacobs for hypocrisy: “It was the kind of thing that Jacobs praised, but when she buys the building, she gut renovates it. She tears out the storefront. She turns it into a single-family home.”
Americans Are Stuck. Who’s to Blame?
Yoni Appelbaum on his new book, Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity
www.theatlantic.com
February 21, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Enjoyable for those interested in history of urban issues. With some justified finger-wagging at Jane Jacobs for hypocrisy: “It was the kind of thing that Jacobs praised, but when she buys the building, she gut renovates it. She tears out the storefront. She turns it into a single-family home.”
Reposted by Robert Apel
Ok sociology, what do you think are genuine breakthroughs that our field has made. Contributions that might convince skeptical but sympathetic *academics* (not the public) of the value of our field? I'll brainstorm some of mine in the thread - I treat sociology very broadly
February 12, 2025 at 6:45 AM
Ok sociology, what do you think are genuine breakthroughs that our field has made. Contributions that might convince skeptical but sympathetic *academics* (not the public) of the value of our field? I'll brainstorm some of mine in the thread - I treat sociology very broadly
Reposted by Robert Apel
"Fiscal Centralization and Inequality in Children's Economic Mobility"
New research with @schechtlm.bsky.social @zparolin.bsky.social just out in ASR doi.org/10.1177/0003...
#sociology #demography #econsky
New research with @schechtlm.bsky.social @zparolin.bsky.social just out in ASR doi.org/10.1177/0003...
#sociology #demography #econsky
January 7, 2025 at 4:17 PM
"Fiscal Centralization and Inequality in Children's Economic Mobility"
New research with @schechtlm.bsky.social @zparolin.bsky.social just out in ASR doi.org/10.1177/0003...
#sociology #demography #econsky
New research with @schechtlm.bsky.social @zparolin.bsky.social just out in ASR doi.org/10.1177/0003...
#sociology #demography #econsky
Reposted by Robert Apel
NEW: René D. Flores, Edward Telles, Ilana M. Ventura, "New OMB’s Race and Ethnicity Standards Will Affect How Americans Self-Identify"
sociologicalscience.com
December 16, 2024 at 5:31 PM
NEW: René D. Flores, Edward Telles, Ilana M. Ventura, "New OMB’s Race and Ethnicity Standards Will Affect How Americans Self-Identify"
Reposted by Robert Apel
Here's a fun way to encourage students to always look at their data. A few years ago, I wrote a script that converts a black and white png to data and plots it.
September 29, 2024 at 1:28 PM
Here's a fun way to encourage students to always look at their data. A few years ago, I wrote a script that converts a black and white png to data and plots it.
Reposted by Robert Apel
I've just finished the annual update of our curated links on the Development Impact blog, which sort key posts from the last 13 years. First up, technical topics and methods: how to do RCTs, power calcs, DiD, IV, RDD, PAPs, publication, analysis issues, and more: blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...
A Curated List of Our Postings on Technical Topics – Your One-Stop Shop for Methodology
This is a curated list of our technical postings, to serve as a one-stop shop for your technical reading. I’ve focused here on our posts on methodological issues in impact evaluation – we also have a ...
blogs.worldbank.org
August 28, 2024 at 11:35 PM
I've just finished the annual update of our curated links on the Development Impact blog, which sort key posts from the last 13 years. First up, technical topics and methods: how to do RCTs, power calcs, DiD, IV, RDD, PAPs, publication, analysis issues, and more: blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...
Reposted by Robert Apel
From Jonathan Roth on X:
I have created a #DiD Resources page on my website. It has links to all of my DiD teaching slides, coding exercises, and packages I've created.
All this info was technically already online, but hopefully this makes it easier to find it!
www.jonathandroth.com/did-resources/
I have created a #DiD Resources page on my website. It has links to all of my DiD teaching slides, coding exercises, and packages I've created.
All this info was technically already online, but hopefully this makes it easier to find it!
www.jonathandroth.com/did-resources/
DiD Resources
www.jonathandroth.com
August 23, 2024 at 6:11 AM
From Jonathan Roth on X:
I have created a #DiD Resources page on my website. It has links to all of my DiD teaching slides, coding exercises, and packages I've created.
