The focus of current and ongoing research in our lab is shaped by the faculty, students, and affiliates that are participating. Some initiatives are part of Dr. Mallinson’s ongoing research program and others are derived from dissertation, masters, and undergraduate thesis research. There are two core connectors for nearly all of the lab’s research, however. First is better understanding the policy process through different theoretical lenses. The second is the American states. We leverage multiple types of variation across the states (political, social, economic, policy, etc.) to test policy theory and assess policy outcomes. Below are the main research topics that have been examined by the lab.
* Denotes student author
Stigma in the Policymaking Process
Much has been learned over the last five decades about how governments innovate to solve pressing public problems, including the mechanisms that facilitate the emergence and spread of policy innovations (Mooney 2021). However, policy process studies tend to focus on issues that are highly salient (i.e., popular among the public and/or attended to by the media), whose “times have come” (Kingdon 2011) and are thus advanced on the public agenda. Interest groups, policy entrepreneurs, and different institutional arrangements receive substantial attention for their ability to facilitate or hinder policy change (Jenkins-Smith et al. 2018, Boushey 2010). In contrast, some problems are both prevalent and largely “silent,” meaning they do not receive nearly as much public attention, save for high profile events that help them burst into public consciousness. These tend to be problems associated with high degrees of social stigma, like substance use, mental health disorders, and suicide. The argument of this project is that stigma impacts each stage of the policy process in ways that help explain why problems like substance abuse, mental health disorders, and suicide tend to experience underinvestment in governmental attention and resources.
We argue that stigma increases the barriers to significant policy change in each of these areas and acts as a distinct friction in each stage of the policymaking process, but policy change is possible. Examples of recent and meaningful policy changes include the slow shift from criminalization of drug use to treating substance use as a public health problem; the widespread liberalization of marijuana laws in the American states; and both federal and state advancements in mental health parity and suicide prevention investments. That said, these innovations have been slow and incomplete. We argue that resources like sustained interest group pressure and entrepreneurship by political figures that are typically viewed as useful for advancing policies onto the government’s agenda are pivotal in advancing policies for highly prevalent and stigmatized problems. This project seeks to answer the following research questions:
RQ1: Why do problems with high prevalence, but also high social stigma, have greater difficulty rising to the decision-making agenda in governments?
RQ2: How can stigma be effectively overcome to advance policy for highly prevalent social problems?
RQ3: Why have advances in drug and mental health policy occurred even while social stigma remained substantial?
RQ4: Why is state implementation of federal mental health policy slow?
RQ5: How do policies create and/or reinforce stigma?
Publications:
Shafi, Saahir* and Daniel J. Mallinson. (2021). “A Decade in Drug Policy and Research: Evaluating Trends from 2010 to 2020 and Presenting Major Policy Developments.” Policy Studies Yearbook 12(1): 71-102.
Mallinson, Daniel J., Eunsil Yoo*, and Brandon Cruz*. (2021). Suicide Prevention and Trends in Rural Pennsylvania Counties and Schools. Center for Rural Pennsylvania.
Working Papers:
Mallinson, Daniel J., Victoria Williams*, Gunah Kim*, and Eunsil Yoo*. (In preparation). “The Linkage Between Stigma and Public Policymaking: A Systematic and Comprehensive Scoping Review.”
Mallinson, Daniel J., Victoria Williams*, Gunah Kim*, and Eunsil Yoo*. (In preparation). “Stigma and Substance Abuse Policy: Hurdles to Evidence-Based Policymaking.”
Policy Process Theory
Publications:
Robles, Pedro* and Daniel J. Mallinson. (In Press). “Policy Learning and the Diffusion of Autonomous Vehicle Policy in the American States.” State and Local Government Review.
Yingling, Luke and Daniel J. Mallinson. (In Press). “Courts-First Federalism: How Model Legislation Becomes Impact Litigation.” Perspectives on Politics.
Menon, Aravind* and Daniel J. Mallinson. 2022. “Policy Diffusion Speed: A Replication Study Using the State Policy Innovation and Diffusion Database.” Political Studies Review 20(4): 702-716.
Bell, Andrew* and Daniel J. Mallinson. (2021). “Constraints on Policy Learning: Designing RGGI in Pennsylvania.” Policy Design & Practice 4(4): 486-500.
Working Papers:
Xue, Runhua* and Daniel J. Mallinson. (In preparation). “Assessing the Multiple Streams Framework’s Applicability to Policymaking in China.”
Mallinson, Daniel J., Saahir Shafi, Joonwoo Lee*, and Tiangeng Lu. (In preparation). “Gubernatorial Declarations of Opioid Disaster as Novel Focusing Events.”
Cannabis Policy
Publications:
Park, Mingean*, Daniel J. Mallinson, Shazib Altaf*, and Lilliard Richardson. (In press). “Marijuana Legalization and Traffic Fatalities: Using Policy Bundles to Test the Effects of Variation in State Policies.” Addiction.
