Policy Punchline

Ian Johnson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist specializing in writing about China’s long-term social issues, such as the country’s search for faith and values, as well as its political and religious challenges. In this episode, Mr. Johnson explains the complexity of Chinese religion and how it is often misunderstood by Westerners, the nuanced relationship between religion and the Chinese government, the ills of the current state of journalism and its implication on the coverage of China, his take on the refugee crisis in Europe, as well as his prescription for creating a more-unified society with meaningful values in the future . Mr. Johnson is a regular contributor of articles and commentary to The New York Times, The New York Review of Books and speaks in the media or to public audiences about China. He also teaches undergraduate courses on Chinese society and is pursuing a doctorate in Sinology at Leipzig University. His two books The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao and Islam in Eur

Blair Effron is one of the most successful American financiers today, having co-founded elite boutique investment bank Centerview Partners and prominently involved in Democratic politics. In this episode, Mr. Effron tells us about his journey as an investment banker, the importance and intellectual excitement of advising companies through their lifecycles, his take on the socio-political gridlock in America, as well as his optimism for humanity’s progress going forward. Centerview provides advice on mergers and acquisitions, capital restructurings, and other financial matters to 20% of the 50 largest companies in the world by market capitalization. With 50 partners including former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, as well as some of the most successful investment bankers in the world, Centerview has risen to become one of the most active and leading institutions shortly after its inception in 2006 with over $3 trillion in advised transactions. “Our relationship has always be

In this interview, Prof. Tim Besley of LSE highlights issues in development economics and introduces a series of new concepts such as "fragile states" and "the Curse of Denmark" that provide much needed nuances in discussions about development. As an introduction to this interview, we want to highlight one important point from Prof. Besley’s talk on state fragility in Princeton. He noted how the U.S., U.K., and stable states as such are all recent human contrivances. Humans have really only existed 73 seconds past midnight if we normalize the existence of Earth to 24 hours, and we’ve had stable political systems for merely 0.01 second. How do we know whether our current systems are stable? “To say that we've transitioned to some new world that is inevitably stable and will never revert would be a very dangerous belief to have,” as Prof. Besley also commented during our interview. It’s dangerous to think that human progress will be linear, and we have to stay vigilant and humble as we continue to tackle th

Investment banks undoubtedly serve an integral function in our financial markets. They help raise capital for companies through equity or debt offerings, provide corporate finance advice on mergers and acquisitions, aid in restructuring processes, and facilitate our economic activities among many other important tasks. But what is the future for investment banking services as more junior-level number-crunching work is projected to be automated away by tech innovations? Where does the future lie for bulge bracket investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, as more boutique advisory firms prove to be more nimble in complex transactions and more knowledgeable in niche verticals? Melville Mummert is the former Head of European Investment Banking at Raymond James. From a base in Munich, he led the strategic expansion of Raymond James into Frankfurt and London, and recruited and retained a team that grew from 22 to 75 professionals. His team provided advisory services on M&A, capital raising, and res

On their way back to Prof. Stefan Eich's office after the interview, Tiger told Prof. Eich that he had been considering pursuing a Ph.D. because he values intellectual curiosity and derives a lot of joy from constantly learning about new ideas. Prof. Eich chuckled and told Tiger that academia might be one of the most anti-intellectual places of all because people are so focused on their niche and don’t interact with other disciplines enough. We've heard this criticism not only from Prof. Eich – or many other guests like Prof. Reinhard Busse – but almost every academic we've interviewed. People clearly recognize that the academia needs more people who can draw interdisciplinary connections. If one can bring financial economics, political theory, climate change, and many of the other fascinating debates together in a thoughtful way, this person is most likely a wonderful academic. And we believe that Prof. Eich is such an academic. While we don’t have the ability to do so yet, we do hope to build Policy Pun

Jeff Kreisler is just a typical Princeton educated lawyer turned author, speaker, pundit, comedian and advocate for behavioral science. He uses humor & research to understand, explain and change the world. In this interview, Jeff explains the urgent issues of financial literacy that America currently faces, and he brings in perspectives from behavioral science and economics to shine a new light on the problem. As a continuation to Mr. Pete Colhoun's interview and our efforts to promote awareness for financial literacy, this interview combines intellectual depth and humor and should be a really enjoyable episode for our listeners. Jeff specializes in politics, money and other human encounters. Winner of the Bill Hicks Spirit Award for Thought Provoking Comedy, Jeff also runs PeopleScience.com, writes for TV, politicians & CEOs, shares witty insight on CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC & SiriusXM and tours most of this planet. For more information on Jeff's work, please visit: http://jeffkreisler.com/

