Michael Hankinson

Political Scientist @GWTweets; Local politics and inequality

[Michael Hankinson @msghankinson]

Building affordable housing ➡️ support for funding housing. Nearby homeowners ⬆️ support; renters ⬇️ support. Both are “the policy adjacent”—secondhand recipients & drivers of policy feedback.

Forthcoming at @AJPS_Editor
(https://t.co/rLg6NGGpUQ) w/ A. Magazinnik & M. Sands

[Chris Elmendorf @CSElmendorf]

Are you a researcher or policymaker working on housing, energy, or transportation issues?

Welcome to the BUILD Research Network! A project of @ssrc_org w/ support from @Arnold_Ventures, BUILD is a new platform for strengthening the research-to-policy pipeline.

🧵/9

[Michael Hankinson @msghankinson]

[confusing nod] “Good to know. Not sure what that means, but it sounds…promising.” 👍

[Michael Hankinson @msghankinson]

Pilots announcing the visibility and wind direction at the destination to the entire cabin == me describing the identification strategy of a paper cited in my slides to my undergrad lecture.

[Michael Hankinson @msghankinson]

Our findings present a trade-off. Renters want local priority, but the FHA limits such prioritization due to entrenching segregation. NYC was recently forced to lower local prioritization via court order, but Jersey City is pursuing 100% local priority by using only local funds.

[Michael Hankinson @msghankinson]

Building affordable housing ➡️ support for funding housing. Nearby homeowners ⬆️ support; renters ⬇️ support. Both are “the policy adjacent”—secondhand recipients & drivers of policy feedback.

Forthcoming at @AJPS_Editor
(https://t.co/rLg6NGGpUQ) w/ A. Magazinnik & M. Sands

[Michael Hankinson @msghankinson]

But the ability of affordable housing to ⬆️ home values may threaten renters, who are unlikely to receive a unit in the project due to long wait lists. The renter backlash to new affordable housing is driven by gentrifying neighborhoods, where housing instability is greatest.

[Michael Hankinson @msghankinson]

Next week, I will be attending the #2025APPAM Fall Conference in Seattle. I will be presenting new work on the local politics of renewable energy siting as well as updates on building a national housing permits database.
If you want to connect, please reach out: [email protected]

[Michael Hankinson @msghankinson]

I'm excited to share that we're running a junior faculty search in American politics. Proud to see GWU continue to invest in political science. Link: https://t.co/CkzCIkPRBe

[Martin Vinæs Larsen @mvinaes]

Come see Michael present our paper! https://t.co/kDzHtxqriH

[Michael Hankinson @msghankinson]

Our findings shed new light on the political challenges of achieving decarbonization, where local governments must balance national goals with local resistance.

Come to "The Comparative Politics of Clean-Energy Siting," Friday, 2 pm, VCC East Ballroom.

[Michael Hankinson @msghankinson]

On Friday at #APSA, I'll be presenting new research on how political geography shapes the siting of collective goods. We use the consolidation of municipalities in Denmark to show how the distribution of entire electorate affects where wind energy is politically viable.

[Michael Hankinson @msghankinson]

In Vancouver for the APSA Annual Meeting. First time visiting the city and I rented a bike for a 2-hour spin. Blown away. Bike infrastructure on par with Denmark plus miles of trails in the middle of UBC’s campus (4 miles from downtown).

[M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray]

Almost a year ago today, Steph Curry submitted a letter opposing 16 townhouses being built near his home.

[Boris Shor @bshor]

Just posted: newly available state legislator individual ideology estimates! Based on a decade plus of work with @Nolan_Mc. New data covers 1993-2022, and now contains 28,987 state legislators. Let us know how you use our data! https://t.co/4xTM4MMGO8

[Michael Hankinson @msghankinson]

Compensating neighbors — "stuffing their mouth w/ gold" — works for market-rate housing, but not for developments w/ affordable units. Affordable housing may activate symbolic attitudes, which are more calcified compared to self-interest. Article w/ @jdbk https://t.co/Ow7y2x1Wjo

[Rob Wiblin @robertwiblin]

Tackling NIMBYs head on has been an abject failure.

You don't smash them — sooner or later they smash you. We need a different approach.

And there’s a weirdly obvious solution to fighting NIMBY: 'stuffing their mouths with gold'.

Sam Bowman (@s8mb) and I discuss his 'housing theory of everything' and how to actually fix our catastrophically busted planning permission system on the 80,000 Hours Podcast.

Also: how avant-garde architects are the great villains of our age, how to tackle terrible incumbent institutions, Europe's need for nuclear, Ozempic remaining highly underrated, and how progress studies stays sane.

1:21 We can't seem to build anything
3:15 And it's ruining people's lives
8:28 The housing theory of everything
17:03 The UK is the world's worst
35:47 Why almost no progress fixing it
43:11 NIMBYs are often harmed by development
54:50 Solution #1: Street votes
1:18:47 Will street votes come to the US
1:24:21 Solution #2: Stuffing mouths with gold
1:43:42 The most important policy setting you've never heard of
1:57:06 Solution #3: Opt-outs
2:10:32 How to make it happen
2:17:30 Making old institutions die a gradual death
2:31:11 The evil of modern architecture and the importance of beauty
2:44:14 The north needs nuclear
3:01:43 Ozempic and "the overweight theory of everything"
3:17:08 How progress studies has avoided online madness

I'd been hoping to interview Sam Bowman for years and he's the guest I always dreamed he would be.

Transcript and links on the 80,000 Hours site, and a much higher res 4K version on YT (can't upload full quality to Twitter sadly).

[Michael Hankinson @msghankinson]

Aesop Rock’s main vector for spreading is over-confident English majors.

A) That’s who tipped me off to him, B) After 15 years of None Shall Pass, I still have no idea what the song is about and fear being asked to explain it

[Michael Hankinson @msghankinson]

Nature article: https://t.co/M7EYvwIqYH

[Michael Hankinson @msghankinson]

So proud of my wife, Rui Gao! Her dissertation research has led to a breakthrough in understanding ecDNA-amplified cancers, opening paths for better treatments in the future.

And a co-first author publication in Nature is a nice outcome as well :)

https://t.co/wvWhDtMUeU

[Benjamin Egerod @BCEgerod]

Deadline for applying to this postdoc coming up! @JStuckatz and I are hiring a postdoc for a revolving door project at @CBScph. 2 years in Copenhagen with our group of political economists. Start: summer '25. No teaching.
Deadline: January 5 '25
Link: https://t.co/femWLcHhT8