Business and Government

Every year in the United States, roughly $4 billion are spent performing 700,000 surgeries that we know don’t work.[1],[2] Why? In part because, on a superficial level, it sounds so plausible. This procedure, an arthroscopic partial meniscectomy, is a knee surgery that purports to relieve pain by trimming a frayed meniscus to return it to […]

In 2018 and 2019, more than 1000 businesses or their chief executive officers took public stands on constitutional, environmental and social matters often unrelated to their core business. The rise of unprecedented CEO activism in America signals the permanent convergence of business and social responsibility in the Information Age.  This activism by business leaders is in […]

World War II leveled Manila. The war destroyed infrastructure and seriously damaged critical parts of Southeast Asia’s first railway system. In response to the devastation and operators’ failure to address transportation demands, army-surplus trucks were repurposed into “Jeepneys” intended to accommodate 16–24 passengers. Temporary certificates to operate were extended to underfinanced operators so long as […]

An expansion of cashless transactions in Africa would be transformative! Imagine a world where a Burundian could trade easily with a Cape Verdean despite the countries having different currencies and belonging to different economic zones. But, with 1.2 billion people spread across 54 independent countries in one continent, is a cashless Africa achievable? The case […]

Thione Niang, Co-founder and Managing Partner of AKON Lighting Africa, sat down with our Partnerships Editor, Katherine Townsend for a conversation during his visit as a speaker at the 2019 MIT Africa Innovate Conference. In addition to his work with AKON Lighting Africa, Thione created the Give 1 Project, which promotes leadership and entrepreneurship through […]

In their first debates on June 26 and 27, twenty candidates made the case for why they should be the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee. The candidates highlighted a number of tangible and compelling reasons, including their prior records in government, their well-conceived policy solutions, and their electability. But, while pedigree and experience are important predictors […]

Looking ahead, Latin America faces no shortage of policy challenges, and many (if not most) of these have domestic economic and political roots. The problems confronting individual countries vary markedly in origin, nature, and severity, so it would be misleading to discuss many of these at the regional level. The economic implosion inflicted on Venezuela […]

Large investment projects are a source of economic and social development for countries. They increase the national income, are a source of employment, stimulate the local economies where they are located, and generate tax revenues for government. However, investment projects can also generate negative impacts on the environment, in the local communities, or in patrimonial […]

A Q&A with Esperanza Guevara of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights In March 2018, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, whose department administers the decennial United States census, announced he would include a question on the 2020 Census asking, for the first time since 1950: “Is this person a citizen of the United States?” The question […]

The U.S. Census Bureau is facing a series of challenges this time around – insufficient funding, a new online component, and an administration that is unwelcoming to diversity. In particular, the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress have become the newest members of the mole brigade – politicians determined to avoid seeing the world as […]

Every U.S. census faces challenges and controversies; counting a mobile, growing, and increasingly diverse “nation of immigrants” — not to mention a displaced Native population and enslaved peoples at various points in our history — was always destined to be a complex, imperfect effort. Fortunately, the census has gotten more accurate over the decades, and […]

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all […]