Government

Writing for The Conversation, Prof. Jessika Trancik explores how government policies can spark innovation in clean energy markets, helping to reduce carbon emissions. “Left to its own devices, technological change will not necessarily solve climate change, especially not in the limited time we have left to act,” writes Trancik. “But my research on technology evolution suggests that government policy can help propel this powerful process toward rapid progress and beneficial outcomes.”

In a letter to the Financial Times, graduate student Daniel Aronoff writes that “the US may avoid inflation, but it cannot escape the consequences of increased government spending, for good or ill.”

Writing for Inside Higher Ed, graduate student Austin DeMarco, federal affairs chair of the MIT Graduate Student Council, advocates for increased federal investment in scientific research. “Sustained, ambitious investment in innovation and research, beginning with the Endless Frontier Act, will rebuild America’s technological ecosystem, strengthen and diversify our scientific workforce, and regain our world leadership in science and technology,” DeMarco writes.

A new study by researchers from the MIT Election Data and Science Lab finds that there is bipartisan support for some voting changes included in a bill that passed the House, reports Ryan Teague Beckwith for Bloomberg News. The researchers found that “87% of Republicans supported requiring paper backups for electronic voting machines, and 62% backed making Election Day a holiday, both provisions of the Democratic legislation.”

In an opinion piece for The New York Times, Prof. Nicholas Ashford calls for creating systems that could help address the spread of misinformation in broadcast media. “Public trust in the media industry has been declining for years,” writes Ashford. “It can be restored by securing media companies’ commitment to practicing fact-checking and presenting contrasting perspectives on issues important to news consumers.”

Writing for The New York Times, Prof. Amy Finkelstein emphasizes the effectiveness of randomized clinical trials. Finkelstein notes that she hopes “truly rigorous testing of social policy will become as commonplace as it is for new vaccines. That would help ensure that government services are delivered as effectively and efficiently as possible.”

Bloomberg reporter Craig Torres spotlights alumna Stacey Tevlin PhD ’95 who leads the Federal Reserve’s Research and Statistics division and is “the most important person in U.S. economics that you have probably never heard of.” Tevlin’s team is entrusted with “the forecasts for policy makers as they weigh interest rates every six weeks,” writes Torres. 

Bloomberg reporters Georgina McKay and Tracy Alloway spotlight a new working paper on income inequality by MIT researchers that finds that highly-paying jobs are now more likely to be located within highly-paid companies. The findings suggest that “a government looking to reduce inequality might want to target sectors where bifurcation between ‘high-paying’ and ‘low-paying’ has been most extreme.”

Reuters reporter Trevor Hunnicutt spotlights how Elisabeth Reynolds, executive director of the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future, has been tapped by the Biden administration to serve on the National Economic Council.

In an article for The Boston Globe, President Emerita Susan Hockfield and Prof. Ernest Moniz, former secretary of energy, highlight alumnus George Shultz’s PhD ’49 visionary approach to tackling climate change and the development of new technologies. "George was masterful in bringing together people and ideas from disparate disciplines to find new kinds of solutions to daunting political, technological, and organizational problems," they write. "He created communities of shared concern, which he recognized was the way to get things done and to have lots of fun doing so, frequently reminding us, 'If you want to land together, you better take off together.'"

Associate Provost Richard Lester calls for a comprehensive dialogue between America’s research universities and the federal government. “Such a dialogue,” writes Lester, “would enable the universities to make clear that there is no contradiction between their interests as academic citizens of the world and as institutional citizens of the United States. Both sets of interests are served by openness, independence, and the freedom to attract, educate, and work with the world’s finest young minds.” 

Mario Draghj PhD ’76 has been named the new Italian prime minister, reports Giovanni Legorano and Marcus Walker for The Wall Street Journal. “His obsession with the importance of education is rooted in his personal experience. His studies paid off for the next 40 years,” said Mario Baldassarri PhD ‘77, a fellow MIT alumnus.

AP reporter Matthew Lee memorializes the life and work of George Shultz PhD ’49, “a titan of American academia, business and diplomacy who spent most of the 1980s trying to improve Cold War relations with the Soviet Union and forging a course for peace in the Middle East.”

George Shultz, an MIT alumnus and former professor of economics who served as a counsel and Cabinet member for two presidents, has died at age 100, reports Michael Abramowitz and David E. Hoffman for The Washington Post. “Mr. Shultz was a policy maven, conservative but curious, patient and determined. He ranged widely over domestic and foreign affairs,” they write.

Boston Globe reporter Mark Feenery writes that George Shultz PhD ’49, who held top positions under President Nixon and was secretary of state for President Regan, “was regarded as a model of managerial dependability: pragmatic, low key, unflappable.”