Maxwell School News

"You want to come to the aid of the states when states can’t take care of themselves," says Professor Emeritus William C. Banks, about President Trump's threat to invoke the Insurrection Act.

"It’s an important inflection point, if you will, of now seeing the opportunity for commercial transportation of humans into space," says University Professor Sean O’Keefe, former administrator of NASA. "This is much akin to the transition when the first civil aviation aircraft took off decades ago after many decades of it being exclusively a public endeavor."

“People are taking their cues from political leadership and from doctors, and to the extent that those are different, people will turn to their more trusted sources,” says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.

Professor Mary Lovely was interviewed for the Christian Science Monitor about the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on creating a more globalized world, while other professionals argue less globalization impact. 

"Historically, grandparents have always provided care," says University Professor Madonna Harrington Meyer. "What we’re seeing now is grandparents providing care that looks a lot more like parenting: more hours and more tasks."

Fears of recession are growing, especially in the business community, and the question is whether that uncertainty will spread to consumers. "We won’t see that until we start to see a real slowdown in hiring," says Professor of Economics Mary Lovely.

Already production of shoes, apparel, toys and other "footloose" industries has been shifting from China to Vietnam and other countries, partly due to rising wages in China, says Mary Lovely, professor of economics.

"Both sides are finding out that trade wars are painful," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics. "The Chinese economy is slowing. ...Foreign investment into the U.S. is down, and there is concern about domestic investment moving forward."

"A president might do all kinds of inappropriate things, but if members of Congress don’t want to impeach the president, the president won’t be impeached," says Steven White, assistant professor of political science.

U.S. tariffs will “drive up costs for U.S.-based manufacturers and disadvantage American workers competing in global markets,” due to the additional costs they will inject into the supply chain, according to Mary Lovely, professor of economics.

"This could be a good year [for newcomers], given the surge in excitement and the willingness of donors to support what would in other years have been considered pretty long-shot candidates," says Danielle Thomsen, assistant professor of political science.

"China wants to use industrial policies and state support to shape its economy," says Professor of Economics Mary Lovely. "The Trump administration wants to use American market power to force our trading partners to adopt policies that help us shape our economy."

International automakers are "training their future competitors and receiving only a fraction of what their intellectual property would earn" if they were allowed to go it alone in China, says Mary Lovely, professor of economics.

President “Xi has really staked his future on the high-tech sectors in China,” Professor of Economics Mary Lovely says about the race between the U.S., China and other nations to develop the next wireless communications technology, known as 5G.

"Right now, trade policy looks very rear-view mirror," says Mary Lovely, professor of economics. "Just worrying about 500 jobs here or 1,000 jobs there seems to miss the need for long-term strategy." 

"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."

In the current charged political environment, a national commission might be the only path to a new approach acceptable to both parties. “Trump couldn’t stand in the way of that” if Congress moves in that direction, says William C. Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs.

Chris Faricy, associate professor of political science, finds in recent surveys that people significantly overestimate the amount of tax middle- and low-income households pay in federal taxes.