Kennedy School Review

BY SACHA FEINMAN Andrew Sullivan is a journalist and political commentator. A former editor of the New Republic, he is a widely published author known for his irreverent and fiery political commentary, showcased in his blog, the Dish. He is a graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. KSR The […]

BY JAMES WALSH One of the painful lessons of the Great Recession has been that markets do not operate in a vacuum. They are influenced by a variety of external factors, including socioeconomic dynamics, norms of behavior, and institutions. Conversely, the market also has the capacity to shape our politics and society by creating and […]

BY JOHN VRAKAS Standing in the heart of a village in northwestern Rwanda, a farmer named Eusebe faces a dilemma. Traders have offered him 36,000 Rwandan francs (RWF), or about US $60 per ton, for his plantains. He hesitates; the farmer knows this is a profitable price, but he has no idea if it’s a […]

BY CHRIS GUSTAFSON This article was originally published in the 2012 edition of the Kennedy School Review.   Chris Gustafson is a 2012 Master in Public Policy candidate at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he is focusing on health care policy and sarcasm. Photo source here.

BY ALEX REMINGTON A Review of Killing the Messenger: A Story of Radical Faith, Racism’s Backlash, and the Assassination of a Journalist by Thomas Peele (Crown Publishers, 2012) Five years ago, a radical Black Muslim sect in Oakland, CA, gunned down the journalist Chauncey Bailey to prevent him from writing a story about them. Bailey’s […]

BY ABIGAIL BELLOWS As pro-democracy revolutions swept the Arab world last year, citizens in the world’s two largest democracies also rose up. In India, a massive anticorruption movement spearheaded by activist Anna Hazare started in April 2011 and boomed in August. In the United States, Occupy Wall Street and its sister movements sprung up in […]

BY SHERRY HAKIMI After the 1979 Iranian revolution and subsequent Iran hostage crisis, the United States ended its diplomatic relationship with Iran. In the period since, veiled threats and economic sanctions have become the American government’s primary mode of engagement with the Islamic Republic of Iran. This strategy has further entrenched the Islamic Republic and […]

BY MARK TRUMAN In early 2009, I attempted to secure a loan through a new federal program designed to help entrepreneurs improve their cash flow by consolidating outstanding debt. As a cash-poor but profitable enterprise, my tutoring business, Omniac Education, seemed to be a perfect candidate for the program. Although we sometimes had trouble making […]

BY MARKUS SCHIMMER AND SVEN KUNISCH The primordial gods—along with the world economy—must be sitting at the edge of their seats right now as they watch a very Greek drama unfold in the European Union (EU). As public debt in the EU’s most vulnerable countries has reached higher and higher levels, several now face a […]

BY NISHANT LALWANI It’s a hot Saturday morning in Ahmedabad, India—the last before the monsoons start—and Leeladhar Bhatt Hall is packed with visitors. Hundreds of people have gathered here to attend a two-day customer evaluation session by the Micro Housing Finance Company (MHFC). MHFC has partnered with a builder that is constructing apartments on the […]

BY BEN BEACHY AND JUSTIN ZORN What did the BP oil spill in 2010 mean for the U.S. economy? Progress. At least that’s the conclusion of the economy’s de facto benchmark—gross domestic product (GDP). As the massive oil slick seeped into the Gulf Shore, J.P. Morgan representatives noted that economic activity generated by cleanup efforts […]

BY SIMON ROWELL On the night of 10 February 2011, Tahrir Square in central Cairo was seething with people inspired by the prospect of unprecedented political change. Transformed from a busy, dirty transport hub, the square had become an oasis of calm and cleanliness, organized by voluntary systems for recycling, compost, lost-and-found items, and even […]