Michael Light

My work lies at the intersections of demography, law, and stratification. Incorporating insights from sociology, demography, and criminology, I study the legal and criminological consequences of international migration, the relationship between racial/ethnic stratification and crime, and the health consequences of major social and demographic shifts. Much of my research reflects my training in advanced quantitative methods. To this end, I earned the Quantitative Methods certification from the Penn State Department of Sociology and have published articles utilizing advanced modeling techniques including spatial econometric (GIS) and geographically weighted regression analysis, instrumental variable analysis, and hierarchical linear and non-linear models.

CDE Research Area Affiliations:

Demography of Inequality; Health and the Life Course.

Selected Publications:

Light, Michael T., and Karl Vachuska. “Increased homicide played a key role in driving Black-White disparities in life expectancy among men during the COVID-19 pandemic.” PloS one 19, no. 8 (2024): e0308105.

Light, Michael T., and Karl Vachuska. “Does Racial Bias Explain the Black-White Sentencing Gap across US Courts?.” Social Problems (2024): spae016.