Fiscal Policy

Scotland’s Vote Against Independence Will Still Bring Massive Change to the U.K

The month leading up to the Scottish referendum was fraught with anxiety for those who wished to keep the United Kingdom whole. Fear over the campaign for independence succeeding in its goal, is likely the reason that, two days before the referendum, the leaders of the three biggest political parties in England signed a vow […]

The Black Market and Blue Rate: Argentina’s Bruised Economy

  Much of Argentina’s charm comes from its emphasis on food and café culture — its love of a mid-afternoon snack or mate with a croissant (medialuna). But this tranqui way of life may have led to a certain level of acceptance and complacency that the government has taken advantage of. While there have been […]

The Infrastructure Improvement Conundrum

Infrastructure in the United States is in a state of disrepair. The American Society of Civil Engineers 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure stamps US infrastructure with a letter grade of D+, with an estimated $3.6 trillion investment needed by 2020 to bring that grade to a B.[1] How will the US finance the necessary […]

The Carbon Crunch

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg may be remembered as one of the few politicians to extend term limits in office, but pragmatism will be his ultimate legacy. If Mayor Bloomberg is the ideal pragmatist in politics then meet Dieter Helm, his counterpart in the climate change arena. Like Bloomberg who’s known to champion social […]

Buying Our Security: The Actual Risk of Terrorism

The United States is in a perpetual state of alert, forced to contend with a question that never seems to receive an answer: are we safer than we were before the fall of the Twin Towers changed everything? The effort to provide a positive response to this question comes with considerable cost. The Department of […]

Is Greece’s Economic Future Destined for Failure?

The current situation in the Eurozone and its reception throughout the world remains twofold: while many people claim that the European economy is gaining momentum, skepticism largely dominates the Greek economy, which has carried heavy financial burden and wavers on the verge of collapse. Therefore, it is no surprise that when most people think about […]

Next Stop Taxachusetts: Finding Funds for a 21st Century Transportation System

“In light of the significant financial challenges the MBTA is currently facing, specifically its tremendous debt burden, the precipitous decline in the receipt of projected and dedicated revenues since the inception of Forward Funding, and perhaps most importantly the inability to finance billions of dollars worth of critical state of good repair projects, the MBTA’s […]

Summers versus Mankiw: How to Recover the Economy

Northeastern’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs is hosting an Open Classrooms series on “Policy Advice to the President.” The series is in debate format, two experts in a specific field give separate responses to a posed question, and field questions from the audience. Commencing the season’s series was Larry Summers and Greg Mankiw, […]

Unintended Consequences: Why France’s Impossible Expectations Will Shake Its Future

On Sunday, May 6th, François Hollande of the French Socialist Party defeated his opponent, Nicholas Sarkozy, with 51.6% of the popular vote. Tough economic times and recent “terrorist” attacks in Toulouse were the foremost discussions during the 2012 electoral campaign. François Hollande, the first Socialist president in the nearly two decades since François Mitterrand, benefited […]

Debt Ceiling Panic: Unnecessary Instability or Crucial Wake-up Call?

During last summer, the economy was teetering on the edge of collapse due in part to the question of whether or not the debt ceiling, a ninety-year-old government policy, would be raised before the United States hit its limit. The main theory propping up the continued use of the debt ceiling has been the belief […]