In the News

Americans' tax records are the best dataset for assessing income inequality and the odds that a child born poor can become rich. The IRS still only accepts a small number of applications for studies every year, and a list put together by economist John Friedman shows they are almost all from elite schools.

Professor David Kertzer in The Atlantic, "Today, the Edgardo Mortara episode continues to roil the Roman Catholic Church and Catholic-Jewish relations."

While initially reluctant to get entangled in the war in Syria, the U.S. is now prepared to be more involved than ever. In fiscal year 2019, the government assigned $15.3 billion of Department of Defense funds for U.S. operations there.

Ashutosh Varshney in The Indian Express, "Liberals are opposed to Hindu nationalism because it is a form of ethnic nationalism; it is not civic nationalism."

Sociologist Michael Kennedy joined Dan Yorke State of Mind to examine the Trump presidency, from Stormy Daniels to the hiring of John Bolton as the new national security advisor.

"What Anatomy of a Genocide provides instead is perhaps more valuable: A searing portrait of how the Holocaust worked on the ground for ordinary men and women — onetime neighbors and friends whose disparate fates were determined by ethnicity and chance."

The news that President Trump will install John Bolton as his next national security adviser comes at a time when, by some estimates, the U.S. is waging at least nine undeclared wars across the globe.

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "Divine visitations are the most powerful of all dreams...Among those believers was one of the most devout American presidents, William McKinley.

The column cites research by the Costs of War project that estimates America's Afghanistan-related spending totals nearly $1 trillion since 2001.

Catherine Lutz, a professor of anthropology, called National Geographic's past coverage "a kind of white view of the world ... it's safe, and it's basically free of problems." The magazine's forthcoming issue will confront its own racist past.

During a Senate debate on the Yemen War Powers Resolution on March 20, 2018, lawmakers discussed the extent of U.S. force abroad and Congress's role in making decisions about where the U.S. goes to war. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) cited new Brown University Costs of War project data showing that the U.S. is taking military action against terrorism in 76 countries. "How often," he asked, "has Congress debated whether those military actions were authorized?"

On the 15th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Globe columnist Michael Cohen observed that though the "so-called war on terrorism is far from over," Americans have, for the most part, moved on. That's despite the fact, he said, that indirect costs from the war total more than $5.5 trillion, according to Brown's Costs of War project.

The morning after President Trump's first travel ban, Robert Blair, assistant professor of political science, was inspired to create a class that addressed three questions troubling him: "Is America's democracy at risk? If it is, how would we know? If it's not, why are we all so freaked out that it is?"

Professor Catherine Lutz comments on National Geographic's recent admission of its racist past. "There was a lot of ways that the racism was complex more than just captions saying, 'These are savages.'"

Stephanie Savell, co-director of the Costs of War, comments on the increase of civilian deaths in the Middle East since President Trump took over, saying "We all know there's stuff going on in the name of fighting terror, but there's not much interest in the details.

In African American Intellectual History Society's Black Perspectives, sociologist Michael Kennedy says, "It is about time that the Black Panther helps us move beyond the politeness accommodating white supremacy."

In a new partnership with the George Kaiser Family Foundation, students will be able to spend a portion of the upcoming academic year in Tulsa with the Swearer Center's "Brown in Tulsa Kaiser Fellowship" and the Watson Institute's "Tulsa Fellowship Program."

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "The endowment is one of the main instruments by which the United States subverts and undermines foreign governments."

In this story exploring where possible new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stands on major issues, Senior Fellow Richard Boucher said Pompeo "fits in with a crowd that I think tends to be quite confrontational and quite assertive about the United States."

In an opinion piece in The Hill, Costs of War contributor William Hartung cites a recent study that estimates the costs of America's post-9/11 wars totals $5.6 trillion.

Economist John Friedman spoke with GoLocalProv in a live video about how children's opportunities to climb the income ladder later in life depend heavily on where they grow up and how big data can play a role in designing place-based public policy.

Postdoctoral Fellow Ali Kadivar discussed the aftermath of the Iranian Protests at the University of Denver's Center for Middle East Studies.

Providence Business News asked Susan Moffitt, director of the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy, questions about her top priorities, the major challenges the center faces and the center's role in educating Brown students about American politics and policy.

Economist Justine Hastings joined practitioners on a virtual roundtable to discuss an emerging data-sharing model that helps dissolve barriers to collaboration while safeguarding sensitive data.

