Frank Baumgartner

About

Frank Baumgartner is a professor in the Department of Political Science at UNC-Chapel Hill. He has a history of hiring both undergraduate and graduate students to work on various research projects, typically involving computer- and internet-based work. Baumgartner emphasizes training students who are interested in continuing their studies in graduate school, potentially working on theses related to his research projects, and those who wish to stay involved for several years or possess particular technical skills. He holds weekly meetings to discuss problems, track progress, and maintain involvement among his student researchers. Due to limited funding, he can only hire students for up to about 10 hours a week, with most students working fewer hours. His approach to student research involves a training period followed by independent work with regular progress reports.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Law
• Medicine
• Computer Science
• Criminology
• Gender studies
• Economics
• Demographic economics
• Demography

Selected publications

• Intersectional Encounters, Representative Bureaucracy, and the Routine Traffic Stop

  Policy Studies Journal · 2020 · 39 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  We evaluate the factors associated with an officer’s decision to search a driver or vehicle after a routine traffic stop, and we compare the accuracy of these searches by looking at the share leading to arrest. Racial disparities in search rates by race and gender of driver are similar for all types of officers; all tend to search Black male drivers at higher rates than any other demographic. White male officers have higher search rates for all types of drivers. Further, they conduct the greates…

  DOI

• Punctuated Equilibrium Theory

  2023-05-09 · 32 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET) seeks to explain a simple observation: although generally marked by stability and incrementalism, political processes occasionally produce large-scale departures from the past. Stasis, rather than crisis, typically characterizes most policy areas, but crises do occur. Large-scale changes in public policies are constantly occurring in one area or another of American politics as public understandings of existing problems evolve. This chapter examines Punctuated…

  PublisherDOI

• Race, Place, and Context: The Persistence of Race Effects in Traffic Stop Outcomes in the Face of Situational, Demographic, and Political Controls

  The Journal of Race Ethnicity and Politics · 2020 · 29 citations

  Abstract Evidence that racial minorities are targeted for searches during police traffic stops is widespread, but observed differences in outcomes following a traffic stop between white drivers and people of color could potentially be due to factors correlated with driver race. Using a unique dataset recording over 5 million traffic stops from 90 municipal police departments, we control for and evaluate alternative explanations for why a driver may be searched. These include: (1) the context of…

  PublisherDOI

• The Dynamics of Public Opinion

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2021-09-20 · 26 citations

  bookSenior author

  A central question in political representation is whether government responds to the people. To understand that, we need to know what the government is doing, and what the people think of it. We seek to understand a key question necessary to answer those bigger questions: How does American public opinion move over time? We posit three patterns of change over time in public opinion, depending on the type of issue. Issues on which the two parties regularly disagree provide clear partisan cues to t…

  PublisherDOI

• Fines, Fees, Forfeitures, and Disparities: A Link Between Municipal Reliance on Fines and Racial Disparities in Policing

  Policy Studies Journal · 2020 · 25 citations

  We investigate a possible linkage between municipal reliance on fines, fees, and forfeitures as a revenue source and policing behavior. With a dataset of four million traffic stops made by North Carolina municipalities, we demonstrate that a regular reliance on fines, fees, and forfeitures has powerful, predictable, and racially distinct impacts on black and white drivers, and that fiscal stress exacerbates these differences. A greater regular reliance on fines, fees, and forfeitures is linked t…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Database Development For The Study Of Public Policy

  NSF · $207k · 2002–2007

Frequent coauthors

• Amber E. Boydstun

  University of California, Davis

  80 shared

• Bryan D. Jones

  68 shared

• Suzanna De Boef

  66 shared

• Richard Richardson Distinguished

  University of Antwerp

  49 shared

• Peter Van Aelst

  University of Antwerp

  49 shared

• William T. Kretzer

  University of Antwerp

  49 shared

• Christopher Ansell

  49 shared

• Paul Cairney

  49 shared

Education

• PhD, Political Science

  University of Michigan

  1986

• MA, Political Science

  University of Michigan

  1983

• BA, Political Science and French

  University of Michigan

  1980

Awards & honors

• Guggenheim Fellow in 2023-24
• Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Similar researchers at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Gary Marksh-86
• Liesbet Hoogheh-66
• Christopher J. Clarkh-33