What is the effect of primary election system reform on legislatures? At #EPSA @Charles III U. in Madrid, @alcocerjj.bsky.social and I theorize and show election reforms increase ideological diversity in legislatures, with findings strongest among Democrats. #EPSA2025

Facing institutional barriers to sponsoring bills in Congress, newly elected minority representatives cosponsor far more than their non-minority counterparts finds @alcocerjj.bsky.social of Harvard Law School blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...

Photo from this year's USC graduation! 2025 PhD graduates @alcocerjj.bsky.social & @rcenteno.bsky.social alongside 2023 Phd @nicholasnapolio.bsky.social, who was visiting campus! Jose is off to Harvard, Raquel is off to Caltech, and Nico is tenure-track at UC, Riverside! #USCgrad @usc.edu

Congrats to @rcenteno.bsky.social and @alcocerjj.bsky.social on graduating with PhDs today! @usc.edu #USCgrad

Huge congrats to @alcocerjj.bsky.social! Dr. Jose Alcocer successfully defended his PhD dissertation "Three Essays on Race, Gender, & Institutional Constraints Shaping Representation in U.S. Legislatures." Thx @nicduquette.bsky.social, Jeb Barnes & Pablo Barbera! @usc.edu @dornsife.usc.edu

Ever wonder how marginalized legislators respond to institutional barriers? I use synthetic DID to show that race & gender shape bill cosponsorship as an adaptation, with minority legislators cosponsoring more than their white counterparts. REP meets causal inference. Open-access & live now!

a useful thing to ask is how specifically does a rule or regulation or order go from issuance to implementation. for instance, trump has said that he will issue an executive order denying birth certificates and SSNs to the children of undocumented immigrants. okay. what happens next?

Also a reminder that we should study elite behavior more