2020 In the News

This article references the research and tracking efforts of Emily Oster.

Senior Fellow Heidi Heitkamp penned this op-ed on how the mismanagement of the IRS has had a disproportionate impact on working Americans.

Jeff Cogan provided commentary in this article, which also cites the Climate Solutions Lab at Watson: "There's so much that a federal government can do on climate change across the various agencies, not just at the state department, or the Treasury or the Environmental Protection Agency, or the Federal Reserve, at all of them...We should not forget how powerful the president can be."

Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "Biden has a chance to end the longstanding practice of handing out ambassadorships as political rewards. The temptation to continue, however, is strong. Biden is unlikely to resist it any more successfully than his predecessors."

Emily Oster said she is surprised to hear that the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is relying on the Covid-19 School Response Dashboard, a website she started to promote in-person learning for schoolchildren.

Emily Oster in NHPR, "I think we need to say, let's draw some guidelines about what we would see and when."

Emily Oster appeared in this interview segment on school closures due to COVID-19.

Wendy Schiller appeared in this Bloomberg radio interview.

Watson Director, Edward Steinfeld penned this article on the power of leadership.

In this interview segment, Stephen Kinzer delves into CIA mind control - focusing specifically on the use of LSD.

Deborah Gordon co-wrote this piece on the potent climate pollutant methane, which is 100 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

Stephen Kinzer in The Christian Science Monitor, "To this day I remember looking at people's blank faces in Turku and [Estonia's capital,] Tallinn. Even for those of us not directly affected, it was a traumatic episode to live through. It's engraved in my memory forever."

In this article, Emily Oster provides information on transmission of the virus, or lack thereof, in schools that are now facing temporary closures.

In this piece, Emily Oster provides information on the closing of schools in New York and the debate on why it's happening.

Emily Oster penned this column arguing that the best available data suggests that infection rates in schools simply mirror the prevalence of COVID-19 in the surrounding community — and that addressing community spread is where our efforts should be focused.

Mark Blyth in this article, "When the pandemic subsides, the fight for the economy begins in earnest."

This film features interviews with David Kertzer on Pope Pius XI's handling of the Holocaust during World War II.

Senior Fellow Timothy Edgar appeared on this episode of the Dan Yorke Show.

This article includes commentary from, and highlights the research and tracking efforts of, Emily Oster.

In this article, Jeff Colgan provides commentary on Biden's future approach to climate change.

This article cites Watson's Costs of War Report, "...Has monitored the economic and medical costs of both wars for years. It estimates that the United States will have spent more than $6.4 trillion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when lifetime medical needs for the veterans who served there are included."

This article cites Watson's virtual exhibition on the American flag called "Out of the Fray."

In this article, Rob Blair offers commentary on the coronavirus vaccine.

This article cites Mark Blyth's new book, Angrynomics.

Emily Oster penned this column arguing that Americans need to start thinking about how to control the pandemic under the assumption that people are not necessarily going to listen.

Rose McDermott is quoted and cited in this article, which focuses on her argument that the advent of computers, the internet and social media have yielded massive change in the design and execution of certain types of large field experiments.

In this interview, Emily Oster says priorities need to shift, because data doesn't show that schools are a primary source of COVID-19 outbreaks or broad community spread.

Mark Blyth appears in this podcast segment with Finacial Times' Rana Foroohar and host Paul Jay.

In this article, Emily Oster shares information on her COVID-19 tracking efforts and her opinion on the rate of spread through specific demographics.

In this article, Stephanie Savell offered commentary predicting what the U.S. military budget will look like under the Biden administration.

Emily Oster's COVID-19 tracking data is cited in this article.

In this opinion piece, Rob Blair writes "The good news is that Trump's efforts are unlikely to succeed in changing the outcome of the election. Still, his refusal to accept defeat can do serious lasting harm."

This article draws on the research and tracking efforts of Emily Oster.

Catherine Lutz in NEO, "The Pentagon should be telling us, the American public, who's funding this, what that means, why this is happening."

Mark Blyth appeared in this radio interview along with seven other guests.

This piece cites and reviews Rich Arenberg's book, "Congressional Procedure: A Practical Guide to the Legislative Process in the U.S. Congress."

In this interview, Emily Oster discusses celebrating Thanksgiving during a pandemic.

Postdoctoral Fellow Jori Breslawski penned this article on the potential trials and tribulations of distributing a COVID-19 vaccine worldwide.

Wendy Schiller offered commentary on the viability of Trump succeeding in court with regards to his refusal to concede.

add intro

Andrew Schrank penned this article on why one of President-elect Biden's first legislative priorities should be a substantial increase in the federal minimum wage.

Wendy Schiller provided commentary on Joe Biden's coronavirus task force.

Michael Kennedy penned this opinion piece on President Trump and the future of American democracy.

In this interview, NBC 10's Ashley Cullinane speaks to Wendy Schiller about what comes next after a projected winner in the Presidential race has been called.

Wendy Schiller in The Guardian, "I think he understands what his job is. It's not going to be to pass sweeping legislation – this is no FDR or Lyndon Johnson. This is a guy trying to get us back on track to some sort of normalcy in governance...That's Biden's job, and anybody who's expecting any grand legislative measures is just living in fantasyland."

This article cites the Climate Solutions Lab report, outlined by Jeff Colgan, which lays out a series of steps that include creating a "climate club" of countries that volunteer to reduce emissions by agreeing to set a minimum price on carbon and penalize high-emitting countries through trade measures such as tariffs.

This article mentions the research and coronavirus tracking efforts of Emily Oster.

This article draws on data from Opportunity Insights, co-directed by John Friedman.