Maxwell School News and Commentary

"No economist providing policy prescriptions can ignore the political constraint of the inevitability of redistribution to the bottom 20-30 percent," writes Devashish Mitra, Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs. "Therefore, an important task before any policy economist is to suggest the most efficient form of this redistribution—one that hurts the rest of the society the least. Of course, it also has to be fiscally viable and responsible."

Chance Briggs '97 M.P.A., country director for Save The Children in Mozambique, says "the Southern hemisphere has never seen anything like this in a natural disaster." He assesses that "right now, funding is the urgent need...If we don't get people quickly back on their feet now, they will have trouble reconstructing their houses, reconstructing their livelihoods."

Steve Lux, director of Executive Education, and Maxwell alumnus Nick Armstrong '08 M.P.A./'14 Ph.D. (SSc), IVMF senior director of research and policy, claim the new program will help veterans and military family members who aspire to public office or another form of a political career.

"The longer the Democrats stay on this [Julian Assange's extradition], the more it’s helping the president [Donald Trump]," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute.

"With the technology we have today, returning to the moon is within reach in five years. As we keep rediscovering, exploration really is a journey. It only gets longer when we take a break," writes Sean O'Keefe, Howard G. and S. Louise Phanstiel Chair in Strategic Management and Leadership.

"For those who might totally dismiss such a scheme, by saying that it amounts to socialism, let me remind them that many believers in the power of markets, including myself, have throughout been in support of cash transfers as the least distortionary method of redistribution and fighting poverty," writes Devashish Mitra, professor of economics and Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs.

"I’d argue that much of the dysfunction we see in online interactions is just a symptom of much larger and older social problems, including but not limited to racism and misogyny," says Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science.

According to Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, the recent decline in life expectancy "is due almost entirely" to increases in overdoses and suicides. "Although the declines are small, they are unprecedented, and they are signals that there is a serious well-being crisis in the U.S."

"The alliance has had overwhelming positive influence and maintained its relevance," writes Robert Murrett, professor of practice of public administration and international affairs.