Maxwell School News and Commentary

"Trade policy does have an impact because it raised costs significantly for steel and aluminum, and the industry told Trump it would do that," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics. "They already weren’t able to sell enough vehicles to keep these lines productive and raising costs by a billion dollars? It doesn’t help."

“We made a simple letter directly for the property owner receiving it, from a person working for the city. The request, (needed) steps and personalized note were laid out to draw immediate attention,” describes Joseph Boskovski '14 M.P.A., a co-founder of the Maxwell X Lab.

"The new Democratic majority in the House spells big trouble for President Trump, who will now be subject to substantial congressional oversight," says Thomas Keck, Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics.

"Amway made the DeVos family wealthy while offering few, if any, tangible gains for its distributor force. If past is prologue, the president’s base may want to brace itself," writes current Ph.D. student Davor Mondom ’12 B.A. (Econ/Hist)/’15 M.A. (Hist)/’16 M.Phil. (Hist) 

According to Stuart Rosenthal, professor and chair of economics, market-rate housing filters down at a rate of almost 2 percent per year—fast enough to make a big difference. Housing filters fastest in the middle of the country, but it filters down on the expensive coasts, too, he found. 

According to Mary Lovely, professor of economics, most of the tariffs that have been imposed have hit U.S. companies, not the Chinese.

Professor Emeritus of Political Science Michael Barkun weighs in on the mystery of "Q" and the history of conspiracy theories in America in the Washington Post. "These ideas never completely die,” says Barkun, who studies conspiracy theories and political extremism. “They get recycled every generation, and in America, some of the most powerful conspiracy ideas deal with an enemy inside the government who is really pulling the strings but cannot be identified.”

“We all want stories that make sense of the world,” Barkun says. “When we can’t find them, we look around in strange places."

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.

"What happens Friday will 'represent a fundamental retreat by the leader of the global trading system'," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics, adding, "It will be seen as a turning point."

"We’ve never seen anything like this," Mary Lovely told the Associated Press. Lovely recently spoke with multiple news outlets about the trade war between the U.S. and China.