Kennedy School Review

BY DAN FISHER The Trump administration is set to send about 4,000 new troops to Afghanistan, and the usual pessimists are coming out of the woodwork. The naysayers argue against what some are referring to as another “surge,” treating the increase as if it were a time warp back to 2010, when the United States […]

BY JOHN SCIANIMANICO David Ricardo, the father of modern-day trade theory, must be rolling in his grave. Ricardo’s doctrine of comparative advantage helps explain how the rise of international trade has benefited countries around the world. Global GDP per capita has exploded, life expectancy has increased, and billions have been lifted out of poverty. In […]

BY MATT MCDOLE The clatter of rocks on limestone brings our conversation to an abrupt halt as we dart for cover along the sides of the narrow street. Under the questionable protection of torn awnings, our group of Harvard graduate students resumes the journey into the heart of the medieval Palestinian City of Hebron. Overhead, nets and metal grates hang down, sagging under the weight of kitchen […]

BY KINGA TSHERING  “Gross National Happiness measures the quality of a country in more holistic way and believes that the beneficial development of human society takes place when material and spiritual development occurs side by side to complement and reinforce each other.” His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Fifth King of Bhutan (2006–) Is a […]

BY MATTHEW ERIC SPECTOR President Trump’s recent “technology week” was full of contradictions. Although the administration put on airs to appeal to Silicon Valley, top CEOs, and emerging innovators, the Trump team failed to spell out concrete plans for expanding technological opportunities and closing the growing digital divide. While playing host to executives from Facebook, […]

BY DOUG LAVEY Many hail autonomous vehicles (AV) as a life-altering innovation that will radically transform the way society transports individuals and goods. However, few resources are dedicated to the impact AVs may have on those individuals and goods that should not be transported, namely illegal human and drug trafficking. Consider the following scenarios: 1)     […]

BY COLIN MURPHY In the United States, twenty-two million people work in government.[1] These people sweep our streets, educate our children, and protect our borders. So much of our quality of life depends on how well these employees and their teams are working. Government performance—the ability of the people and organizations within government to deliver […]

BY HAMADA ZAHAWI The windy, unpaved coastal road seemed to stretch forever. We were clearly lost, driving as we had been for miles in search of the almost mythical ‘Lifejacket Graveyard’ near Molyvos. We were in Greece as part of a group of 45 student volunteers from myriad countries, professions, and schools across Harvard—tasked with […]

BY ALEXANDER MEDGETT In March 2017, Germany’s foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel, stated that the two percent of GDP defense spending goals agreed upon by NATO members at the 2006 Riga summit were ‘totally unrealistic’ for Germany. Gabriel’s statement comes in light of Rex Tillerson’s recent appeal that all NATO member states should remain committed to […]

BY ANDREAS WESTGAARD As the 115th Congress continues to battle on issues like the Affordable Care Act, judicial nominations, and cabinet appointments, the media and partisans alike will hype the pervasive politics-as-blood-sport narrative. Diverging from that narrative, this piece focuses instead on what Republicans and Democrats could actually work on together. While bipartisan proposals will […]

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 […]

BY HAIYANG ZHANG Over two thousand years ago during China’s Han dynasty, a Chinese imperial envoy blazed a land route via Central Asia that derived its name from the lucrative silk trade. Then, during the Ming dynasty in the 15th century, the imperial court’s admiral commanded his fleet to the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa […]