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Affordable Housing: The Balance Between Governments and Private Markets

10.30.18

BY CHRISTOPHER DUTTON Regardless of ethnicity, religion, or sex, homelessness is a persistent issue. The gloomy and humiliating truth for our federal government is that some reports estimate there are five vacant properties for every homeless person. Whether it be the Hoovervilles from the 1930s, Khayelitsha slums in Cape Town, South Africa, or the Dharavi […]

Tracking the Startup Boom in India

10.29.18

A startup boom is contributing to economic growth in India. But the government doesn’t have a full picture of the impact of entrepreneurship on job creation. More detailed data collection would enable the government to better understand and support startups, writes Aditi Banerjee.

Quintessence of Macroeconomic Uncertainty in the DR Congo

10.27.18

Since 2015, the DR Congo, a major rent-based economy in Africa, has embarked into macroeconomic turbulence with significant inflationary pressures and a severe exchange rate depression, partly due to a commodities slump. The economic downturn has contributed to strengthening the acute social crisis. The country is a fragile state on the edge, a product of […]

Politics

HKS Club Four wins ‘Fastest School’ title at Head of Charles

10.27.18

A record two Harvard Kennedy School crews raced in the 54th Head of the Charles Regatta on Saturday Oct. 20, competing against 54 other club eights, and 35 other club fours from across the country, and the globe. This year’s HKS Club Four captained by Andrew Swab HKS ’19 beat several teams in its race […]

From deadlock to deadline: Iraq’s new government faces pressure to reform

10.25.18

Newly minted President Barham Salih and Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi have one year to enact reform on pressing domestic issues, especially utility services and unemployment. If the government fails to implement changes, it may face another series of popular uprisings.

North Carolina’s Grants Help Students Get to the Finish Line

10.23.18

BY WILL LINDSEY As a proud North Carolinian, I’ve frequently found myself explaining the state’s policies and politics to critics. For citizens of our state, it feels like we can’t catch a break. I don’t think the country will soon forget the stain of NC House Bill 2 in 2016. The bill removed anti-discrimination protections […]

Expanding The Value Proposition For The SAF and Home Team

10.23.18

Since its establishment, the National Service (NS) institution has helped Singapore to maintain its security through military and civil defense. To increase the value proposition of NS in peacetime, Ng Paul Seen explores ways to enhance the nation-building aspect of NS, through a more holistic conception of the institution that includes individual development.

International Relations and Security

The write way to serve

10.20.18

We ought to be as principled in our writing as we are in our teaching and our learning. Todd Rogers, Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), runs an experiment for students in Science of Behavior Change. Groups are asked to write an online script enticing as many people as possible to […]

Minds Playing Tricks: Illinois’ Pension Crisis

10.19.18

BY LAUREN MCHUGH In the hundreds of campaign tweets made by Illinois governor candidates Bruce Rauner and J.B. Pritzker in the past several months, they have each mentioned pensions just once. This is despite the state’s unfunded pension liability exceeding the GDP of Iceland, Nicaragua and Kenya combined. Behavioral economics tells us that precisely because […]

Book Review: Unequal Partners – American Foundations and Higher Education Development in Africa

10.19.18

In Unequal Partners: American Foundations and Higher Education Development in Africa, Fabrice Jaumont focuses on American private foundation efforts since 2000 to invigorate the interest of governments and policymakers in higher education and its networks throughout Africa.[i] Reflecting this renewed interest, the primary subject of this work is the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa […]

Social Innovation and Philanthropy

President Santos: Prof. Heifetz asked me to talk to the victims to re-energize myself

10.19.18

Kai Dittmann interviewed President Juan Manuel Santos, former president of the Republic of Colombia and Nobel peace prize winner, for the Citizen. He talks to Kai about the Adaptive Leadership course with Heifetz, peace agreement, Venezuelan refugee crisis, and economic prosperity in Colombia. Santos has served as president of the Republic of Colombia from 2010 […]

A Career in Behavioral Insights: Interview with Robert Reynolds

10.18.18

Robert Reynolds is an MPP ‘15 and one of the founders of Behavioral Insights Student Group (BISG). Robert returned to the Kennedy School earlier in September to talk about his exciting new initiative with BISG students: Vote Tripling. By applying behavioral science to social networks, and empowering under-represented Americans to contribute to their cause, Vote […]

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