In the News

In an article on the world's fastest-growing major economy, Professor Ashutosh Varshney has drawn a striking analogy between contemporary India and the United States in the late 19th century, a time similarly characterized by a heady cocktail of growth, inequality and corruption.

The Mega Millions jackpot is now $493 million ahead of Tuesday's draw at 11 p.m., the fifth largest jackpot in history. A study by economist Emily Oster found that the lottery jackpot only becomes "progressive" -- meaning high earners spend more on tickets than low earners -- when the jackpot is at least $806 million.

Richard Arenberg, Visiting Lecturer in Political Science, joined The Midday Briefing on SiriusXM's News & Issues to break down the Helsinki Summit and how the United States should move forward with Russia.

Ashutosh Varshney discusses James Crabtree's book The Billionaire Raj and how India is living out the same "gilded age" as America did in the 1800s.

Public Policy concentrator Michael Fuller '19, shares his experience this summer participating in the first Brown in Tulsa Kaiser Fellowship Program.

This article features amusing archived documents from the Cold War period that scholars have come across during their research. Professor Jeff Colgan chose a 1975 report by The Church Committee that revealed a play related to Fidel Castro's beard.

The WomenStats Project links the status of women to the security and behavior of countries, offering insights into women's lives all over the world. The database helped uphold a ban on polygyny in Canada when Professor Rose McDermott submitted empirical research that used WomenStats numbers to the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

Senior Fellow Timothy Edgar joined The Dan Yorke Show to discuss the 2018 Helsinki Summit, describing it as one of the worst days for a U.S. president in history.

Anthony Levitas in The Wilson Center's Kennan Institute, "The fact that Ukraine's constitution does not yet reflect the reality of governance throughout the country is troubling."

Earlier this year, the U.S. tried to weaken a World Health Organization proposal encouraging the benefits of breastfeeding. Economist Emily Oster pointed out that it's "impossible to disentangle" the most commonly cited benefits of breastfeeding, such as higher IQ and lower obesity rates, from socioeconomic factors.

Professor Ashutosh Varshney in The Indian Express, "A true meritocracy would place equally meritorious students from rural or urban settings, richer or poorer provinces, on an equal footing...China modifies the principle in the opposite direction. Its quota system gives preference to the privileged."

An online survey of 1,000 people conducted by the Taubman Center showed that one in five distrust the federal government and that Democrats hold a nine-point lead heading into the midterm elections.

More female candidates than ever are running for political office in Rhode Island this year. Political scientist Wendy Schiller said the establishment party's endorsement controversy and recent pushback against pay equity, abortion rights and new sexual harassment laws has received stinging national media attention, and outrage among far-left-leaning voters could spur big wins for progressive candidates.

Progressive political candidates motivated by Bernie Sanders' insurgent run against Hillary Clinton in 2016 are advocating for Medicare for all as part of their platforms. Professor Eric Patashnik said that the political viability of the idea will ultimately depend on its details -- such as whether the program would eliminate the private-insurance system altogether.

In an article on India's capital, Ashutosh Varshney, Director of the Center for Contemporary South Asia, calls the country an improbable democracy -- poor, impossibly heterogeneous and multicultural, and heavily reliant on its colonial history.

Jeff Colgan in Global Policy Journal, "At the moment, property values and stock prices generally seem unaffected by the prospect of climate change, which generates a comforting illusion that our current trajectory is sustainable. But the idea that that markets rapidly update prices with all available information – an idea for which Eugene Fama won a Nobel Prize in 2013 – relies on a strict set of assumptions. In a world of climate change, those assumptions bear re-examination."

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer comments on Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and the widespread discontent with leadership in the Central American country.

The must-have accessory at the 2018 World Cup is the digital Fan ID, part identity card and part all-access pass. Senior Fellow Timothy Edgar says the Fan ID is "part of a surveillance economy where you are offered something that sounds enticing in exchange for valuable personal information."

Professor Peter Andreas argues in a column penned on the eve of the Fourth of July that Americans should consider the fact that the U.S. founders were relentless lawbreakers -- particularly of laws meant to restrict who and what was allowed to cross borders.

Senior Fellow Timothy Edgar joined WPRI's Dan Yorke State of Mind to discuss the week's pressing security issues, including immigration policies, North Korea, and the Russian election meddling investigation.

A new study by the Costs of War Project examines the relationship between the United States' war-related debt and societal inequality.

Senior Fellow Timothy Edgar in The Washington Post, "A warrant requirement dooms collection in bulk because mass surveillance programs involve billions or trillions of records."