All this info was technically already online, but hopefully this makes it easier to find it!
www.jonathandroth.com/did-resources/
I have created a #DiD Resources page on my website. It has links to all of my DiD teaching slides, coding exercises, and packages I've created.
All this info was technically already online, but hopefully this makes it easier to find it!
www.jonathandroth.com/did-resources/
Reposted by Robert Apel
I wrote a small r-script to download the SEER county-level population age/race data (single age year and grouped years), break the string apart, and create a full dataset. Is that something people want? I can post it on GitHub.
U.S. Population Data - SEER Population Data
Download county population estimates used in SEER*Stat to calculate cancer incidence and mortality rates. The estimates are a modification of the U.S. Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program, in ...
seer.cancer.gov
May 29, 2024 at 9:18 PM
I wrote a small r-script to download the SEER county-level population age/race data (single age year and grouped years), break the string apart, and create a full dataset. Is that something people want? I can post it on GitHub.
Reposted by Robert Apel
I’m releasing ISOCODES, a new Stata package to generate standardized country code variables.
Feed in a string variable identifying countries and isocodes outputs numeric/2-3 letter codes (ISO3166) or full country names.
I’ll give you a short motivation and rundown below.
Feed in a string variable identifying countries and isocodes outputs numeric/2-3 letter codes (ISO3166) or full country names.
I’ll give you a short motivation and rundown below.
December 13, 2023 at 8:47 AM
I’m releasing ISOCODES, a new Stata package to generate standardized country code variables.
Feed in a string variable identifying countries and isocodes outputs numeric/2-3 letter codes (ISO3166) or full country names.
I’ll give you a short motivation and rundown below.
Feed in a string variable identifying countries and isocodes outputs numeric/2-3 letter codes (ISO3166) or full country names.
I’ll give you a short motivation and rundown below.
Reposted by Robert Apel
January 13, 2024 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Robert Apel
Last Fall I completed another iteration of Gov 50 (Data Science for the Social Sciences), and I've been really happy with the course. We doubled in size to 250 students and got great reviews from students. What's worked for us?
gov50-f23.github.io
gov50-f23.github.io
January 4, 2024 at 8:25 PM
Last Fall I completed another iteration of Gov 50 (Data Science for the Social Sciences), and I've been really happy with the course. We doubled in size to 250 students and got great reviews from students. What's worked for us?
gov50-f23.github.io
gov50-f23.github.io
Reposted by Robert Apel
💡Glad to see this paper with Beyers Louw finally published: "On the Nuisance of Control Variables in Causal Regression Analysis" (preprint available on arXiv). doi.org/10.1177/1094...
December 30, 2023 at 10:07 AM
💡Glad to see this paper with Beyers Louw finally published: "On the Nuisance of Control Variables in Causal Regression Analysis" (preprint available on arXiv). doi.org/10.1177/1094...
Reposted by Robert Apel
So excited to announce that our textbook with Xavier, "Difference-in-Differences for Simple and Complex Natural Experiments", is now under contract with Princeton University Press. Check out the "working textbook" version here! Comments welcome! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
December 14, 2023 at 12:33 PM
So excited to announce that our textbook with Xavier, "Difference-in-Differences for Simple and Complex Natural Experiments", is now under contract with Princeton University Press. Check out the "working textbook" version here! Comments welcome! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Alarming just how readily pharmacies can give away private information without as much as a warrant
New: Cops are going into pharmacies and walking out with people's most sensitive health information. No warrant or judge review. Comes at a time when women's health care is being criminalized.
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Pharmacies share medical data with police without a warrant, inquiry finds
Findings of a congressional inquiry raise privacy concerns as some states seek to criminalize abortion.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 12, 2023 at 1:21 PM
Alarming just how readily pharmacies can give away private information without as much as a warrant
Well I guess when you put it that way…
Henry Kissinger, War Criminal Beloved by America’s Ruling Class, Finally Dies
Henry Kissinger has died at age 100, his consulting firm said in a statement on Wednesday.
www.rollingstone.com
November 30, 2023 at 1:39 PM
Well I guess when you put it that way…