American Academy of Arts & Sciences | “Democracy is under siege.” So begins the Summer 2017 issue of Dædalus on “The Prospects and Limits of Deliberative Democracy.” In their introduction to the issue, editors James S. Fishkin of Stanford University and Jane Mansbridge, the Charles F. Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values at Harvard Kennedy School, consider the crisis of confidence in the ideal of democracy as rule by the people. If the “will of the people” can be manufactured by marketing strategies, fake news, and confirmation bias, then how real is our democracy? If the expanse between decision-making elites and a mobilized public grows, then how functional is our democracy? If political alienation and apathy increase, then how representative is our democracy? [ead more] View issue contents View introduction and selected articles (open access)
SAGE Insight |How should scholars address the problem of inequality in American society? William Julius Wilson, an expert on race relations and inequality and the 2017 SAGE-CASBS award winner, recommends an interdisciplinary approach. Professor Wilson is the Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at Harvard. Watch the interview (20 minutes)
PBS Newshour | Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard, and PBS NewsHour’s special correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault hosted and moderated the 2017 Hutchins Forum on “Race and Racism in the Age of Trump.” They were joined by Inequality & Social Policy faculty members Leah Wright Riguer and Lawrence D. Bobo, as well as New York Times columnist Charles Blow, Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law, NPR Politics reporter Asma Khalid, White House corrrspondent April Ryan, and conservative radio host Armstrong Williams. ...
Wall Street Journal | By Jason Furman, Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy, Harvard Kennedy School. Rethink unemployment insurance and increase public investment in improving skills, Furman argues.
Project Syndicate | By Jason Furman and Lawrence H. Summers. Jason Furman is Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Lawrence Summers is Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University.
Financial Times | By Lawrence H. Summers, Charles Eliot University Professor. Signs of strength are largely unrelated to government policy, Summers argues. "The proposed tax cuts may prolong the sugar high. But they are no substitute for the new economic foundation we so desperately need."
Wall Street Journal | By Jason Furman, Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy, Harvard Kennedy School. The White House’s wild claims about the wage effects of corporate rate cuts don’t add up, Furman writes.
