Brookings scholars Tamara Wittes and Madiha Afzal discuss their policy proposals for international security, part of the new Blueprints for American Renewal & Prosperity project at Brookings. Wittes focuses on what *not* to do in the Middle East; Afzal on countering extremism through education. Also David Wessel, focuses on the proposed child tax credit in President Biden's COVID-19 relief package, which Wessel says would substantially reduce the number of children living in poverty. Subscri...
Jan 29, 2021•1 hr
Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings and founding director of the Center for Effective Public Management, reflects on inauguration day, on the difficult presidential transition and the violence of January 6th, and the outlook for impeachment of the former president and President Biden’s agenda. Also on this episode, George Ingram, senior fellow in Global Economy and Development, delivers a new Sustainable Development Spotlight on how the new Biden-Harris administratio...
Jan 22, 2021•35 min
After the assault on the U.S. Capitol, the nation is divided and on edge. Where do we go now? What kinds of political, social, and economic reforms could help us move forward as a more united nation? Darrell West, vice president and director of Governance Studies at Brookings, came on the podcast to offer some answers. The interview happened on Monday the 11th, so before the impeachment vote in the House of Representatives. But his analysis and policy prescriptions will remain relevant long afte...
Jan 15, 2021•54 min
Stephanie Aaronson, vice president and director of Economic Studies at Brookings, and Wendy Edelberg, senior fellow and director of the Hamilton Project, share their views on the state of the U.S. economy and the top economic issues facing the country in the upcoming year. Also, Sarah Binder, senior fellow in Governance Studies, offers her take on what happened in Congress this week, with a focus on the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Trump, and her views on why th...
Jan 08, 2021•37 min
To celebrate the closing of the year, this episode features our favorite clips from past 12 months. We hope you enjoy it and perhaps take the opportunity to download full episodes that interest you, share the show with friends, and rate the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Visit the episode's show notes to get links to all of the episodes. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings...
Dec 30, 2020•41 min
When Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated as president in 1933, the White House staff numbered fewer than fifty people, and most federal departments were lightly staffed as well. As the United States became a world power, the staff of the Executive Office increased twentyfold, and the staffing of federal agencies blossomed comparably. On this episode airing in the midst of the transition of President Elect Joe Biden, Brookings Press Director Bill Finan interviews experts Stephen Hess and James ...
Dec 23, 2020•24 min
Brookings scholars William Gale and Richard Reeves discuss their policy proposals for economic growth and dynamism, part of the new Blueprints for American Renewal & Prosperity project. Gale focuses on more economic relief and stimulus now; Reeves on middle class tax cuts and some free college for national service. Also, David Wessel explains why low interest rates means a President Biden and the next Congress should not worry so much about the federal debt, and instead pass more COVID-relat...
Dec 18, 2020•49 min
Brookings scholars Annelies Goger and Martha Ross discuss their policy proposals for racial justice and worker mobility, part of the new Blueprints for American Renewal & Prosperity project. Also, Tony Pipa introduces the new segment Spotlight on Sustainable Development, in which he discusses his proposal to reimagine rural policy in the U.S. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Broo...
Dec 11, 2020•56 min
“The American education system is not preparing all children to thrive,” say the guests on this episode, adding that many schools continue to operate according to an early 20th century “factory model” that aimed to mold students for the industrial economy. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Helen Hadani are co-authors of a new Big Ideas paper in the Brookings Policy 2020 series titled, “A new path to education reform: Playful learning promotes 21st-century skills in schools and beyond” In this interview, Hir...
Dec 04, 2020•42 min
The world is at a turning point as major institutions and alliances are being tested as never before in the post-Cold War period. On this episode, Brookings Institution Press Director Bill Finan speaks with Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger—once Germany’s representative in Washington and London and also former German deputy foreign minister—about his new book, "World in Danger: Germany and Europe in an Uncertain Time," just published by Brookings. In the conversation, Ambassador Ischinger explains f...
