Maxwell School News

Denuclearization will likely be at the center of the meeting later this month between President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, says Robert Murrett, professor of practice of public administration and international affairs. “Trade is going to be a part of [their talks],” Murrett says, adding Kim has expressed interest in “bringing their economy into the 21st century.”

Yilin Hou, professor of public administration and international affairs and senior research associate at the Center for Policy Research, has won a prestigious economic policy research award from the Pu Shan Foundation of China, for his paper "Real Property Tax: Ability to Pay, Distribution of Tax Burden, and Redistribution Effects."

Professor Emeritus William C. Banks says the precedent concern is legitimate and "one of the biproducts of this episode might be to impose on Congress the determination to revise the underlying law and make it more difficult for any president in the future to use the mechanism. One of the biggest open areas in the law is that there are no criteria to decide what constitutes an emergency."

Len Burman, Paul Volcker Chair in Behavioral Economics, suggests eliminating a provision of current law in which assets that increase in value can go essentially untaxed across generations as a way to reduce inequality.

According to Professor of Economics Mary Lovely, "this is not a negotiating tactic. Trump is a true believer...He wrongly believes tariffs will help the U.S. auto industry."

"This is a real institutional threat to the separation of powers to use emergency powers to enable the president to bypass Congress to build a wall on his own initiative that our elected representatives have chosen not to fund," says William C. Banks, professor of public administration and international affairs. 

Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, argues that in both rural and urban communities, two key factors—economic distress and supply of opioids—predict the rate of opioid deaths. "I really do want to push back against this cliché that addiction does not discriminate," Monnat says. "The physiological processes that underlie addiction themselves may not discriminate, but the factors that put people in communities at higher risk are are not spatially random."

Mathematica Policy Research has appointed Maxwell alumna Kimberlin Butler ’03 M.P.A. as their new director of foundation engagement. In her new role, Butler will lead the organization’s work with foundations, grantees, and their partners.

Maxwell alumnus John E. Hall ’00 M.P.A. has been named the new executive director of the Indianapolis Housing Agency, which provides public housing services and skills-based training programs to over 9,600 Indianapolis residents. Hall previously served as director for the City of Wichita’s Housing and Community Services Department, where he successfully implemented affordable housing preservation and health home initiatives.

"The economy has changed a lot since 1888 and in particular, when we think about who bears the burden of tariffs, we have to recognize the development of very complex supply chains for American companies," says Professor of Economics Mary Lovely. 

A 2019 study found that the recent closure of a local family grocery store was a major concern for local elected officials and leaders of nonprofit agencies. 

According to Michael Barkun, professor emeritus of political science, disillusionment can be a subtle risk of conspiracy theory media. "People may draw the conclusion that conventional politics is meaningless. If they genuinely believe that what happens in the world is a result of the hidden hand of some mysterious elite, then presumably ordinary political activity is meaningless as are the decisions of lawmakers and officeholders," he says. 

The report by Maxwell alumnus Chris Pulliam ’17 B.A. (Econ/Psc)/’18 M.P.A. examines various proposed and current tax credit policies in the United States, including the earned income tax credit, child tax credit, and workers tax credit.

"Most experts agree that there is no crisis at the southern border," William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs, says about Trump's claim that a wall is needed because of a crisis at the border.

"If history has given us any lesson, it is that the U.S. government should step aside and let the Venezuelan people—with the assistance of multilateral organizations—guide this much-needed opening for democratic change forward," writes Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and the Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.  

Beginning in mid-June, the Maxwell School will host 25 of Africa’s bright, emerging public management leaders for a six-week Leadership Institute, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.