A note from the Directors
While the world has made great strides in combating the global pandemic in 2021 – both in terms of improving public health and stabilizing the economy – this new academic year will have no shortage of challenges, many involving issues at the intersection of business and government. Vaccine production and distribution, new strains of coronavirus, stabilizing the U.S. and global economies, assuring shared and sustainable growth, addressing global international relations crises, racial injustices, deep political divisions, and climate change are just a few of the many issues the new administration, and indeed much of the planet, confronts. Below, we detail some of our recent work at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government addressing various challenges. The partnership and engagement of so many in our community enable this fine work, and we are grateful for your support.
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M-RCBG remembers John Ruggie
The Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government mourns the passing of John G. Ruggie, a former Center Director and long-time HKS professor. Most recently, he held the title of Berthold Beitz Research Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs and throughout his distinguished career, made significant contributions to both the theory and practice of international relations, winning numerous awards and being named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Ruggie was a former M-RCBG director. John Haigh, M-RCGB co-director and lecturer in public policy, said: “John was a giant in the field of international relations and identifying and refining the role of business and addressing humanitarian and social issues. He will be missed.”
“John was a person of principle and practicality,” added Larry Summers, M-RCBG Weil director and Charles W. Eliot University Professor. “He made the world a better place by helping to harness corporate power into the pursuit of a more humane world. The keenness of his intellect was matched only by the generosity of his spirit. The Kennedy School, the M-RCBG, and I will mourn his passing and will miss him very much in the years ahead.”
Click here to read the full tribute and for links to many others.
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The UN Guiding Principles 10 years later
June 2021 marked the 10-year anniversary of the unanimous adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights (UNGPs) by the UN Human Rights Council. This marked the first time the UN had issued official guidance to states and firms on their respective duties and responsibilities in relation to business and human rights. And it was the first time the UN ‘endorsed’ any normative text that had not been negotiated by governments themselves. Authored by the late Professor John Ruggie, the UNPGs now constitute the authoritative global standard on business and human rights.
In May, Ruggie, Caroline Rees and Rachel Davis published
Ten Years After: From UN Guiding Principles to Multi-Fiduciary Obligations
.
The conclusion endeavors to draw some lessons from how, a mere decade after UN endorsement of the Guiding Principles, they have turned the idea that companies are responsible for preventing and addressing adverse impacts of their business on people’s basic dignity and equality into a mainstream proposition with significant implications for corporate governance, while acknowledging that large remain gaps in the business and human rights space.
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M-RCBG welcomes new senior fellows
Eight new senior fellows have joined M-RCBG at Harvard Kennedy School where they will spend their time working on individual research projects, holding study groups and contributing to understanding the rapidly evolving relationship between business and government.
“Senior fellows are a vital resource to our center. They bring valuable experience as practitioners, and their strong academic orientation enables them to provide significant insights. In sum, their work here enriches our understanding of the business-government relationship,” said Richard Zeckhauser, Frank Plumpton Ramsey Professor of Political Economy and chair of M-RCBG’s fellows selection committee. “We welcome these new colleagues, and look forward to their effective interaction with our faculty, our students, and others engaged with the work of the center,” said John Haigh, M-RCBG Co-Director.
Learn more about Edoardo Campanella, Connie M. Friesen, Michal Halperin, Aparna Mathur, Uché Ewelukwa Ofodile, Omar Robles, Chris Skidmore, Edwin "Ted" Truman and our returning senior fellows
here
.
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Tufano joins the Center as a visiting scholar
M-RCBG welcomed Peter Tufano as a visiting scholar on July 1. While here, he will work on empirical research related to the
Advance Child Tax Credit (ACTC)
to understand how parents are thinking about this benefit. According to Tufano and co-researcher Daniel Schneider in
The Hill
, "There will be an important debate about whether and how the credit should be extended. We hope that evidence will inform this debate. But equally important, we need to listen to parents and do all we can to make this year’s payments effective."
Tufano is currently on sabbatical from his role as the Peter Moores Professor of Finance at Saïd Business School. He is a lifelong scholar and educator, an experienced academic leader, a social entrepreneur, and an advisor to business and government leaders. His work spans financial innovation, financial markets and institutions, and financial engineering - and for more than two decades, has focused on household finance. Prior to joining Oxford, Peter was a faculty member at HBS for 22 years. While there, he assumed a number of leadership roles, including department chair, course head, and Senior Associate Dean. He was also the founding co-chair of the Harvard Innovation Lab (i-lab), a cross-university initiative to foster entrepreneurship. Tufano earned his AB in Economics (summa cum laude), MBA (with high distinction) and PhD in Business Economics at Harvard University.
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M-RCBG to host visiting experts in tech policy
Starting this fall, M-RCBG will host visiting experts Philip Verveer, Tom Wheeler and Jonathan Sallet for a seminar series on Big Tech, global tech policy and tech regulation. The trio will also be working on a paper covering similar topics.
Philip Verveer
has practiced communications and antitrust law in the government and in private law firms for nearly five decades. Government service included positions as Senior Counselor to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler (2013-2017) and Ambassador and US Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy (2009-2013).
Tom Wheeler
is a businessman, author, and was Chairman of the FCC from 2013 to 2017. Presently, he is a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Jonathan Sallet
currently serves as a special assistant attorney general for the State of Colorado. Prior governmental employment includes serving as general counsel of the FCC, deputy assistant attorney general for litigation in the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and director of the Office of Policy & Strategic Planning for the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Please watch the
Technology, Innovation and Regulation
page, as well as the
M-RCBG events page
for forthcoming details.
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Grossman Fellowship winners announced
The Healthcare Policy Program at HKS is pleased to announce that it has named Divya Jain and T. Anders Olsen as the 2021-2022 recipients of the Jerome H. Grossman MD Graduate Fellowship.
Jain is currently in her last year of medical school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. She is interested in pursuing OB-GYN, fueled by her experiences working as an organizer at Planned Parenthood in efforts to repeal the tax on menstrual products in Kansas and Missouri.
Olsen is currently in his last year of medical school at the Emory School of Medicine and is interested in pursuing a career in oncology. His aspiration with this degree is to pursue a career at the intersection of health policy and oncology, specifically in the realm of healthcare cost-effectiveness and novel FDA drug approvals.
Click here to learn more about these fellows.
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Farkash-Hacohen named Israel's Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology
Orit Farkash-Hacohen (MPA ’07) has been named Israeli Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology. A visiting senior fellow at the Harvard Electricity Policy Group (HEPG) from 2016-2017, Farkash-Hacohen was the first woman to be appointed Chair of the Israeli Public Utility Authority, serving on the commission from 2011-2016. In a series of events that received considerable media attention, she stood up to gas price fixing, demanding that the cabinet be alerted to rising price increases and refusing to pass on contract costs to consumers. While at HEPG, she crafted a paper about her experiences regulating prices in a politically charged atmosphere on the experiences of market corruption and political upheaval in her home country. An exemplar of moral fortitude by a public official,
Facing A Gas Monopoly: The Power Game
was published by M-RCBG in 2018. She won a seat on the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, in 2019, with the Blue and White party and has held the positions of Minister of Strategic Affairs and Minister of Tourism. She maintains her relationship with HKS as a participating member of the
Harvard Electricity Policy Group
.
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