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Impact Investing for the Average American

03.18.14

Impact investing has become a buzz word in social enterprise circles but, even today, opportunities to invest are hardly accessible to the average American. Barriers include protective federal regulations as well as the inability to reach scale. BY CHRISSIE LONG On January 14, eBay ended its brief flirtation with impact investing. The internet giant had […]

Social Innovation and Philanthropy

Comcast, Time Warner, Netflix & You: The Policy Questions Hidden in Your Cable Bill

03.13.14

BY DENISE LINN Recently, while we’ve all been busy binge-watching House of Cards, our cable companies and online content providers have been splashed across the headlines. The announced $45 billion Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger and the Netflix-Comcast deal have flooded the Internet with articles about pricing, speed, and customer satisfaction. While sources have speculated about […]

2014 State of the Union: Issue by Issue, Part 2

01.28.14

A Note of Explanation: For the first time, the Kennedy School Review has tapped into the policy expertise of students across the Harvard Kennedy School of Government to collect their perspectives on President Obama’s 2014 State of the Union Address.  For two days, HKS students are providing their analysis on a broad range of policy […]

2014 State of the Union: Issue by Issue

01.27.14

A Note of Explanation: For the first time, the Kennedy School Review has tapped into the policy expertise of students across the Harvard Kennedy School of Government to collect their perspectives on President Obama’s 2014 State of the Union Address. Over the next two days we will share student analysis on a broad range of […]

Rethinking the Use of Sovereign Wealth Funds in a Knowledge Economy

11.19.13

By Will Hickey The time has come for sovereign wealth funds to produce some meaningful value. Now conservatively valued at around 6 trillion dollars, sovereign wealth funds, or SWFs, are massive state-owned investment vehicles of stocks, bonds, property, precious metals and other financial instruments, including private equity. They are overwhelmingly funded through oil and gas […]

America, Decoupled: Fighting the Trend

10.18.13

Note: This is part 2 of a 2 part series. Read Brian’s first post here. Photo credit: Michael S. Williamson (source here). BY BRIAN CHIGLINSKY Yesterday, we introduced the concept of the Great Decoupling – the idea that middle class income growth is no longer connected to the growth of the broader American economy. Today, we look […]

America, Decoupled: The Plight of the Middle Class

10.17.13

Note: This post is part 1 of a 2 part series. Part 2 will be available on Friday, October 18. BY BRIAN CHIGLINSKY It sounded like a fantasy novel. In the heyday of furniture manufacturing, she said, a high school student could drop out, walk out of his schoolhouse, down the road by the river […]

Counting What Counts: GDP Redefined

04.1.12

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 […]

International Relations and Security

Warning: Economics May Seriously Damage your Health

04.10.11

BY EDMUND CONWAY Walking down the street with a friend one day, you spot a $20 bill lying on the sidewalk. You stoop down gleefully to pick it up when your friend, who happens to be an economist, grabs you by the shoulder. “Stop,” he says, “That note isn’t really there.” “What?” you say. “If […]

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