Nov 27, 2020•20 min
A number of major trends—including changes in climate, demographics, geopolitics, and technology—will shape the Middle East over the next two decades. In this special episode of the Brookings Cafeteria Podcast, a team of scholars examines the possible trendlines and what they presage for Israel and its neighbors in the region. Natan Sachs, a Brookings fellow and director of the Center for Middle East Policy, leads a discussion on these issues with Samantha Gross, Kevin Huggard, Shibley Telhami, ...
Nov 20, 2020•27 min
A conversation with John McArthur, director of the new Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings, whose mission is to pursue research and insights to advance global sustainable development and to implement the Sustainable Development Goals across all countries. McArthur talks about the goals of the new center, why sustainable development remains so critical in these times, and why he’s passionate about the work. Also, Molly Reynolds on the Democrats' uphill battle to legislate in the 117th...
Nov 13, 2020•40 min
It’s three o’clock PM on the East Coast of the United States, two days after the end of voting in the 2020 presidential election. The country is anxiously watching as ballots are counted in Nevada, New Mexico, Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania to see whether Donald Trump is re-elected, or Joe Biden becomes the president elect. By the time you hear this episode, the situation may have changed dramatically, but we still wanted to talk to one of our leading experts on politics and campaigns...
Nov 05, 2020•21 min
In this final episode before the end of the 2020 election on November 3, a conversation with Rashawn Ray, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings, about race and social justice in the presidential election. Ray, also a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, talks about voter suppression, the policing reform movement sparked by the murder of George Floyd, the unequal impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Black and Hispanic communities, and what policies Amer...
Oct 30, 2020•49 min
The big contest in the 2020 election is the presidency, but Americans across the country are voting and will vote for governors, state lawmakers and other state officials, local officials, and for ballot measures of all kinds. On this episode , vice president and director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, talks about the election from a state and local perspective. In the conversation, she addresses these elections, the important relationships between the federal government and st...
Oct 23, 2020•29 min
David Wessel, senior fellow and director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at Brookings, discusses the key economic issues during the lead up to the 2020 election, and looks ahead to how the economy can recover after the COVID-19 pandemic. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.
Oct 16, 2020•22 min
In this final special episode in the Global China series, host Lindsey Ford speaks with Ryan Hass and Rush Doshi about what they learned from the Global China paper series about China's ambitions, and what the U.S.-China relationship might look like under either a second Trump administration or a new Biden administration. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part o...
Oct 13, 2020•35 min
From Russia, China, and the Middle East, to trade wars, climate change, and terrorism, global affairs have rarely seemed as complex and dangerous as it they have been over the last few years. But, does foreign policy matter in the 2020 presidential election? To address this question, Thomas Wright, a senior fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings and the director of the Center on the United States and Europe, joins the program to address this question. In the conversation, Wright takes on the age-...
Oct 09, 2020•33 min
In this special edition of the podcast, Bill Finan—director of the Brookings Institution Press—talks with two of the authors of a new Brookings press book that explores America’s current political division from demographic and geographic perspectives. David Damore, Robert Lang, and Karen Danielsen, all professors at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, are co-authors of Blue Metros, Red States: The Shifting Urban-Rural Divide in America’s Swing States. Damore and Lang join Finan for this episode ...
Oct 06, 2020•23 min
Will the 2020 election be compromised by foreign interference? Is voting by mail secure? Can American voters have faith in the integrity our electoral system? To answer these and related questions, I’m rebroadcasting a conversation that first aired in a series being produced by our colleagues in Governance Studies at Brookings. In it, Darrell West, vice president and director of Governance Studies, interviews Senior Fellow Elaine Kamarck and Fellow Chris Meserole to get their perspectives on the...
Oct 02, 2020•45 min
Climate change threatens all people, creatures, places, and systems on the planet, but not all impacts are distributed equally. Climate justice considers that climate change has unequal social, economic, health, and other effects on underprivileged populations. As well, in the U.S., the coronavirus' uneven impact on Black and Hispanic Americans and the recent reckoning with racial justice issues expose how the climate crisis disproportionately impacts these U.S. populations. Christina Kwauk, a f...
