Best Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy Podcasts (2024)

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After an attempted assassination, how to turn back a rising tide of political threats and violence 52:12

12d ago52:12

52:12

The attempted assassination of former President and candidate Donald Trump has catalyzed an important discussion about both actual violence and threats of violence against political candidates, office-holders, policymakers, election officials, and others whose efforts help make our democracy work. Harvard Kennedy School professors Erica Chenoweth a…

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2 - Clerics, Monarchs, and the Ethnoreligious Cleansing of Western Europe 24:08

2M ago24:08

24:08

Guests: Şener Aktürk is Professor of International Relations at Koç University in Istanbul, Türkiye. International Security Article: Şener Aktürk, “Not So Innocent: Clerics, Monarchs, and the Ethnoreligious Cleansing of Western Europe,” International Security, Vol. 48, No. 4 (Spring 2024), pp. 87–136. Originally released on June 18, 2024.…

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The populism of self-destruction: How better policies can blunt the anti-clean energy backlash threatening humanity’s future 51:01

3M ago51:01

51:01

Populism—the political term that describes a group of self-described common people who oppose elite—has turned up in what for many is an unexpected place: the push for a worldwide transition to clean energy. Even though they’re vital to preventing the most catastrophic consequences of the manmade global climate crisis, clean energy measures are enc…

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Public policy, values, and politics: Why so much depends on getting them right 41:03

4M ago41:03

41:03

Public policy has great power, both to improve people’s lives if it is planned and executed well and to cause significant suffering if it is not, says Harvard Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf, who will step back from his post this summer to rejoin the faculty. He joins PolicyCast host Ralph Ranalli in this episode to discuss the crucial role p…

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The Ghost Budget: How U.S. war spending went rogue, wasted billions, and how to fix it 45:49

5M ago45:49

45:49

HKS Senior Lecturer Linda Bilmes, an expert on public finance who has studied post-9/11 war costs for the past 20 years, says their staggering $5 trillion cost was enabled by what she calls “The Ghost Budget.” Using an unprecedented combination of borrowing, accounting tricks, and outsourcing, presidential administrations, Congress, and the Pentago…

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1 - A ‘Nuclear Umbrella’ for Ukraine? 21:27

5M ago21:27

21:27

Guest: Matthew Evangelista is President White Professor of History and Political Science at Cornell University. International Security Article: This podcast is based on Matthew Evangelista, “A ‘Nuclear Umbrella’ for Ukraine? Precedents and Possibilities for Postwar European Security,” International Security, Vol. 48, No. 3 (Winter 2023/24), pp. 7–5…

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The Great Creep Backward: Policy responses to China’s slowing economy 55:37

5M ago55:37

55:37

Harvard Kennedy School Professor Rana Mitter and Harvard Business School Associate Professor Meg Rithmire say that after decades of tremendous growth, an economically slowing China is the new normal. With a growing debt-to-GDP ratio, an aging population, a devastating real estate bubble, and a loss of confidence among both foreign investors and dom…

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Two peoples. Two states. Why U.S. diplomacy in Israel and Palestine needs vision, partners, and a backbone 38:39

6M ago38:39

38:39

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Ed Djerejian says Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin once told him “There is no military solution to this conflict, only a political one.” Rabin was assassinated a few years later and today bullets are flying, bombs are falling, and 1,200 Israelis are dead after the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7 and nearly 3…

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We can productively discuss even the toughest topics—here’s how 46:14

6M ago46:14

46:14

As our discourse and our politics have become both more polarized and paralyzed, Harvard Kennedy School faculty members Erica Chenoweth and Julia Minson say we need to refocus on listening to understand, instead of talking to win. In mid-2022, the School launched the Candid and Constructive Conversations initiative, based on the idea that frank yet…

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The document that redefined humanity: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 75 43:10

8M ago43:10

43:10

Harvard Kennedy School Professor Kathryn Sikkink and former longtime Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth have spent years both studying the transformational effects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and have worked on the ground to make its vision of a more just, equal world a reality. On December 10th, the world celebrate…

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Legacy of privilege: David Deming and Raj Chetty on how elite college admissions policies affect who gains power and prestige 41:26

9M ago41:26

41:26

Legacy admissions, particularly at elite colleges and universities, were thrust into the spotlight this summer when the U.S. Supreme Court effectively ended affirmative action in admissions. The ruling raised many questions, and fortunately, Harvard Kennedy School professor David Deming and Harvard Economics Professor Raj Chetty were there with som…

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Need to solve an intractable problem? Try collaborative governing 42:21

9M ago42:21

42:21

Harvard Kennedy School faculty member Jorrit de Jong and Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson say the big, intractable problems challenges facing city leaders today are too complex to be addressed by any one agency or government department. Complex challenges like the shortage of economic opportunity and affordable housing, homelessness,…

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How to keep "TLDR" syndrome from killing your policy proposal 45:12

10M ago45:12

45:12

Harvard Kennedy School Professor Todd Rogers and Lecturer in Public Policy Lauren Brodsky say trying too hard to sound intelligent—even when communicating complex or nuanced ideas—isn't a smart strategy. Because today’s overburdened information consumers are as much skimmers as readers, Rogers and Brodsky teach people how to put readers first and u…

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Dr. Rochelle Walensky on making health care policy under fire 41:29

10M ago41:29

41:29

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who served as CDC director from 2021 to 2023, calls the job “probably the hardest thing I will ever do.” But she also calls it “the honor of a lifetime.” When she was appointed by President Biden as the CDC’s 19th director, she was already used to politicized health care issues, having spent her formative years as a physician…

