Kennedy School Review

BY BENJAMIN CLAYTON I have always thought that commencement ceremonies come at the wrong time. This coming May, around 550 of us will graduate from the Harvard Kennedy School, and celebrate by sitting through speeches on how to “go out into the world”, “be the change” and “ask what you can do.” This is fine. […]

BY ROBERT REYNOLDS Let’s say “Debbie the Democrat” is running for the US House of Representatives. Debbie knows she can win votes through personal contact with constituents. However, because doing this through typical methods like door knocking is time-intensive, her consultants insist she prioritize using TV ads and mailers to reach voters at scale. As […]

BY DAVID FULL The October 2017 decision to award the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences to Professor Richard Thaler, a pioneer of behavioral economics and the father of ‘Nudge’ theory, promotes the narrative that behavioral science has sparked a public policy revolution. Even the latest series in the Harvard Kennedy School Review declared that “the […]

BY DR. ALISTER MARTIN The knocks came in three shrill taps on the screen door to her apartment in Everett, Massachusetts. An hour before Cheryl, whose name was changed for this story, had sent a text to her dealer telling him to delete her phone number. She had two young children and her prescription pain […]

BY JULIUS LIM For most of us, last Thursday passed by just like any other day. But December 14, 2017, marked the fifth anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting. Though most of us carried on with our lives unaware of the day’s significance, memorials were held to mourn the tragic loss of twenty children and […]

BY ANGELICA QUICKSEY Although quantitative data and analysis can help us design better policies and programs, we have edged alarmingly close to a worldview that suggests the use of data automatically scrubs away ideology and prejudice. This worldview neglects the ways that numbers can reflect human biases and the ways data can be dangerous. Data […]

BY ABE BALDRY True, Monaco doesn’t have a nuclear program. But when the Paradise Papers were leaked in early November, the world learned that tax havens such as Monaco cause as much harm as rogue states. When tax havens help the rich to avoid paying their fair share, every pound that goes uncollected is a […]

BY CLAUDIA NG While many of us are worried about escalating tensions in the Korean peninsula, there is a looming national security threat right here at home: obesity. In fact, one in three Americans between the ages of 17 to 24 cannot be drafted for military service because they are overweight or obese. Why are […]

BY DEVASHISH CHANDRA In Japan, video game developers recently designed a game, Rehabilium Kiritsu-kun, that motivates stroke patients to do their daily exercises. In Africa, MTV introduced a new TV soap opera, Shuga, that fuses sexual-health messaging with gripping storylines. A group of popular musicians in Mali, Troupe De Haire, recently created a music album targeting […]

By HALA AL-HARIRI “In this room, the honorable Bchara El Khoury, President of the Republic of Lebanon, was arrested from November 11 until November 22, 1943.” This is written on a plaque on the wall of The Rashaya Citadel, also known as the Citadel of Independence. Another plaque says the same for the honorable Prime Minister Riad […]

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 […]

BY JEFF ROUSSET Be prepared for eight years of President Trump. Van Jones recently offered that warning at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. That’s the cost if Democrats fail to learn from 2016. We can’t just blame Russia for Trump, and it’s not enough to criticize Republicans. We need to understand the problems facing […]