PolicyCast

HKS Professor Jason Furman speaks with host Matt Cadwallader about the Trump administration’s tax reform proposal, expressing serious doubts about some of the claims made by the Council of Economic Advisors, a White House agency he previously presided over as chairman from 2013 to early 2017. Among the issues he digs into are simplifying the tax code; increasing the standard deduction for the middle class; how cutting the corporate tax would affect workers’ wages; repatriation of money held by foreign subsidiaries of US corporations; why it’s important that tax cuts be revenue neutral; and where he and House Speaker Paul Ryan would agree on tax reform.

Former US Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, currently a Fall 2017 Fellow at the Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics, recounts her experiences as a private sector executive and how they shaped her attitude towards environmental stewardship, and ultimately prepared her for her role in President Obama’s cabinet.

Former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and former Doctors for America CEO Alice Chen dive into the state of healthcare in the United States, from the Trump administration’s recent moves to end cost-sharing subsidies, to finding ways to cut costs by focusing efforts on prevention. They also discuss the oft-neglected impact of loneliness and stress on health. Dr. Chen and Vice Admiral Murthy were on campus as guests of the Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership.

Professor Tony Saich, director of the Kennedy School's Ash Center, lays out the challenges and tensions China faces just before the Communist Party gathers to choose its leadership at the 19th Party Congress, and how President Xi Jinping hopes to overcome them.

As Chairman of the FCC, Tom Wheeler reclassified broadband as a public utility, to ensure that internet service providers would continue to treat all data equally. Now, his successor is trying to undo those efforts, and he’s not happy about it. Wheeler is currently a Walter Shorenstein Media and Democracy Fellow at the Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center, as well as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School.

As South Africa’s Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela investigated and exposed corruption at the highest levels of government. Now she’s a fellow at the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative and is sharing her experience and insights on what it takes to hold powerful public officials accountable.

The bloody events that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia this summer shocked the national conscience, leaving many to wonder how such a thing could take place in modern America. In this week’s roundtable discussion, Professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Lecturer Robert Livingston, and IOP Fall 2017 Fellow Karen Finney put Charlottesville into a broader historical, psychological, and economic context.

Dr. John Park, the director of the Korea Working Group at the Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, digs into the political and economic forces driving Kim Jong-un’s continued provocations; the difficulty China faces in pressuring their longtime ally to give up its nuclear ambitions; and how the calculus has changed for officials in Washington.

For the last few months, former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been working with students and faculty at HKS on the deeply complex problems he grappled with during his decade-long tenure as the world's top diplomat. In this episode, Ban discusses the experiences that drove him to pursue public service as a young man - including a high school encounter with John F. Kennedy; the skillset that sets effective world leaders apart; the oft-overlooked connection between climate change and an increase in violent conflict; his reaction to the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement; and his advice for young people who are eager to make the world better and more prosperous.   Ban is currently at HKS as an Angelopolous Global Public Leaders Fellow.

Prof. Dani Rodrik has never been shy about bucking conventional wisdom, and many of his insights, often deemed unorthodox at their inception, now seem prescient. Nowhere is that more clear than in his warning, twenty years ago, that unrestricted globalization could have a backlash effect, straining the fundamental ideals that support democratic governance. In this episode, Rodrik explains some of his more notable insights, and discusses his new book, which takes aim at both economists and their detractors, seeking a middle ground where academic rigor can be effectively applied in the real world.