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AI can be democracy’s ally—but not if it works for Big Tech 43:53

11M ago43:53

43:53

Kennedy School Lecturer in Public Policy Bruce Schneier says Artificial Intelligence has the potential to transform the democratic process in ways that could be good, bad, and potentially mind-boggling. The important thing, he says, will be to use regulation and other tools to make sure that AIs are working for us, and just not for Big Tech compani…

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#008: A place-based experiment to address racial equity - Minnesota's GroundBreak Coalition ft. Tonya Allen & Alex West Steinman 1:01:52

1y ago1:01:52

1:01:52

On this episode, we talk to two trailblazers from GroundBreak Coalition (GBC), a group of over 40 corporate, civic and philanthropy leaders who are trying to make a case that within our resources, a racially equitable and climate-ready future is possible. GBC is building a platform to mobilize and aggregate capital, and provide pathways for corpora…

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The more Indigenous nations self govern, the more they succeed 35:24

1y ago35:24

35:24

Harvard Kennedy School Professor Joseph Kalt and Megan Minoka Hill say the evidence is in: When Native nations make their own decisions about what development approaches to take, studies show they consistently out-perform external decision makers like the U.S. Department of Indian Affairs. Kalt and Hill say that’s why Harvard is going all in, recen…

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If you don’t have multiracial democracy, you have no democracy at all 45:54

1y ago45:54

45:54

The history of American democracy has always been fraught when it comes to race. Yet no matter how elusive it may be, Harvard Kennedy School professors Khalil Gibran Muhammad and Archon Fung say true multiracial democracy not only remains a worthy goal, but achieving it is critically important to our collective future. From the earliest, formative …

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Why smart infrastructure is a smart investment—for both Democrats and Republicans—in an era of historic public works spending 36:34

1+ y ago36:34

36:34

As the U.S. prepares to spend hundreds of billions on new projects, HKS Professor Stephen Goldsmith says successfully upgrading our infrastructure will not only require spending all that money smartly, but spending it on infrastructure that is itself smart—full of sensors that can anticipate problems before they require costly repairs and that serv…

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Transitioning to clean power without workers absorbing the shock 38:54

1+ y ago38:54

38:54

Harvard Kennedy School Professor Gordon Hanson and Harvard Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability James Stock say an important part of the green energy transition will be mitigating its effects on employment, both in the United States and overseas. Talking about the clean energy transition can conjure up images of commuters using sleek electri…

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The rising tide no one’s talking about—finding homes for millions of climate crisis migrants 35:47

1+ y ago35:47

35:47

When it comes to the climate crisis, there’s barely a day that goes by when we don’t hear about the impending effects of rising sea levels and storm-driven tides. But Harvard professors Jaqueline Bhabha and Hannah Teicher say there’s another rising tide that’s not getting as much attention, despite its potential to reshape our world. It’s the wave …

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#007: Rachel Lipson on America’s Hidden Economic Engines: Community Colleges 54:23

1+ y ago54:23

54:23

On this episode, we talk with Rachel Lipson about the community college system in the US. Rachel was until recently co-founder and director of the Harvard Project on Workforce, an interdisciplinary, collaborative project across the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Rachel and Robert Schwa…

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Local news is civic infrastructure. And it’s crumbling. Can we save it? 44:48

1+ y ago44:48

44:48

Harvard Kennedy School professors Nancy Gibbs and Tom Patterson say local news is civic infrastructure. And it's crumbling. Like bridges, local news organizations use facts to help people connect with each other over the chasm of partisan political divides. People need reliable information to make important decisions about their lives—Where should …

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There's groundbreaking new science to help cut methane emissions, but is there the political will? 40:35

1+ y ago40:35

40:35

Harvard Kennedy School Professor Robert Stavins and Professor Daniel Jacob of Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are at the forefront of new efforts to monitor and control methane, a potent greenhouse gas. It used to seem like methane wasn't such a big deal. It was that other climate gas, the one that was the butt of cow flatulenc…

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#006. Lisa Nandy: UK's Levelling Up, progressive politics, and localism 56:53

1+ y ago56:53

56:53

We kick off 2023 with Lisa Nandy, a member of UK's Labour Party and Member of Parliament for Wigan since 2010. She serves as the Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing, Communities & Local Government. In the past, she has also served as Shadow Foreign Secretary, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, and Shadow Minist…

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Joe Aldy on the complex economics of the clean energy transition 45:37

1+ y ago45:37

45:37

Economist and Harvard Kennedy School Professor Joe Aldy says possibly the most complex—and one of the most existentially important—problems facing humanity is how to pull out the roots of fossil fuel infrastructure that are so deeply embedded in the global economy. The work is complex and the scale is immense; In fact it’s been said that transition…

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#005. Danny Kennedy: The clean energy transition, local coalitions, equity and the green economy workforce 1:05:11

1+ y ago1:05:11

1:05:11

In this episode, we discuss the transition to clean energy with guest Danny Kennedy. Danny is the CEO of New Energy Nexus, a global platform organization for funds and incubators with chapters around the world. Danny has spent 25 years playing different roles to facilitate the transition to clean energy. He also co-hosts, with Cate Blanchett, "Clim…

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Goals and realities: What World Cup performances can teach us about development in African countries 33:44

1+ y ago33:44

33:44

Matt Andrews, the faculty director of the Building State Capability program at Harvard Kennedy School, says the reasons why African nations haven’t done better at soccer’s world championships have a lot in common with why much of the continent’s economic promise has also gone unfulfilled. The World Cup, the biggest championship in soccer—or footbal…

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