Mallinson, Daniel J. and Timothy J. Servinsky. (In press). “Rural Reticence to Inform Physicians of Cannabis Use.” Journal of Rural Health.
Kocis, Paul T., Mallinson, and Timothy J. Servinsky Jr. (2024). “A Survey Regarding Cannabinoid Awareness. Reporting of Use to Health Care Providers, and Impression on Safety.” Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids 7(1): 119-124.
Mallinson, Daniel J. and Francisco Puello*. (2023). “Veterans and Medical Cannabis: A Perfect Federalism Storm.” Public Administration Quarterly 47(3): 347-373.
Hannah, A. Lee, Daniel J. Mallinson, and Lauren Azevedo. (2023). “Maximizing Social Equity as a Pillar of Public Administration: An Examination of Dispensary Licensing in Pennsylvania.” Public Administration Review 83(1): 144-162.
Working Papers:
Altaf, Shazib*, Daniel J. Mallinson, Mingean Park*, and Lilliard Richardson. (Under review). “Adding Nuance to Understanding the Effects of Cannabis Legalization by Using Policy Bundles.”
Richardson, Lilliard, Daniel J. Mallinson, Shazib Altaf*, and Grant Neeley. (In preparation). “U.S. State Cannabis Policy Bundles.”
Hannah, A. Lee, Daniel J. Mallinson, and Lindsey Cormack. (In preparation). “Congress and Cannabis: The Political and Practical Purposes for Congressional Inaction on Marijuana Reforms.”
Collaborative Governance
Publications:
Guo, Jingyu*, Daniel J. Mallinson, Selena Ortiz, and Lisa Domenica Iulo. (2024). “Collaborative Governance Challenges in Energy Efficiency and Conservation: The Case of Pennsylvania.” Utilities Policy 87(April): 1-14.
Mallinson, Daniel J., Aqsa Ali*, Jingyu Guo*, and Pedro Robles*. (2023). “The Scourge of Orphaned and Abandoned Wells: Leveraging Public-Private-Citizen Collaboration to Solve a Big Problem.” Public Works Management & Policy 28(1): 33-52.
Mallinson, Daniel J. and Saahir Shafi*. (2022). “Smart Home Technology: Challenges and Opportunities for Collaborative Governance and Policy Research.” Review of Policy Research 39(3): 330-352.
Working Papers:
Mallinson, Daniel J., Jingyu Guo*, Hannah Wiseman, Lisa D. Iulo, Tasneem Tariq*, Michael D. Helbing, Selena E. Ortiz, and Seth Blumsack. (Under review) “Coordination Challenges in Energy Efficiency Programs.”
Guo, Jingyu* and Daniel J. Mallinson. (In preparation). “Understanding Collaborative Governance Network Emergence and Development: Act 129 in Pennsylvania.”
Artificial Intelligence
Publications:
Robles, Pedro* and Daniel J. Mallinson (In Press). “AI Technology, American Attitudes, and Effective Governance.” Review of Policy Research.
Mallinson, Daniel J., Lauren Azevedo, Eric Best, Pedro Robles*, and Jue Wang. (2024). “The Future of AI is in the States: The Case of Autonomous Vehicle Policies.” Business & Politics 26(2): 180-199.
Robles, Pedro* and Daniel J. Mallinson. (2023). “Catching Up with AI: Pushing Toward a Cohesive Governance Framework.” Politics & Policy 51(3): 355-372.
Working Papers:
Robles, Pedro* and Daniel J. Mallinson. (Under review). “Advancing AI Governance with a Unified Theoretical Framework: A Systematic Review.”
Azevedo, Lauren, Daniel J. Mallinson, Jue Wang, Pedro Robles, and Eric Best. (Under review). “AI Policies, Equity, and Morality and the Implications for Faculty in Higher Education.”
Robles, Pedro, Daniel J. Mallinson, Eric Best, Cheryl Devaney*, and Lauren Azevedo. (Under review). “Global Perspectives on Regulating Facial Recognition Technology Utilization for Criminal Justice Arrests.”
Other Student Work
Working Papers:
Carpenter, Ryan*, Daniel J. Mallinson, and Laura Bucci. (Under review). “Off to the Polls and Down the Ballot: Are Union Members Less Likely to Roll-off?”
Park, Mingean, Joonwoo Lee*, Preston Varkpeh*, and Daniel J. Mallinson. (Under review) “The Impact of Sustainable Nitrogen Management on Unsafe Drinking Water and the Mediating Role of Food Production.”
Nassif, Majda*, Daniel J. Mallinson, Victoria Williams*, and Charli Nowak*. (In preparation). “The Bi-Directional Relationship Between Social Capital and Volunteering: A Scoping Review.”