Harvard Kennedy School

The health insurance subsidies behind the government shutdown

Harvard Kennedy School's Mark Shepard discusses health insurance subsidies and why they have become such a sticking point for lawmakers.
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Turning the Tide: Evidence on State Takeover and District Turnaround from Lawrence, Massachusetts

Turning around chronically underperforming schools and districts has long been an elusive goal, despite prioritization at the highest levels of government. Researchers have examined school-level ...
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Explainer: How do tariffs work and how will they impact the American and global economy?

Over the past week, President Donald Trump announced, and then largely paused, a new tariff regime more severe than anything seen in more than a century, and certainly out of step with the United ...
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How understanding the economics of guns can improve public welfare

In 2022, there were more than 48,000 firearm-related deaths in the United States, and firearms were the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 19. But little is known about how the ...
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Young voters shifted right in the 2024 election; the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation examined why

One of the most surprising statistics from the 2024 presidential election was the surge of support President Trump received from Gen Z voters. While these voters, born between 1997 and 2012, turned ...
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Juan Jimenez: Bringing real-world development and political experience to bear on complex challenges

Economist and public leader Juan Jimenez MPA/ID 2010 has returned to Harvard Kennedy School as a lecturer in public policy. An expert in political economy and economic development, Jimenez served as ...
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Questions, Answers, and Some Cautionary Updates Regarding the 3.5% Rule

The “3.5% rule” refers to the claim that no government has withstood a challenge of 3.5% of their population mobilized against it during a peak event. In this brief paper, author Erica Chenoweth ...
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Enemy of the People: Trump's War on the Press, the New McCarthyism, and the Threat to American Democracy

Shortly after assuming office in January 2017, President Donald Trump accused the press of being an “enemy of the American people.” Attacks on the media had been a hallmark of Trump’s presidential ...
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Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights

The Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights serves as the hub of the Harvard Kennedy School’s research, teaching, and training in the human rights domain. The center embraces a dual mission: to educate ...
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Volunteer Roles and Opportunities

The Harvard Kennedy School alumni community is one of the largest networks of public policy professionals in the world. From presidents to prime ministers, analysts to social entrepreneurs, alumni in ...
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Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH

Dr. Rochelle Walensky served as the 19th Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2021-2023), Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School (2012-2021), and Chief of the Division of ...
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Thucydides’ Trap: Peace and rivalry between the United States and China

HOW SHOULD LEADERS AND POLICYMAKERS THINK about relative shifts in power between countries? Are there principles from history that countries can look back to that help understand geopolitical tensions ...