Center for Policy Research News

"Drug overdose rates just as with alcohol and suicide are higher in places that exhibit more economic and social distress," says Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion.

Peter Wilcoxen, professor of public administration and international affairs, will serve as the inaugural Ajello Professor in Energy and Environmental Policy. The professorship was created from a $250,000 gift from Maxwell School alumnus James Ajello ’76 M.P.A.

"Economic decline is certainly an important factor, but our drug, alcohol and suicide problem is also related to social decline," says Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion. "We live in an era of individualism, disinvestment in social safety nets, declines in social cohesion, and increased loneliness." 

"With recent investments in higher education (mis)directed toward increasing the marginal comforts of the most comfortable students, we have an opportunity to advocate instead for a rejection of such investments, sacrificing luxuries for the sake of needier students," says Sarah Hamersma, associate professor of public administration and international affairs.

"We won’t really know the effect of the tax plan for several years when we have data that we can try to measure the effect of the tax plan separate from other factors going on in the economy at the same time," says Len Burman, Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics.

"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.

"If widely adopted and successful, the plans could significantly reduce federal revenue and most of the benefits would go to taxpayers with high incomes," says Len Burman, Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics.

"A lot of times, the adult children bring up the topic of payment," says Madonna Harrington Meyer, professor of sociology, in an interview about grandparents caring for their grandchildren.

Stuart Rosenthal, professor and chair of economics, gave a keynote lecture titled "Building Specialisation, Anchor Tenants and Agglomeration Economies," which offered a new perspective on the productivity of cities. Rosenthal discussed the productivity spillovers that occur when tenants in tall commercial buildings are in close proximity, and how this leads to shared skilled labor, intermediate inputs and knowledge.

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.