Policy Punchline

Made popular by Nobel Laureate and economist Paul Romer, charter city is a new vision for building prosperous cities that can unlock economic potentials and solve common issues in urbanization and poverty for their citizens and countries they are part of. In this episode, Dr. Mark Lutter, Founder of the Charter Cities Institute, discusses what charter cities are, why they are unique compared to special economic zones (SZE), how they can promote progress and growth within a country by reducing regulatory barriers, and how successful examples like Shenzhen and Dubai embody both their advantages and drawbacks. Due to rapid increases of urban population, many governments in the developing world have shown to be ill-equipped to provide the necessary infrastructure to support the cities. Dr. Lutter has long called into question the conventional and popular idea that urbanization leads to increased productivity and economic growth, and he believes that charter cities could be a bold solution to poorly managed urba

Nicholas Lemann’s recent book, “Transaction Man,” is an account of the United States economy in the 20th and 21st century, how it has transformed over time, and the impacts of such transformation on all of us. Specifically, Prof. Lemann examines three remarkable economic and social thinkers who he calls, “Institution/Organization Man,” “Transaction Man,” and “Network Man,” who epitomized and helped create the three main eras of American economy. 
In this interview, Prof. Lemann explains these three eras in detail, why none of these models has successfully brought sustainable prosperity to the American people, and how his vision of pluralism might provide a synthesis and possible solutions to today’s urgent social problems. “Institution Man” = Adolf Berle, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s chief theorist of the economy, who imagined a society dominated by large corporations, which a newly powerful federal government had forced to become benign and stable institutions, contributing to the public good by offering

Alan Blinder was the Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System under President Bill Clinton. In this episode, we seek to answer questions on the Fed’s unprecedented actions in light of the COVID-19 crisis and their long-term implications, from whether the injection of liquidity is propping up the financial markets in unhealthy ways, to whether the lack of coordination between fiscal and monetary policies could potentially exacerbate inequality like after the 2008 financial crisis… We say that the Fed’s actions have been unprecedented because it not only pledged to buy an unlimited quantity of government debt, but also decided to support even some of the riskiest corporate bonds; it lowered the target rate to 0-0.25 percent and announced in the June FOMC meeting that it’s not even “thinking about thinking about raising rates…” Is the Fed well-equipped to mitigate the economic effects of a pandemic? In the process, how can we manage the public expectation so that the Fed is not bein

What is gerrymandering and how does it affect people’s electoral rights? How can we use technology and data to empower communities to get the representation they deserve? More importantly, why is 2020 important besides the presidential elections, and how can it shape American politics for at least another decade? In this interview with Princeton professor Sam Wang, we explore what gerrymandering means for local communities and voters, why it has become such a big issue in the last decade, and what citizens can do about it. We also discuss how COVID-19 impacted the 2020 electoral and redistricting processes in the United States, as well as what it means for the current election and gerrymandering cycles. Sam Wang is a unique figure: a neuroscientist by trade, he started analyzing politics in the early 2000s, when he was among the first to aggregate US presidential polls and use statistical methods to analyze them. This work led to the establishment of the Princeton Election Consortium, a blog opened with the

“Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, The Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party” is the latest book of Princeton politics professor and historian Julian Zelizer. The book explores how the 50th House Speaker Newt Gingrich started an era where Republicans practiced a ruthless style of partisanship that ignored the conventional norms of Washington and continually tested how far politicians could go in bending government institutions to suit their partisan purposes. In this interview, Prof. Zelizer, Tiger, and G. Terrell Seabrooks discuss some of its most salient themes and explore the many thrilling stories in this book: such as Gingrich’s takedown of Democrat House Speaker Jim Wright – a pivotal moment when Gingrich “swept the old order aside;” or, in 1983, Gingrich crafted the message of his career – branding the Democratic Party as the symbol of Washington’s corruption in the post-Watergate era… Gingrich redefined partisanship by expanding the boundaries of what was permissible in

