Maxwell School News and Commentary

"I think it is fair to say that the tax increase—assuming it is as big as Senator Sanders projects—is about as large as the [13-point] tax increases enacted to finance World War II," as measured as a share of GDP, says Leonard Burman, Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics.

Leonard Burman, Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics, says raising significantly more tax revenue to fund Medicare for All "is plausible in the sense that it is theoretically possible. But the revolution that would come along with it would get in the way." 

"Community groups like the Urban League started doing audits and tests to show discrimination," John Yinger, Trustee Professor of Economics and Public Administration and International Affairs, said. "In 1973, the Urban League found a lot of discrimination in some of the properties that Trump Management owned."

"I’d argue that much of the dysfunction we see in online interactions is just a symptom of much larger and older social problems, including but not limited to racism and misogyny," says Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science.

Theresa Singleton, professor of anthropology, says the discovery of a woman's DNA in Belvoir matching with people living in Sierra Leone today holds "great promise" for future research—but the cost of DNA analysis may put it out of reach for some archaeologists.

"It [undocumented immigration] was invented by legislators who wanted to close the border. And the vast, costly deportation apparatus that has been built as a result has created new problems, too,"  writes Elizabeth Cohen, associate professor of political science.

Professor of Economics Mary Lovely argues that Trump’s trade actions "are a prime example of 20th-century tools aimed at the knowledge-embodying trade flows of the 21st century."

Mary Lovely, professor of economics, explains why lower-income consumers, who tend to buy more goods from countries such as China, might end up feeling squeezed more than their higher-income counterparts.

Lerner Chair Shannon Monnat's research found that the Rust Belt counties that put Trump over the top were those that lost the most people in recent years to deaths of despair—those due to alcohol, drugs, and suicide.