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The Philanthropy Con

The Philanthropy Con

January 10, 2019

Dissent | By Vanessa Williamson PhD 2015, Senior Fellow in Governance Studies, Brookings Institution. In a democracy, taxes are better than charity, argues Williamson.

Why elite colleges should use a lottery to admit students

Why elite colleges should use a lottery to admit students

January 8, 2019

The Conversation | By Natasha Warikoo PhD 2005, Associate Professor of Education, Harvard University. Reprinted in Times Higher Education, Quartz, San Francisco Chronicle, and others. Selected for Five Best Ideas of the Day by The Aspen Institute.

Andrew Leigh

The End of the Australian Miracle?

October 9, 2018

The New York Times | By Andrew Leigh (PhD 2004). The country needs to find ways to share prosperity with workers, writes Andrew Leigh, a Labor Party member of the Australian Parliament.

Protesters march in Ferguson, Mo., in August 2014 after the shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old. (Jeff Roberson/AP)

What happens to police departments that collect more fines? They solve fewer crimes.

September 24, 2018

Washington Post | By Rebecca Goldstein, Michael Sances, and Hye Young You PhD 2014. Based on the authors' research, "Exploitative Revenues, Law Enforcement, and the Quality of Government Service," forthcoming in Urban Affairs Review.

Rebecca Goldstein is a PhD candidate in Government and a Malcolm Hewitt Wiener PhD Scholar in Poverty and Justice. Hye Young You received her PhD in Political Economy and Government from Harvard and is now Assistant Professor in the Wilf Family Department of Politics at New York University.

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JAMA Pediatrics

A Social Justice Framework for Lead Policy

August 27, 2018

JAMA Pediatrics | By Jessica Wolpaw Reyes PhD '02, Professor of Economics, Amherst College. How, given scarce resources, should society best address the threats that lead poses?

Anthony Abraham Jack

It's Hard to Be Hungry on Spring Break

March 17, 2018

The New York Times | By Anthony Abraham Jack, PhD '16. It is one thing to extend coveted invitations to poor students in recruiting them, writes Jack. it's another to really prepare for their arrival. Jack is a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Right-to-Work Laws Have Devastated Unions — and Democrats

Right-to-Work Laws Have Devastated Unions — and Democrats

March 8, 2018

The New York Times | By James Feigenbaum PhD 2016, Alexander Hertel-Fernandez PhD 2016,  and Vanessa Williamson PhD 2015. Based on the authors' NBER paper, "From the Bargaining Table to the Ballot Box: Downstream Effects of Right to Work Laws."

James Feigenbaum received his PhD in Economics from Harvard and is now Assistant Professor of Economics at Boston University. Alexander Hertel-Fernandez received his PhD in Government and Social Policy from Harvard and is now Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Vanessa Williams received her PhD in Government and Social Policy from Harvard and is now a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

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Unions

Right-to-Work Laws Have Devastated Unions — and Democrats

March 8, 2018

The New York Times | By James Feigenbaum (PhD '16), Alexander Hertel-Fernandez (PhD '16), and Vanessa Williamson (PhD '15). James Feigenbaum, Assistant Professor of Economics at Boston University; Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Asssistant Professor of Public Affairs at Columbia University; and Vanessa Williamson, a Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, are members of the Scholars Strategy Network.

Based on the authors' research, "From the Bargaining Table to the Ballot Box: Political Effects of Right to Work Laws," recently released as an NBER Working Paper.
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Boston Review

The Almost Inevitable Failure of Justice

February 22, 2018

Boston Review | By Thad Williamson (PhD '04). Today it is hard not to fear that the persistence of racial injustice and U.S. poverty is anything but a permanent feature of our democracy, writes Williamson, in his review essay of Tommie Shelby's Dark Ghettos. "The lopsided distribution of wealth characteristic of U.S. capitalism must be on the table in any discussion about realizing social justice—including the discussion of ghetto poverty."

Thad Williamson is Associate Professor of Leadership Studies and Philosophy, Politics, Economics and Law at the University of Richmond and co-editor of Property-Owning Democracy: Rawls and Beyond. In 2014-2016, Williamson served as the first director of the City of Richmond's Office of Community Wealth Building while on leave from the University of Richmond.