Study: U.S. Immigration System Limits Benefits Foreign Students Could Provide
Slow, inefficient system that discourages entrepreneurship puts U.S. at a competitive disadvantage
Entries by Editorial Staff
Pulitzer Winner Kai Bird on Robert Oppenheimer & the Atomic Bomb
Mr. Bird focuses on the life and legacy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, “father of the atomic bomb.” He discusses Oppenheimer’s impact on history, his early life and education, and his academic achievements in quantum physics. Bird covers Oppenheimer’s political views, relationships, as well as his leadership in the Manhattan Project and his role in the Trinity test.
Candidate Selection Breakdown: Presidential Primary Primacy or Determined Delegate Detour
Joe Selvaggi talks with MIT Professor Charles Stewart III about the political party’s presidential candidate nomination process and what or who ultimately decides who is chosen.
Georgetown’s Dr. Marguerite Roza on Federal ESSER Funds & the Fiscal Cliff
Dr. Roza explores the complexities of education finance and its impact on American K-12 education. She outlines the three phases of school funding over the past 40 years and their effect on equity and student achievement. She highlights that only about half of the K-12 education dollars reach student instruction, with significant funds absorbed by the ever-expanding education bureaucracy.
Breaking Down Encampments: Court Finds no Right to Sleep Outdoors
Joe Selvaggi speaks with Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Dr. Stephen Eide about the Grants Pass v. Johnson Supreme Court decision and its impact on homeless encampments in Boston and across the country.
Harlow Giles Unger on Patrick Henry & American Liberty
Mr. Unger delves into the life of Patrick Henry as the country celebrates the Fourth of July. He explores Henry’s early life, his rise as a lawyer and political figure, and his fiery opposition to British policies. Mr. Unger highlights Henry’s famous “Give me liberty, or give me death!” speech and his influential role as governor of Virginia, underscoring his enduring legacy in helping forge American independence. In closing, he reads a passage from his book, Lion of Liberty: Patrick Henry and the Call to a New Nation.
Underfunding Overdose Alternatives: Price Controls Hinder Search for Non-Addictive Opioids
Joe Selvaggi talks with Pioneer Institute’s Director of Healthcare Initiatives, Dr. Bill Smith, about the challenges posed by new regulations and price controls for developing alternatives to addictive opioids.
Latest IRS Migration Data Show Exodus from Massachusetts Continues
Massachusetts shed more than double the amount of adjusted gross income (AGI) in 2022 than any year prior to 2020, making it fifth among states in net AGI out-migration behind only California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey, according to data released Thursday by the Internal Revenue Service.
SJC Agrees with Joint Amicus Brief Filed by Pioneer Public Interest Law Center, Contompasis and Caradonio
BOSTON – On June 27, Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court agreed with an amicus brief jointly filed by Pioneer Public Interest Law Center, former Boston Public Schools Superintendent Michael Contompasis and former Worcester Superintendent James Caradonio, rejecting the Massachusetts Teachers Association’s (MTA’s) challenge to the language of a November ballot initiative that would eliminate the requirement that students pass English language arts, math and science MCAS tests to graduate from the Commonwealth’s public high schools. Massachusetts law requires the attorney general and secretary of state to jointly prepare a fair and neutral one-sentence statement describing the effect of a yes or no vote. The “yes” statement slated to appear on the ballot reads: “A YES VOTE would eliminate the requirement that […]
Prof. Joel Richard Paul on Daniel Webster, U.S. Senate, & “Liberty and Union”
Prof. Joel Richard Paul discusses the statesman Daniel Webster, highlighting his reputation as the “conscience of New England” and one of America’s greatest orators. Prof. Paul shares that Webster, despite a modest upbringing, became a leading attorney whose arguments in landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases shaped constitutional law.
Unlocking Affordable Housing: Sources and Solutions for Cost Crisis
Joe Selvaggi talks with Pioneer Institute Housing Fellow Andrew Mikula about his research on the causes and cures for our region’s highest-in-the-nation housing costs.
New Online Tool Tracks MA Hospital Revenue from Commercial Sources
A new online tool from Pioneer Institute shows a gradual increase in non-commercial (public payer) revenue at Massachusetts hospitals and also reveals a strong relationship between the hospitals with the highest commercial revenue and those with the highest relative prices.
Steven Wilson on Charter Public Schools
Mr. Wilson delves into his extensive background, including his tenure at Pioneer Institute, his work with Governor Bill Weld, and his contributions to the landmark 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act. Steven shares insights into the high academic expectations and success of Boston’s charter schools, emphasizing the importance of recruiting and retaining quality teachers and principals.
Jawboning Free Speech: State Coercion Finds Limits at Supreme Court
Joe Selvaggi talks with Cato Institute legal scholar Thomas Berry about the effects of the 9-0 Supreme Court decision in NRA v. Vullo on states’ ability to use regulation to target disfavored free speech.
Study Finds Prevalence of Entrepreneurship Tied to Regulatory Environment, Portion of Immigrants
The prevalence of entrepreneurship is linked to both the regulatory environment and the portion of foreign-born immigrants in a jurisdiction, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.
Sheldon Novick on Henry James, American Women, & Gilded-Age Fiction
Mr. Novick discusses the complexities of Henry James’ life and writing career, highlighting his significant literary contributions, the influence of his family’s intellectual legacy, and the realistic portrayal of social tensions in his works. Novick explores Henry James’ life experiences that shaped his novels like The Portrait of a Lady and The Golden Bowl.