44% of Americans do not have enough cash to cover a $400 emergency. In 2016, the average college student graduated with $37,000 in debt. 44% of Americans said they would rather discuss death, religion, or politics rather than talking about personal finance with a loved one. Financial literacy is clearly a huge problem in our society today, and we are very glad that Princeton is hosting a financial literacy day to bring awareness to the issue. We’re glad to have a very prominent voice in advocacy for financial literacy joining us for this interview and discussing the issue of financial literacy. Mr. Pete Colhoun spent 20 years at global asset management firm T. Rowe Price Group and over that time was Director of Investment Research, Director of Mutual Funds, and President and Portfolio Manager of the New Era Fund. Today, he serves on nine boards, for both profit and non-profit companies, and is a senior investment advisor to the Gates Family Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic organizations in Col

We recorded this interview with Trade Talks host Chad Bown back in February. That was a time when we were still uncertain whether a deal would be reached on March 1 between China and the U.S. on whether the 10% tariffs would rise to 25% for the $200 billion Chinese imports to the U.S. Things have really evolved in the past few months with both good and bad times. The 25% tariffs became a reality, and on August 1, President Trump announced that additional 10% tariff will be levied on another $300 billion of Chinese imports. On August 5, the U.S. officially declared China as a Currency Manipulator, and we saw a huge stock market crash following that announcement. We’ve saved this interview waiting for the big moment to release it, and I think now is truly a critical moment in U.S-China relations and also an appropriate time for us to release this interview with Chad on the trade war. A few months have passed by, but we truly believe that our listeners can still learn so much from Chad’s insights.

What is the history of American healthcare reforms through the past four administrations? Americans seem to value choice and freedom a lot, so does it mean that a single-payer health system would never work because of such a cultural factor? How should we approach the quintessential problem of balancing storytelling and the day-to-day politics when rolling out long-lasting policies?... In this episode, Prof. Sherry Glied, former Assistant Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services under President Obama, explains the cultural and political reasons of the current American healthcare gridlock. In 2013, Sherry Glied was named Dean of New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. From 1989-2013, she was Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. She was Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management from 1998-2009. On June 22, 2010, Glied was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Assistant Secretary for Planni

What makes a design artful? The realm of design expands from fine arts to technological innovations, from concrete objects to abstract ideas, and this question about the artfulness of design thus not only relates to the aesthetics, but also to a wide range of topics such as ethics and moral philosophy. What are some of the issues we should keep in mind when designing a tech product? How does art relate to and influence the evolution of technology? How do we want to live with the tech innovations and public policies that we designed? In this episode co-hosted by Tiger and Arjun Mani (Princeton Class of 2021, computer science major with a strong passion for Indian classical music and AI research), Prof. Ge Wang from Stanford will discuss those issues and present his unique vision for the future of our tech and society. Prof. Ge Wang is an Associate Professor at Stanford University in the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). He specializes in the art of computer music design — researc

Jacques Bughin is a senior partner at McKinsey and a director of the McKinsey Global Institute, the firm’s business and economics research arm, and one of its three global co-leaders. He is also a leader in McKinsey’s Media and Entertainment, Corporate Finance, and Strategy Practices and co-leads the Digital Economy Initiative, a recently launched McKinsey knowledge program. Since joining the firm in 1992, he has been based in Amsterdam, London, Montreal, New York, and Toronto, working primarily with media, telecom, online services, health care, fintech, travel and logistics companies on a variety of issues, including marketing and sales, digital strategy, productivity, business technology, leadership, and organization. He has coauthored numerous publications, including McKinsey Global Institute reports on globalization, Internet of Things, Big Data, and social technologies and numerous articles in the McKinsey Quarterly as well as academic journals on industrial economics, organization, digitization of fir

What causes enduring unemployment? What are the impacts of housing booms and manufacturing decline on employment growth? How can we come up with potential solutions for rising healthcare costs? How should we reconcile normative judgments and empirical analysis in debates about issues like unemployment and healthcare?   An applied microeconomist, Prof. Matthew Notowidigdo studies a broad set of topics in labor and health economics using a variety of empirical approaches. In labor economics, his research has focused on understanding the causes and consequences of unemployment duration dependence (state dependence in unemployment), the incidence of local labor demand shocks, and the economic effects of unemployment insurance over the business cycle. One theme across all of these topics is using variation in local labor market conditions to inform economic theories and learn new facts about the labor market. Prof. Notowidigdo’s research in health economics focuses on the effects of public health insurance on labo

Jeffrey R. Shafer is the former Vice Chairman of Citi's Global Banking and Senior Asia Pacific Officer in New York where he was responsible for key Asia Pacific government and corporate client relationships. From 1993 to 1997, Shafer was Assistant Secretary and subsequently Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for International Affairs. At the Treasury Department, he was responsible for international economic and financial issues, focusing on strengthening economic growth and financial stability in both developed and developing countries. Shafer was also responsible for the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) process to review foreign investment in the United States. From 1984 until 1993, he held a series of high-level positions at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Prior to the OECD, he worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Council of Economic Advisors.

