USC Bedrosian Center

03/18/2022

We are very pleased to welcome back to campus Raphael Bostic, our former Chair on Governance.

Register and join the discussion either in person or virtually using this link https://conta.cc/3HvOtRZ.

01/21/2022

PIPE Workshop: Aditya Dasgupta, UC Merced

Explaining Rural Conservatism: Technological and Political Change in the Great Plains

Rural areas are conservative electoral strongholds in the United States and other advanced capitalist economies. But this was not the case historically. What explains the rise of rural conservatism?

This paper explores the role of technological and economic change in political change. It studies a historical natural experiment: the post-war introduction of petroleum-powered groundwater pumps and center-pivot irrigation, which enabled farmers to profitably irrigate otherwise arid land in the Great Plains. Difference-in-differences analyses – exploiting the timing of the new technology together with cross-sectional variation in aquifer coverage in a spatially matched sample of counties along the boundary of the Ogallala aquifer – indicate that technological change played a large role in the region’s long-term conservative electoral shift. This was plausibly due to the emergence of upwardly mobile farmers and agribusiness interests with preferences for conservative economic policies.

The findings highlight how technological change can shape political development: by generating rent-seeking economic interests which exert influence on elections.

Discussant: Bryan Leonard (Arizona State University)

PIPE Workshop: Aditya Dasgupta, UC MercedExplaining Rural Conservatism: Technological and Political Change in the Great PlainsRural areas are conservative el...

12/24/2021

Woohoo, what a cool thing! Our event with Prof Resh on Biden’s Fist 100 Days is on the list!!

Posted • In 2021, USC Price published more than 250 YouTube videos. Virtual and in-person events with scholars, faculty, and notable speakers amassed over 3,000,000 views. If you missed one of our events throughout the year, it's not too late! Click our link in bio to join our 15,800+ subscribers and never miss a Price event again.

Don't know where to start? The link in bio has our top 5 most watched policy videos of the year!
1. President Biden's First 100 days in Office
2. Philanthropy & The City: The Next Generation of Place-Based Philanthropy
3. Exploring DEI Through Public Service Leadership
4. From Here to Equality: A conversation on Reparations for Black Americans
5. Lusk Perspectives: Rebuilding Housing Post-Disaster

12/17/2021

Abstract. When Congress writes and passes statutes, it can include detailed provisions designating how judicial review of agency actions will operate. Yet despi

12/16/2021

Three votes for Carribean Fragoza’s Eat the Mouth that Feeds You to be something every high school senior is exposed to. This debut collection of short stories is genius, this is late 20th early 21st century Southern California. This is Chicanx, this is Latinx, this is SoCal, this is women, this is body horror, magic realism all in 120 pages.

Ten stories about place and placemaking, about community and how we lift each other up, or tear each other apart. A must read!

12/06/2021

On shelves today!
Posted • The Black-White wealth gap wasn’t accidental.

It was engineered.

By policymakers. By lenders. By appraisers. By voters.

This is the story of how they did it.

Special thanks to at for helping bring this story to life.

12/02/2021

New book alert!
Posted • Check out the #1 new release in civil rights on Amazon — https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0367680378/

"In Keeping Races in Their Places, Anthony Orlando shows himself to be the rarest of writers—both a scholar of a high caliber and a storyteller of singular ability. Here, he uses those talents to offer an economic history that illustrates in gripping fashion how American policies have, from generation to generation, squeezed ordinary Black families and resulted in ongoing disparities of wealth, opportunity and dignity. In this way, he helps us to understand where our systems have failed and how we can and must collectively reinvent them." –Rob Asghar, Author, Leadership Is Hell and Blogging Contributor, Forbes

11/22/2021

In this month’s book club, we read a deep history of the fallout of a murder in the Pennsylvania colony 1722. In Covered With Night by Nicole Eustace (NYU), we learn that our laws have been around shorter than we care to remember and see alternative ways of coming to justice that have existed and thrived. A powerful tail of how we, as peoples, can live together with more equity and justice – how restorative justice has worked in the world, how it could again. If only we can listen and learn.

11/18/2021

Today at 11am, join us to uncover history of desegregation in Orange County.

Bedrosian Faculty Affiliate, Anthony W. Orlando will speak with Janice Munemitsu about her book The Kindness of Color. In the book Munemitsu uncovers how two Orange County families became the faces of one of the most famous civil rights cases, leading to the desegregation of Californial Public Schoo...