Political scientist James A. Morone teams up with The Commonwealth Fund's President David Blumenthal to look back at the Affordable Care Act's passage through a historical lens, beginning with Harry Truman's proposed universal insurance plan in 1945.

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "At unsettled historical moments like the one through which we are now passing, the value of institutions becomes clearer."

In a video interview at the Global Financial Markets Forum in Abu Dhabi, political economist Mark Blyth discusses Brexit negotiations, populism across Europe, tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, geopolitical risk and the upcoming election in Italy.

Postdoctoral Fellow Nick Barnes, along with Stephanie Savell, Co-Director of the Costs of War Project, in U.S. News & World Report, "The Brazilian military prides itself on always being ready to step in and save the nation, seeing itself as a bastion of responsibility and ethics amid chaos, corruption and criminality."

Eric Patashnik joins Innovation Hub to discuss evidence-based medical procedures and his recent book, Unhealthy Politics: The Battle over Evidence-Based Medicine.

A U.S. project from the Cold War is turning into an environmental hazard, due to climate change, according to Professor Jeff Colgan in his new study.

Carrie Nordlund, Associate Director of the Master of Public Affairs (MPA) Program, joins Wall Street Journal's Jason Bellini for an episode of Moving Upstream to discuss the latest technology in the garment industry and what it means for the millions of people who work in it.

Professor Wendy Schiller comments on the recently released fundraising agreement between Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and the Providence Democratic City Committee.

Professor Jim Morone reviews Fantasyland, a new book by Kurt Andersen, in Foreign Affairs.

Marc Dunkelman, Fellow in Public Policy, joined the Breached Podcast to discuss how we define the boundaries of an American community, legally, politically, and practically.

Political scientist Jeff Colgan discusses his new study on the impacts of climate change on military bases. "It's not a high priority. In fact it's a barely known [issue] in Washington."

Postdoctoral Fellow Narges Bajoghli comments on the differing views of Iran's military commander, General Qassem Soleimani. "Within their ranks, they call the Iran-Iraq war a World War III that no one in the world recognizes."

"To the list of landmark genocide studies must now be added Anatomy of a Genocide: The Life and Death of a Town Called Buczacz, Brown University Prof. Omer Bartov's masterfully researched and hauntingly rendered history of atrocities committed against — and by — the religiously and ethnically mixed former residents of a place that today is part of Ukraine."

Stephanie Savell, Co-Director of the Costs of War Project, describes the hidden costs of America's counterterror wars and the Project's mission to draw attention to them, in an op-ed on TomDispatch.com.

Professor Ashutosh Varshney in The Indian Express, "Modi is right to say that Nehru alone did not produce India's democracy. In the Constituent Assembly, there was no great resistance to the idea of universal franchise."

In response to a Brazilian samba school's use of blackface in a Carnival parade, James N. Green, director of the Brazil Initiative, said it made sense that there would be confusion over how to interpret blackface in Brazil, since it originated outside the country.

Political Economist Mark Blyth joins BBC's Business Matters to discuss President Trump's budget among other things.

Senior Fellow Timothy Edgar appeared on WPRI's Dan Yorke State of Mind to discuss the White House's Rob Porter, and the release of the Nunes memo.

Senior Fellow Timothy Edgar in The Providence Journal, "So I do think we need to look carefully at the possibility that they went too far in certain cases involving Trump campaign officials."

Senior Fellow Alex Nading in Edge Effects, "Occupational health experts compare the work of planting and harvesting sugarcane to running a half marathon in 90-plus degree weather, going home and going to sleep, and doing the same thing again for the next five days.

Tune in to the Pell Center's "Story in the Public Square" this Sunday as Senior Fellow Timothy Edgar will join the conversation.

When Project Iceworm, an abandoned Cold War-era U.S. Army initiative in Greeland was shut down in 1967, military expected leftover materials would freeze. A new study by Jeff Colgan finds that now, the melting ice in the Arctic has remobilized some toxic waste and threatens to do the same at other sites.

Senior Fellow Deborah Gordon comments on the Department of Energy's research project on crude oils, "Everything is changing but no one really is aware or cares."

Research by economist John Friedman looks at 10,000 students who had been admitted to a CUNY program called SEEK that helps academically borderline, low-income students complete a four-year degree.