Research

Published Research

I research poverty, inequality, and social policy in the United States and internationally. Click on each topic below for paper descriptions, full papers, and supplementary material/replication packages.

Homelessness

Alongside rising housing costs and economic inequality, the number of people experiencing homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area has rapidly increased in recent years. This increase in homelessness is especially visually apparent with the proliferation of tent encampments. Grounded in years of volunteer and personal experience, my newest research documents the growth of tent encampments in Oakland, California. Using a mixture of data sources, I examine how physical features of urban space, neighborhood characteristics, and interventions by the City of Oakland relate to the location, size, and stability of tent encampments in the past decade.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Ryan Finnigan. Forthcoming. "The Growth and Shifting Spatial Distribution of Tent Encampments in Oakland, California." The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences (pre-print PDF)

Policy Brief

Ryan Finnigan. 2020. "Greater Resources Required to Protect People Experiencing Homelessness from COVID-19." UC Davis Center for Poverty Research--Policy Brief, Vol. 8 No. 9

Poverty and Hardship

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Ryan Finnigan and Kelsey D. Meagher. 2019. “Past Due: Combinations of Housing and Utility Hardship in the United States.” Sociological Perspectives 62(1): 96–119
Bill McCarthy, Angela Carter, Mikael Janson, Cecilia Benoit, and Ryan Finnigan. 2018. “Poverty, Material Hardship, and Mental Health among Workers in Three Frontline Service Occupations.” Journal of Poverty 22(4): 334-354
David Brady, Ryan Finnigan, and Sabine Huebgen. 2017. “Rethinking the Demographic Risks of Poverty: Prevalences and Penalties in Comparative Perspective.” American Journal of Sociology 123(3):740-786

Ryan Finnigan. 2014. “Racial and Ethnic Stratification in the Relationship between Homeownership and Self-Rated Health.” Social Science & Medicine 115:72-81
David Brady, Regina Baker, and Ryan Finnigan. 2013. “When Unionization Disappears: State-Level Unionization and Working Poverty in the U.S.” American Sociological Review 78(5):872-896

Policy Briefs

Ryan Finnigan and Kelsey D. Meagher. 2018. "Missed Housing and Utility Payments are Common and Persistent in the United States." UC Davis Center for Poverty Research--Policy Brief, Vol. 7 No. 3
David Brady, Ryan Finnigan, and Sabine Hübgen. February 8th 2018. “Single Mothers Are Not the Problem.” New York Times.
Ryan Finnigan. 2018. “Risk Factors for Poverty Are Stronger in the US than Many Other Countries.” UC Davis Center for Poverty Research Policy Brief, Vol. 6 No. 2

Work and Labor Market Inequality

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Ryan Finnigan. Forthcoming. “Rainbow-Collar Jobs? Occupational Segregation by Sexual Orientation in the United States.” Socius
Ryan Finnigan. 2018. “Varying Weekly Work Hours and Earnings Instability in the Great Recession.” Social Science Research 74: 96-107
Ryan Finnigan and Savannah Hunter. 2018. “Occupational Composition and Racial/Ethnic Inequalities in Varying Weekly Work Hours,” pp.165-193 in Research in the Sociology of Work, vol. 32, edited by Ethel Mickey and Adia Harvey Wingfield
Ryan Finnigan and Jo Mhairi Hale. 2018. “Working 9 to 5? Union Membership and Work Hours and Schedules.” Social Forces 4(1): 1541–1568

Policy Brief

Ryan Finnigan and Joanna Hale. 2018. “Growth in Irregular Work Increased Poverty During and After Great Recession.” UC Davis Center for Poverty Research--Policy Brief, Vol. 5 No. 2

Social Policy and Public Attitudes

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Tarik Abou-Chadi and Ryan Finnigan. 2019. “Rights for Same-Sex Couples and Attitudes toward Gays and Lesbians in Europe.” Comparative Political Studies 52(6): 868-895
David Brady and Ryan Finnigan. 2014. “Does Immigration Undermine Public Support for Social Policy?” American Sociological Review 79(1):17-42