In late June 2020, Covid-19 claimed one of the largest giants in the energy industry: Chesapeake Energy. Chesapeake is a leader in the fracking industry that had been on the rocks for a few years now. In this episode, we detail the rapid rise of the fracking industry with Russell Gold, WSJ senior energy reporter in Texas. Gold’s first book, "The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World," documents the invention of hydraulic fracturing in 1974, how it is both a threat and a godsend for the environment, and how it led the revival of manufacturing in the United States. We also discuss Gold’s second book, "Superpower: One Man's Quest to Transform American Energy," in which he discusses renewable energies and focuses on the legendary figure Michael Skelly, who used his Harvard Business School contacts to create impressive companies. The midwest can produce the most amount of renewable energies because of the cheap land and suitable climate, so Skelly’s vision was to build

Museums and galleries have been closed since March under lockdown rules, and there are growing fears among curators that many museums may never open again due to financial difficulties. James Steward is the Director of Princeton University Art Museum, where he leads a staff of 110 with an operating budget of $20 million and collections of over 110,000 works of art that span the globe and encompass 5,000 years of world history. In this interview, we discuss the role of art museums in helping make us better citizens and how the responsibilities of large art institutions may even expand in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic. An avid museum visitor himself, Tiger also asks Director Steward how the art viewing experience has changed and will continue to evolve in light of Covid-19: - Can the art viewing experience possibly be even better after we take away the shared physical space and give people a chance to reflect in a solitary fashion? - Art museums have always said to perform effects of anti-alienation

How can we use evidence, not predetermined cultural scripts based on past pandemics, to evaluate the current Covid-19 crisis? This is the question Dr. Merle Eisenberg raised in his recent Washington Post op-ed. When we talk about coronavirus, we often hear anecdotes from the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. Why do we focus so strongly on this particular historical example, and what do we miss out on when we ignore earlier histories, such as the Justinianic Plague (550-750 CE), which we will explore in detail in this episode. What are the differences between the way Covid is being handled compared to past pandemics? From the public’s social distancing measures to the rich people’s fleeing from crowded cities, are there any broad trends and patterns of behaviors during pandemics that consistently lasted throughout history? Are pandemics generally inequality-reducing (like how the Black Death ended Feudalism), or inequality-exacerbating (like today’s billionaires getting richer from Covid)? In this long discussion

Multiple tech companies (Amazon, IBM) have—in a rather surprising turn of events—pledged to stop providing facial recognition technology to police departments in light of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. In this episode, Dr. Annette Zimmerman of Princeton University gives context to the wider public debate on algorithmic justice and the biases of artificial intelligence technology that is rapidly unfolding right now. Dr. Zimmermann, Arjun, and Tiger touch on some of the most long-standing questions in the field of AI research and moral philosophy: - What is algorithmic bias? Is all bias bad? How do we understand algorithmic bias from a moral and philosophical perspective, as well as from a technical perspective? - Where do we see algorithms exacerbating structural injustices in society, and in what precise ways are algorithms doing so? - What are some of the questions unworthy of asking or are merely “AI alarmism” that is not helpful to the discourse?  - AI fairness is an active research area. Is reducing

Jan Vogler from the University of Virginia analyzes the European Union as a polycentric governance system. He is particularly interested in the question of whether this institution with multiple layers of decision-making and a mix of shared and individual responsibilities of governments at different levels can effectively respond to the many challenges it faces today, from Brexit to the international refugee crisis.  Another topic discussed in the podcast is which factors determine citizens’ views of the EU’s central administrative institutions. Since the average EU citizen does not have a lot of exposure to the EU bureaucracy, Dr. Vogler suggests that their perceptions of how the EU’s bureaucracy performs are shaped by domestic experiences with comparable institutions, i.e. domestic local and central bureaucracies. To what extent does this phenomenon explain Euroscepticism and inform us about possible reforms that the EU may need? We also discuss multiple other topics, including the legacies of imperialism

