Social Innovation and Philanthropy

Meritocracy is generally celebrated as an ideology that promotes equality of opportunity, and hence, seen as just. Xuan Yee interrogates this view by exploring the moral, psychological, and intellectual ramifications of meritocracy when taken to its extreme. He argues that an unquestioned belief in meritocracy is dangerous, for it encourages the successful to justify their own moral deservingness of their position in society, and thus, legitimizes inequality.

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 […]

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 […]

THE 2020 NORTH STAR This March will mark ten years since President Obama gave his first major speech about education. In this speech, President Obama referenced the North Star goal for his education policy: that by the year 2020 the United States would once again lead the world in terms of the proportion of young […]

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 […]

BY KEVIN FRAZIER AND MASON JI To paraphrase the late Senator John McCain, “Civic participation over a lifetime will strengthen America’s civic purpose.” Now more than ever, we need civic purpose. A compulsory national service requirement can help us find it. The state of our civic well-being has been trending downwards: voter turnout is consistently […]

BY JEAN GUO AND RACHEL PEARL O’SHEA Digital transformation and its implications for the future of work have become the topic du jour among public policy officials, scholars, and commentators all over the world. With predictions that new technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning will threaten as many as 800 million jobs over the […]

Early last month, like many other Harvard affiliates, I lined up for tickets to the Harvard Foundation’s Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award ceremony at the Sanders Theater. The nominee of the year was no one else but Sir Elton John. Beyond the willingness to support his charitable work on AIDS/HIV, I would guess many there […]

BY NICOLE ABI-ESBER Have you ever felt exhausted from spreading yourself too thin? Or overwhelmed with commitments to others, with little time for personal errands or hobbies? Do you remember how this affected your concentration, work quality, and relationships? You may have been a victim of generosity burnout. This idea, coined by two Wharton professors […]

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico causing widespread destruction, including the total loss of the power grid and potable water systems. It was the most powerful hurricane to hit the island in almost 90 years. “Make no mistake — this is a humanitarian disaster involving 3.4 million US citizens,” Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo […]

BY JAMES PAGANO To kick off the Kennedy School Review’s special series In the Statehouse, Governor Dukakis spoke with me about what drew him to politics, how racial attitudes in Massachusetts have changed over time, his own advice for policy students interested in state government, and his aspirations for a more united Democratic Party. Michael […]

BY MARTA MILKOWSKA “This technology will save millions of patients!” This was the elated comment from the head of a tuberculosis health facility in Lesotho, in response to my prototype of a mobile phone application. Last summer, I was exploring the value of machine learning in predicting patients’ default rates in HIV and tuberculosis treatment […]