Maxwell School News and Commentary

"I would include in this funding building opportunities/outlets for social cohesion, community engagement and civic participation," says Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, on how she would spend a hypothetical budget of $100 billion to solve the opioid crisis.

"There’s a set of priorities and most of the people have been waiting in the queue for years; frequently, even decades. So, we do not have large flows of people coming into this country based on any kind of chain system," says Elizabeth F. Cohen, professor of political science.

"The interesting question it raises is whether the seat will change parties," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute. "That’s possible, given the district enrollment," adding "and with the Senate closely split, this particular election could become very important."

"My concern would not be economic, it would be political," says Professor of Economics Mary Lovely regarding last year's rise in the U.S. trade deficit. “I’m afraid this will be more fuel for an aggressive trade stance toward China, afraid that will lead to retaliation by China, and I think it will cause job destruction in the United States as well as in China.”

Instead of raising tariffs India should have emulated China by reforming labor laws and maintaining a low-tariff regime on intermediate goods to attract export-oriented global manufacturing firms, according to Devashish Mitra, Gerald B. and Daphna Cramer Professor of Global Affairs.

"They raise the already high risk of new U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, almost certainly to be quickly followed by a carefully targeted Chinese response," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics. "Unfortunately, while destructive of jobs both here and in China, these responses will not move the needle on the U.S. trade deficit."

"Capitalist liberal democracies don't have commitments to social rights like welfare, healthcare and housing,” says Elizabeth Cohen, professor of political science. "For them, the government is there to protect mostly negative political and civil rights, like the right to sell your labor on the open market. They don't deal with redistribution."

"Changes in trade policy in 2017 were small and, in any case, unable to move the needle on the deficit," says Professor of Economics Mary Lovely. "If the recent tax cut stimulates spending and business investment in the U.S., as the president hopes, we may well see an even larger deficit for 2018."