Americans gave $410 billion in 2017, and the U.S. non-profit sector now totals to 11% of the total workforce and 6% of GDP. Philanthropy is such an important sector that is often overlooked by people, so we want to ask some important questions related to charity: What’s the trend in donations by common people today? Is the US charity space oversaturated? How can we distinguish effective non-profits from those that aren’t? How does one manage one’s philanthropic identity nowadays? … In this episode, Allan Amico, founder of startup DonorUP and a young Princeton alum and entrepreneur, joins us discussing those important questions.

How does Germany’s health system operate? What lessons can the U.S. health system learn from it? Should refugees have European health care? Would Europe be able to support its increasingly older population?… In this conversation, Prof. Reinhard Busse explains Germany’s complex yet well-functioning health system. He highlights how Americans can learn from a multi-payer system like Germany’s and what we could do to tackle the rising healthcare cost. His perspective from outside the U.S. might provide us some fresh insights on the various kinds of health systems in our world today and how the U.S. could learn from them. Prof. Busse is the Director of the Department of Health Care Management at Technische Universität Berlin. He is Co-Director of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and editor-in-chief of the international peer-reviewed journal “Health Policy.” His research focuses on Health systems, Health Policy, Health Services, Health Economics, Epidemiology and Public Health.

What are some of the structural issues with big stock exchanges like NYSE and Nasdaq? What are some of the ways people could take advantage of them? IEX Group hopes to address those issues as an alternative to those traditional exchanges and as a fintech startup. In this episode, our guest Mr. Laurence Latimer, who leads IEX Ventures, explains how stock exchanges work, what some of the existing problems in the financial services industry are, and what fintech innovators are discussing today among other topics. Mr. Latimer leads IEX Ventures. IEX Group operates the Investors Exchange (IEX), a stock exchange for U.S. equities that is built for investors and companies. Prior to IEX, Mr. Latimer previously founded LGL Growth Consulting International and has worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company. He held various senior roles in venture-backed startups and has led growth initiatives and new market entry in the U.S., Asia, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

What role did the SEC play in the past decade shaping up new financial regulations in the aftermath of the crisis? Is the agency capable of reinventing itself for change? What is the future for SEC regulations for the financial markets and institutions? How can we encourage more IPOs in our public markets? ... In this episode, Mr. Norm Champ, former Director of Investment Management Division at SEC, discusses the inner workings of the SEC, the efficacy of financial regulations, the drawbacks of the Dodd-Frank Act, the importance of boosting the U.S. public markets, and his book "Going Public" among other topics. While at the SEC, Mr. Champ played a key role in the SEC’s completion of landmark reforms in 2014 to strengthen the $3 trillion money market fund industry, and led important structural and policy changes in the Division of Investment Management. He was the leader of interactions with the Financial Stability Oversight Council as the Council turned its attention to whether asset management firms are “

Do you ever think about what your Google searches say about you? What can data tell us about issues in our society like racism, depression, child abuse, and our deepest fears and insecurities? Many years after the emergence of the term “big data,” we truly need a fresh perspective to understand ourselves. Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is here to answers those questions. Seth is the author of New York Times bestseller "Everybody Lies," which was published in 2017 and one of the Economist Magazine’s books of the year. Seth has used Google searches to measure racism, self-induced abortion, depression, child abuse, hateful mobs, the science of humor, sexual preference, anxiety, son preference, and sexual insecurity, among many other topics. He has worked as a data scientist at Google and a visiting lecturer at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently a contributing op-ed writer for the New York Times. Seth received his BA in philosophy, Phi Beta Kappa, from Stanford, and his PhD in e

More so than for other countries, the management of water resources is an important aspect of public policy and politics. Today we’re going to try to identify some of the common themes of the relationship between water, politics, governance in contemporary China and the rest of the world. Our guest for this episode is Dr. Scott Moore. He’s the Director of the Penn Global China Program at University of Pennsylvania. His first book, "Subnational Hydropolitics: Conflict, Cooperation, and Institution-Building in Shared River Basins," examines how climate change and other pressures affect the likelihood of conflict over water within countries. We’d like to especially thank Princeton’s Center on Contemporary China for sponsoring this episode and for connecting us with Dr. Moore.

Mr. Bill Dudley succeeded Tim Geithner as the New York Fed’s president in 2009 after the financial crisis. He has since then become a forceful advocate for cultural change at large financial institutions and argued for keeping a tight rein on banking activities. Mr. Dudley retired from the position after a 10-year term but still actively voices his opinions on the financial sector and will be teaching in Princeton this upcoming fall. In this long conversation, Mr. Dudley talks about his early career after completing an economics Ph.D. in UC Berkeley, a mission-focusing approach to financial regulations, thoughts on the risks of recession and the next big crisis, and the toughest moment in his career among many other topics. Mr. Dudley is certainly the most influential monetary policy maker to ever come on Policy Punchline, but he is so personable and friendly that Tiger called him “a chill guy” during the interview… Make sure you don’t miss out on this interview with this visionary policy maker. A few p