Kennedy School Review

A startup boom is contributing to economic growth in India. But the government doesn’t have a full picture of the impact of entrepreneurship on job creation. More detailed data collection would enable the government to better understand and support startups, writes Aditi Banerjee.

BY WILL LINDSEY As a proud North Carolinian, I’ve frequently found myself explaining the state’s policies and politics to critics. For citizens of our state, it feels like we can’t catch a break. I don’t think the country will soon forget the stain of NC House Bill 2 in 2016. The bill removed anti-discrimination protections […]

BY LAUREN MCHUGH In the hundreds of campaign tweets made by Illinois governor candidates Bruce Rauner and J.B. Pritzker in the past several months, they have each mentioned pensions just once. This is despite the state’s unfunded pension liability exceeding the GDP of Iceland, Nicaragua and Kenya combined. Behavioral economics tells us that precisely because […]

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 HONG DAE-UN AND LEE JU-YOEN The September 18–20 summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang captured the attention of the world. For the first time since the end of the Korean War, the two Koreas signed a de facto non-aggression pact that aims to greatly reduce […]

BY STEFAN NORGAARD On a cold December afternoon in 2017, I step inside the offices of Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), run by Marty Chen of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. I am immediately transported. Photographs from around the world fill this warm, colorful space. On the […]

BY MATT MCDOLE Last week’s Congressional hearing on sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was a painful moment for many Americans. 20 million watched on television and many more tuned in online – CNN reported this year’s biggest day of live-streaming yet – as Dr. Christine Blasey Ford tearfully recounted being sexually […]

BY GRIFFIN SMITH The world in 2100 will look and feel like a different place than the one we know today. The global population is projected to rise by three billion people—the population of more than two new Chinas. At the same time, extreme global weather events, precipitation variability, and mean temperatures will also increase. […]

BY MICAH MELIA Brett Kavanaugh is the latest name embroiled in the #metoo movement. For the last week, we’ve heard countless voices weigh in on how multiple allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment should shape his confirmation hearing. The tone is different—we’re not talking about Hollywood, we’re not talking about the office—but really, we’ve […]

BY KATYA KLINOVA My great-grandfather went through four labor camps during World War II and died in the fifth one. We try to keep the memory of him alive in the family, and when I tell his story to my school-age nephews, I consider it extremely important to refer to those death camps not as […]

BY DANIELA PHILIPSON In 2017, the average proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments was barely above 23% (World Bank). In Latin America this proportion is a little higher at 29%. While the representation of women in legislative bodies around the world is not predicted by GDP per capita or any other economic […]

BY BEN MCGUIRE After Vikash Singh was prosecuted in Los Angeles for growing medical marijuana in 2014, he found that life with a conviction on his record was a “minefield” of legal hoops. He was a college-educated former teacher from a middle-class background who had served his community service sentence, but relevant experience was no […]