SoRelle Received Best Paper Award from APSA/Public Policy Section

Mallory SoRelle, assistant professor of public policy, received the Best Paper on Public Policy Award for 2020 from the American Political Science Association (APSA) for her paper, “Privatizing Financial Protection: Policy Feedback in the Credit Welfare State.”

Given by the Public Policy Section of the APSA, the award recognizes a paper presented at the previous year's conferece. SoRelle's paper was cited as “ambitious and important” work on how consumer credit acts as a part of the contemporary welfare state. SoRelle used original survey data to show that Americans tend to think of credit as a personal matter, and a market interaction. They blame market actors rather than the state for problems with the system. Because consumer credit policies hide the role of the state in regulating consumer debt, there is little public pressure for changes in these policies.