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Will the COVID-19 Stimulus Package Strengthen the Case for Central Bank Digital Currency?

05.30.20

When your kitchen is on fire, you wouldn’t want a passcode-protected fire extinguisher, wrapped in triple-sealed packaging, sitting in your garage. Delays in applying your tools can be fatal. With the COVID-19 pandemic rupturing the basic fabric of the global economy, shops around the corner are closing down, and millions of people are starting to […]

Public Finance

Rethinking the Decentralization of New Mexico’s Public Education System

05.30.20

After decades of languishing as one of the nation’s least effective public education systems, New Mexico is making significant strides toward becoming a model for public education. Visionary leadership from Governor Lujan Grisham has resulted in significant investments in New Mexico’s chronically underfunded public schools, with state policymakers increasing spending on public education by approximately […]

Education, Training and Labor

The United States Postal Service is Worth Saving

05.29.20

5980 miles. That’s the distance between Shishmaref, Alaska and Boston, Massachusetts. That’s about the same distance from Boston to Mongolia. The cost to send a letter from one point to the other? 55 cents. The same cost to send a letter from Boston to Cambridge. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented economic and financial […]

Public Finance

Thank You, HKS Community, for the Lessons You Taught Us About Connection

05.28.20

At a typical graduation, you often hear advice preceded by a small, innocuous phrase, “As you leave this place and go back out into the world…” But for the graduating class of 2020, we will hear strange new epithets like, “As you remain isolated from the rest of the world…”  It feels strange to say […]

Editorial Cartoon: Graduation 2020

05.28.20

Drew Madson is an award winning illustrator, educator, and entrepreneur. He studies Technology, Innovation and Education at Harvard Graduate School Education when he’s not in class at HKS. See more of his illustrations here. Instagram @drew1drew2drewyou

Diversity in All Things, Except Thought: How HKS Worsens Political Polarization

05.27.20

Image Credit: DonkeyHotey   The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) challenges students to “ask what you can do” in honor of the late president for whom the institution is named. While HKS is as diverse as any in America in terms of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, and life experience, one aspect is sorely missing: diversity […]

Editorial Cartoon: Spot the Difference

05.27.20

Laurent Boinot is a life-long learner, an innovation consultant, an award-winning EdTech entrepreneur and a fledgling cartoonist. He is a Mid-Career MPA at HKS. His purpose is “Expanding Curiosity!” See more of his cartoons here. Instagram @me_me_cartoon

An HKS Podcast with a Mission to Fix the News

05.27.20

The Dive podcast, launched by two HKS students and a Loeb fellow, features Harvard faculty discussing the news. Download their episodes here, including a soon to be released interview with President Lawrence Bacow on Harvard’s COVID response. When New York Magazine editor-in-chief Adam Moss stepped down last year, he spent Fall 2019 as a fellow […]

The Ugly and Not-so-ugly Truth About Social Progress in Mexico

05.26.20

On January 30th, 2020, a few moments after Mexico’s Statistical Agency (INEGI) released its advance estimate of the country’s economic growth, Mexico’s President–Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO)–stood in front of reporters for his daily morning press conference. It had become harder for AMLO to dodge the concerns posed by analysts and journalists about the perception of Mexico’s lack of economic growth.

Your Government or Nonprofit Job Does Not Mean Public Service

05.26.20

It’s common to hear a disapproving sigh anytime I tell someone I’ll be working in management consulting after HKS. I’m grateful to have a job, especially now during these challenging economic times. Before I accepted the offer, however, I kept asking myself: how could I, as someone who cares about public service, possibly work in […]

U.S. Immigration Policy Disproportionately Targeting Central Americans

05.26.20

What happens when a piece of a puzzle is lost? Can one still complete the puzzle? What about losing ten pieces? How many pieces can be lost until the puzzle can no longer be assembled? The U.S. immigration system is a complex puzzle that dictates the social, political, and economic integration of immigrants into American […]

Harvard Kennedy School Student Arbitrarily Detained in India

05.25.20

A doctor and his colleagues in Iran established the nation’s first HIV/AIDS prevention and care initiative – the “Triangular clinics” in 2000. This innovative model was accepted as a best practice by the World Health Organization and internationally. Unfortunately, in June 2008, he was arrested and eight months later, after a 5 minute trial, he […]

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