Stadiums closed; mass sporting events canceled... tough days for the sports industry, which is projected to lose $61.1 billion in revenue in 2020 due to Covid-19, according to one new research study. The NFL is preparing for its season this Fall – how is the league navigating decision making and planning during this time? Tiger and Arjun invited Mr. Iwao Fusillo back on the show, who is Senior Vice President for Data Analytics and Insights at the NFL. There is so much that data can tell us about this crisis and the appropriate responses the sports industry should take, and few people are as well positioned and informed as Mr. Fusillo to answer some of our burning questions: What are the fans saying about returning to normal? Do they want to start watching games live again, or is there concern about live events? What is the role that data-driven approaches play in a crisis situation like the current pandemic? How is the NFL responding in a data-driven way to Covid? How difficult is it to plan scenarios and c

On April 25th, the West Texas Intermediate price for oil futures delivered in May collapsed to -37 to -40 dollars a barrel at one point. It has never happened that oil prices fell into negative territory. While the oil crisis has seemingly stabilized, tons of questions remain. Prof. Jason Bordoff, the founding Director of Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, joins Tiger and Owen for a discussion on the state of oil markets, the future political struggles between oil-producing nations, whether we're at all near the "endgame" stage for fossil fuel, and the broader energy transition in a post-Covid world. To give a more elaborate explanation of the oil price crash – The first half of 2020 has seen the traditional energy markets in an unprecedented phase of unrest. As COVID-19 brought global movement to a halt and as oil producing countries scrambled to balance the market through cuts of their own, cracks in OPEC+ –– the most powerful oil cartel today –– were clearly visible. The political after

Given the tragic incident of the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent protests, it’s probably the right time to talk about protests. What are the effective ways to protest? How have the shape and form of protests transformed throughout the past decades as black people fought for their rights? And certainly, how justified is violence or how effective is non-violence in protests? Unfortunately, some of the protests recently have contained violence and looting, and President Trump even threatened to deploy troops on the protestors, further escalating the tension. Many have accused the protestors for not doing it “right,” but is there a right way to do it? It’s really not as if when black people protested in nonviolent ways, such as kneeling during the NFL anthem, they were embraced with open arms by those in power! So, are people simply hiding behind the attacks on the “means,” when what they truly oppose is the argument itself that BLM? Whether violent or not, how should we think about the role of suffe

When we interviewed the famous and controversial Princeton ethics philosopher Peter Singer, he brought up an interesting study by economist Paul Frijters that claims the current set of economic lockdowns are causing 70 times more life years lost than Covid-19 otherwise would had we done nothing. It was surprising to hear such a perspective, since there has been almost unanimous consensus amongst the economics community that the lockdowns are the preferred policy prescription – how did Paul Frijters arrive at this calculation? How justified is his view? And what are the moral-ethical implications of the current measures and his alternative proposals? We reached out, and Prof. Frijters kindly agreed to have this brutally honest conversation with us. Prof. Frijters has written a series of controversial blog posts on https://clubtroppo.com.au/, topics ranging from how politicians were forced into “crowd-think” and made the unscientific decision of economic lockdown, to why quickly giving everyone Covid to build

There has been so much hype about contact tracing technology and how it will be the key to reopening the country. Google and Apple, for example, are building a system to track contact between people who might spread the disease. The idea is simple: since Bluetooth is constantly scanning for other devices, your phone can use wireless signals to see who you’ve been near. Somebody who gets a positive diagnosis can tell the app, which will inform everyone else who has been in proximity to alert them about risks of possible transmission. So basically, by using Bluetooth technology, our phones can exchange information on who you’ve been in contact with, and if you’ve been in the proximity of someone with Covid, your phone can alert you. This theoretically does away people’s worry about mass surveillance because no location or personal data are actually being recorded by the contact-tracing app – only bluetooth signals. But can this app live up to its promises? One study suggests that if contact tracers successfu