Sep 29, 2020•37 min
This is the fifth, and final, episode of a special five-part series on the Brookings Cafeteria podcast—Our Nation of Immigrants—in which John Hudak, a senior fellow in Governance Studies, explores the facts and tackles the myths that underpin the current immigration policy debate. America’s immigration system is badly in need of reform and so in this episode, Hudak explores the real opportunity for bipartisan solutions to the immigration challenges. Guests include: Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and S...
Sep 25, 2020•46 min
This is the fourth episode of a special five-part series on the Brookings Cafeteria podcast—Our Nation of Immigrants—in which John Hudak, a senior fellow in Governance Studies, explores the facts and tackles the myths that underpin the current immigration policy debate. In this episode, Hudak takes a deeper dive into the immigrant experience and the idea of belonging: what it means to uproot your life from one country and to try to build a home in the United States. Guests include Carlos Guevara...
Sep 24, 2020•45 min
This is the third episode of a special five-part series on the Brookings Cafeteria podcast—Our Nation of Immigrants—in which John Hudak, a senior fellow in Governance Studies, explores the facts and tackles the myths that underpin the current immigration policy debate. In this episode, Hudak and guests discuss the economics of immigration, including the important role immigrants play in both developing and sustaining the American economy. Guests include: Hugh Anderson, government affairs chair, ...
Sep 23, 2020•34 min
This is episode 2 of a special five-part series on the Brookings Cafeteria podcast in which John Hudak, a senior fellow in Governance Studies, explores the facts and tackles the myths that underpin the current immigration policy debate. In episode 2, Hudak explores the connections—social and economic—that span communities along the US-Mexico border, and gets a better understanding of issues from and rhetoric about border towns, such as crime and jobs. Guests include: - Michael Chertoff, former s...
Sep 22, 2020•49 min
This is the first episode of a special five-part series on the Brookings Cafeteria podcast in which John Hudak, a senior fellow in Governance Studies, explores the facts and tackles the myths that underpin the current immigration policy debate. In episode one, Hudak explores who are the immigrants that we hear so much about— Where are they coming from, why are they coming to the United States, and where are they going once they arrive? Guests include Brookings Senior Fellow William Frey, and a u...
Sep 21, 2020•42 min
In this special edition of the Brookings Cafeteria Podcast, Lindsey Ford, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in Foreign Policy, interviews two experts and authors of some of the latest papers in the Global China series: Samantha Gross is director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at Brookings, and a fellow in Foreign Policy. Jeffrey Ball is a scholar-in-residence at Stanford University and a nonresident senior fellow in Foreign Policy. Also on this episode, Annelies Goger, a Rubenstein Fel...
Sep 18, 2020•40 min
New research from the Center for Universal Education (CUE) at Brookings finds that technology’s impact on learning and teaching has been limited, especially in low- and middle-income countries, largely because tech has been used to replace analog tools. On this episode, two of the authors of a new report, titled, “Realizing the Promise: How can education technology improve learning for all?,” discuss their findings. Alejandro Ganimian is an assistant professor of applied technology and economics...
Sep 11, 2020•32 min
Brookings scholars Isabel Sawhill and Richard Reeves discuss their new book--publishing this fall--that lays out their case for a new contract with the middle class in America. In this short book of policy solutions to improve the well-being of middle class Americans, they focus on five key areas that build a foundation for a good quality of life. Also, David Wessel, senior fellow and director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, explains the Federal Reserve’s recent statement i...
Sep 04, 2020•58 min
Why did so many traditionally "blue" communities vote for Donald Trump in 2016, and why might they do so again in 2020? In this episode, Bill Finan, director of the Brookings Institution Press, interviews two authors of a new Brookings book that explores these and related questions. Stephanie Muravchik, a historian and an associate fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, and Jon Shields, an associate professor of government at Claremont McKenna Coll...
Aug 28, 2020•43 min