Senior Fellow Chas Freeman joins Legal Talk Network's Lawyer 2 Lawyer podcast to discuss the summit meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "The prospect that the United States would allow Hawaii to resume its place as an independent nation seems far-fetched."

Reviewer Tim Norton says Faculty Fellow David Kertzer's new book, The Pope Who Would Be King, is an "important contribution in understanding the many ways that the Catholic Church, cloaked with unquestioned power in the Papal States of Europe, conspired to keep it."

Sociologist Michael Kennedy joined WPRI's Dan Yorke State of Mind to discuss the Singapore Summit between President Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong-un, and raise questions about the state of moral leadership in America.

Senior Fellow Chas Freeman joins WBUR's Radio Open Source to discuss President Trump's summit meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong-un.

An opinion piece co-written by Eric Patashnik, argues that the law's political vulnerabilities and Republican electoral dynamics drive conservative efforts to uproot it and yet conservatives are unlikely to be able to repeal it.

A May 2017 report from the Costs of War Project indicated that military spending creates fewer jobs than the same amount of money would have if it had been invested in other sectors, such as clean energy, health care and education.

As sanctions restrict the legal flow of goods, people grow accustomed to the black market. In a 2005 study, Professor Peter Andreas noted that sanctions often breed "a higher level of public tolerance for lawbreaking and an undermined respect for the rule of law."

Professor Ashutosh Varshney compares his studies of villages in the Gujarat state of India, where Muslims and Hindus coexist more harmoniously than in other parts of the country, to that of Galilee, where Jews and Arabs interact daily, primarly economically.

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "Repressive rule was imposed on Nicaragua slowly, one outrage at a time. For more than a decade Nicaraguans grumbled but did not act. This spring they finally erupted."

Economist Emily Oster recently published a new book on why much of the conventional pregnancy wisdom is wrong and what expecting mothers really need to know.

Research by Professor Jeff Colgan is cited in an article about the correlation between high oil prices and international conflict. "He also notes that oil-producers are 50 percent more likely to engage in conflict than non-oil producers."

Senior Fellow Chas Freeman joined Persia Digest to discuss the new US strategy on Iran and the future of the Iran nuclear deal, saying, "No one concluding an agreement with the American authorities can now be sure that their successors in office will honor their undertakings."

Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer in The Boston Globe, "They have been slow to accept the new reality: that Washington is acting against their continent's interests. If Europe is to remain a center of world power, it will have to rise from its geopolitical slumber and defend itself."

Adam Levine, Director of the Humanitarian Innovation Initiative, speaks to International Medical Corps about the fight against Ebola.

William Hartung, Cost War Project contributor, mentions that the Project estimates all post-9/11 wars have cost us $5.6 trillion and counting, more than 100 times the Bush administration's initial claims.

Economist Emily Oster investigated the statistics, or lack thereof, behind some general wisdom about what women should and shouldn't do during pregnancy.

Catherine Lutz, co-director of the Watson Institute's Costs of War project, responds to President Trump's repeated claim that the United States "has spent $7 trillion in the Middle East."

Economist John Friedman said that while attending college is an "incredible boost to upward mobility," the path to higher education can have pitfalls for lower-income and minority students, who often leave college saddled with unsustainable debt after earning a degree that may not boost their income or upward mobility.

This article contrasts the Stimson Center figures with the Watson Institute's, which estimates that all war-related spending since 9/11, coupled with future obligations, totals $5.6 trillion.

In the new RT documentary, Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer, examines the rationale and impact of Washington's international interventions, from Hawaii to Libya.

Professor Nina Tannenwald accused President Trump of "working to inflame the Palestinians," labeling him "an arsonist" and saying that "moving the embassy is a way of setting fire to the Middle East."

Rhode Islanders were as divided as the rest of the nation on whether the U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem on Monday was the fulfillment of a long-delayed promise or a blunder that takes the country out of the peace process.

Senior Fellow Chas Freeman said that if China can't rely on supply chains that include U.S. components, the country will create its own supply chains. Freeman served as President Richard Nixon's interpreter during his famous 1972 visit to China.

Chafee has a record of fiscal responsibility and supporting liberal causes such as environmentalism and same-sex marriage, said Faculty Fellow Wendy Schiller.

Faculty Fellow Wendy Schiller said social media filters often give us a false sense of control over data breaches and propaganda. But, she said, the ability to hand-pick our sources actually causes us to stop screening for accuracy and balance, making us more vulnerable.