Bruce Schneier is a public-interest technologist, and his latest book "Click Here to Kill Everybody" seeks to explore risk and security questions in today's hyper-connected world with smart thermostats, "Internet of Things" home devices, self-driving cars, and other "mini computers" that are easily hackable and pose grave security threats. In this interview, Mr. Schneier explains why tech today is fundamentally different as it’s no longer the same mechanical or electromechanical device but rather all hackable computers; why the "surveillance capitalism" business model of big tech companies in fact encourages security flaws; how open source and decentralization technology can go a long way helping address the issues; and his vision for a secure “Internet+” future and some of the sensible and realistic policies that we can implement... We also touch on the current COVID-19 crisis and the contact tracing technology that is gaining increasing attention. Mr. Schneier calls it a "dumb idea" and explains why bet

Many studies have come out suggesting a disproportionate burden of illness and death among racial and ethnic minority groups during this Covid-19 crisis. And certainly one cannot attribute this phenomenon simply to the virus itself, but much due to the underlying structural fractures of the American society in its treatment of racial and ethnic minorities for years and decades. In this interview, Dr. Ellora Derenoncourt of UC Berkley and Princeton provides a detailed historical analysis on racial and economic inequality since the days of the Great Migration and discusses possible post-Covid policy measures to address those critical concerns. Her fascinating research on the Great Migration shows that the beautiful idea of "moving to opportunity" for black families no longer holds true, as the Great Migration cities have typically responded to the influx of black migrants with increasing segregation and spending on policing. The dynamic response from local residents and governments paint a gloomy picture on w

What can we learn about all the misinformation about Covid-19? Are they mostly incorrect but uncorrelated health tips, or are there specific narratives behind those misinformation that seek to lay groundwork for the post-pandemic public discourse? Are they simply "fake news" spread around by well-meaning citizens, or perpetrated by state actors and organizations?... In this episode, Prof. Jacob Shapiro, Director of the Empirical Studies of Conflict Project, discusses what his team and Microsoft have been learning about all the Covid-19 related fake news on the Internet. Meanwhile, in a recent op-ed titled "Coronavirus: Don't forget about the poor kids," Prof. Shapiro addresses some of the most urgent education policy questions during the pandemic, the debates around fairness of digital learning, and how we need to focus on the real problems in this crisis and look ahead for groundbreaking policy solutions. We also touch on topics from bioterrorism (how unlikely it is to design Covid in a lab) to impacts o

"Jim Simons is the greatest money maker in modern financial history." Since 1988, Renaissance Technologies' flagship Medallion hedge fund founded by Simons has generated average annual returns of 66 percent, racking up trading profits of more than $100 billion. No one in the investment world comes close. Warren Buf­fett, George Soros, Peter Lynch, Steve Cohen, and Ray Dalio all fall short of Simons. How did Jim Simons achieve this feat? Was it that easy for a math researcher at Princeton turned professor at Stony Brook to eventually become a legendary quant investor? In recently published bestseller "The Man Who Solved the Market," WSJ special writer Gregory Zuckerman documented how Simons launched the quant investing revolution, his personal and academic struggles along the way, why it's hard to "beat the market" and even harder to gain insights on the secretive quant hedge fund world. In this interview with Mr. Zuckerman, we ask him how the rise of quant trading impacts the finance world, whether algori

Keith E. Whittington is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University. He is the author of several important books on constitutional theory, including "Political Foundations of Judicial Supremacy: The Presidency, the Supreme Court," and "Constitutional Leadership in U.S. History." He has published widely on American constitutional theory and development, federalism, judicial politics, and the presidency. Prof. Whittington argued in a recent op-ed titled “Can You Be a Libertarian in a Pandemic” that there are aspects of Libertarianism that are still valid even during a pandemic. In this interview, Prof. Whittington discusses the meaning and implications of Libertarianism in the Covid context; why more autonomy should be given to states, communities, and even individuals in deciding the appropriate response; whether we will see an inevitable expansion of government power after Covid; whether the Libertarian ethos might actually make it structurally, organizationally, and philosophic