Maxwell School News and Commentary

Yilin Hou, professor of public administration and international affairs, believes that a good tax system should generally comply with five major design principles, namely fair tax burden, focus on efficiency, appropriate tax administration, sufficient tax revenue and openness and transparency.

According to Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, interventions should target communities with populations in "significant economic distress," focusing on "places that have experienced major labor market shifts and income decline over the past four decades." "Failure to consider the underlying economic causes could lead to ineffective policy strategies," she says.

William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs, discusses the House’s passage of an extension to the Foreign intelligence Surveillance Act.

"Whatever damage takes place here would not happen in a vacuum," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science, about the unwritten rule in the Capitol, often called the Bear Mountain Bridge Compact, that dictates: "What happens in Albany stays in Albany."

Israel recently published a list of 20 mainly European and U.S.-based pro-BDS organizations whose senior members will be automatically barred from entering Israel, a move that Miriam Elman, associate professor of political science, says is long overdue.

"There’s a possibility that a lot of people view the president as being the spokesperson for the country, and what it stands for and values," says Steven White, assistant professor of political science. "They see Oprah as able to espouse a world view that inspires them."

"President Donald Trump’s announcement recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is the culmination of U.S. foreign policy over seven decades in which the goal of the peace process has been to impose a solution on the Palestinians," writes Osamah Khalil, associate professor of history.