Protectionism’s Bipartisan Embrace: Who Pays When Imports Cost More
Joe Selvaggi talks with international tax and trade expert Clark Packard about the tension between the economic and political calculus behind the Biden administration’s recently announced tariffs on Chinese products, including EVs, batteries, and steel.
USAF Academy’s Jeanne Heidler on Henry Clay & Congressional Statesmanship
Dr. Heidler discusses Henry Clay’s legacy as a seminal figure in American history. She covers Clay’s early life, his transformation from a Virginia farm boy to a leading statesman, and his being mentored in the law by Founding Father, George Wythe.
Universal Savings Accounts: Designing Tax Incentives that Pay to Save
Joe Selvaggi talks with CATO Institute’s Dr. Adam Michel about the opportunity for tax reforms that promote individual savings, an important foundation for economic growth, personal well-being, and intergenerational support.
Israeli Harvard Student Maya Shiloni on Campus Antisemitism
https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/chrt.fm/track/4655F8/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/60211195/thelearningcurve_mayashiloni.mp3
Albert: [00:00:00] Hello everyone again. This is Albert Chang from the University of Arkansas welcoming you to another episode of the Curve podcast. I’m real happy to be here with you guys and along with my co host this week, Alicia Searcy. Alicia, good to see you. Alisha: Good […]
Study Finds Supply Shortage at the Heart of Greater Boston Housing Crisis
Construction costs, land use regulation and zoning among the reasons why housing development lags growth in jobs, number of households BOSTON – A new Pioneer Institute study recommends that municipal leaders employ strategies like density bonuses and expedited permitting to prioritize the construction of family-oriented housing in urban areas to combat high prices and supply shortages resulting from decades of insufficient housing development. “Across the country, housing production has been low since the 2008 financial crisis,” said Andrew Mikula, author of “Supply Stagnation: The Root Cause of Greater Boston’s Housing Crisis and How to Fix It.” “The housing crisis is especially acute in Boston because supply in the region never bounced back from the 1991 recession.” As of last November, […]
Kimberly Steadman of Edward Brooke on Boston’s Charter School Sector
Steadman reflects on her educational background and leadership in urban charter public schools. She discusses the importance of rigorous academic expectations for K-12 students, and how this outlook influences her educational philosophy co-directing the Brooke charter school network. Ms. Steadman shares the challenges faced by Massachusetts charters due to the post-2016 ballot loss, and how she and other charter public school leaders advance supportive policy reforms.
Precision Law Enforcement: Can Gunfire Detection Technology Serve and Protect Everyone?
Joe Selvaggi talks with SoundThinking’s Senior Vice President Tom Chittum about gunfire location technology promises and pitfalls when deployed by law enforcement in high-crime communities.
Cheryl Brown Henderson on the 70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education
Cheryl Brown Henderson, daughter of the lead plaintiff in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education, explores her family’s pivotal role in the Brown case, detailing her father’s part within the NAACP’s wider legal strategy.
Examining Diversity’s Dividends: Can Studies Survive Contact with Peer Review
Joe Selvaggi talks with business data scientist Dr. Jeremiah Green about his peer review work examining consulting firm McKinsey’s studies on the measurable financial benefits of diversity in corporate executive leadership.
POLITICO’s Peter Canellos on Justice John Marshall Harlan & Plessy v. Ferguson
Mr. Canellos delves into Harlan’s upbringing in a prominent slaveholding family, his Civil War service in the Union Army, and his rapid rise in Kentucky politics as a Republican. He highlights John Harlan’s mixed-race half-brother Robert Harlan and key legal precedents like the notorious Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), which influenced Harlan’s views on race and equality.
Promoting Policy Probity: Confessions of Hubwonk’s Humble Host at 200
Hubwonk’s Joe Selvaggi marks episode 200 with a solo podcast that offers some backstory of his journey to becoming a host and offers some insights learned from more than 4 years of interviews.
Study: Expand Voc-Tech Seats, Don’t Require Lottery- Based Admissions
Bottom line is that demand for career vocational-technical education outstrips the supply. BOSTON – State policy makers should address an underlying access problem by expanding the number of seats in Massachusetts vocational-technical high schools rather than changing the schools’ admissions policies, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute. “The commonwealth should expand vocational-technical education to satisfy the demand,” said David Ferreira, who co-authored “Hands Off Voc-Techs’ Success: Lottery-based admissions proposal is a mistake” with William Donovan. “Changing to a lottery system would only rearrange who gets left out.” There were more than 54,300 Massachusetts students in vocational-technical programs during the 2022-23 school year, over 9,500 more than a decade ago. But thanks to strong academic performance, low dropout […]
Colonel Peter Hayden on U.S. Cyber Command & National Security
General Counsel of U.S. Cyber Command, Colonel Pete Hayden, shares insights about growing up in western Massachusetts, attending law school, his military service, and emphasizes the legal aspects of his national security work. Col. Hayden discusses Cyber Command’s mission, distinguishing it from the NSA, while stressing the importance of defending the nation in cyberspace.
Losing Local Labor: Retaining Workers Remains a Massachusetts Challenge
Joe Selvaggi talks with Pioneer Institute’s Research Associate Aidan Enright about Pioneer’s annual report on the Massachusetts labor force and discuss which trends could portend trouble for the state’s future.