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APRIL 23, 2026 |
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Harvard Kennedy School | | | |
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A woman takes her time selecting the best tomatoes at her local grocery store/farmer's market. (Photo by Laura Olivas) | | |
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Poverty, Inequality & Opportunity |
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When parents receive cash transfers, children benefit |
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Some policymakers, politicians, and academics have argued for a universal basic income: giving large groups of people regular cash transfers unrelated to employment. Advocates suggest that a UBI would improve people’s lives and set up future generations for success. In a working paper, Professor Randall Akee and co-authors have examined outcomes for American Indian children whose families received direct, unconditional cash transfers as part of a tribal government program from tribal casino revenues. They summarize a developing literature which shows that children whose families received cash transfers were more likely to complete high school on time, have higher educational attainment by age 21, show reduced depression and anxiety in adolescence and adulthood, and have better economic outcomes than children whose families did not.
Learn more about Poverty, Inequality & Opportunity at HKS » | | |
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Education, Training & Labor |
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The hidden financial costs for mothers who reduce paid work hours |
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Across the world, many new parents—often mothers—reduce the hours they spend doing paid work after childbirth. For some parents, the cost of childcare is greater than, or similar to, their working wages. In these cases, the choice to stay at home may seem financially neutral. But research from the Women and Public Policy Program, conducted by fellow Ursina Schaede, has found that the shift to part-time work after having a child has significant “hidden” costs. Studying teachers in Switzerland, she found that when women reduced their hours from full time to part time, they saw a 35% dip in overall lifetime earnings and a 43% loss in retirement savings. In the long term, these losses far outweighed the additional costs of childcare.
Learn more about Education, Training & Labor at HKS » | | |
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Media |
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For journalists, “there is a job to do” |
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Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, received the Goldsmith Career Award from HKS’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy this month. While his career in journalism has included covering organized crime for New York Magazine and the Middle East for The New Yorker, a more recent claim to fame is his involvement in “Signalgate,” which found Goldberg inadvertently on a chat thread with United States national security officials discussing sensitive military plans. The Atlantic reported on the remarkable situation afterward. In a conversation with Professor Nancy Gibbs, director of the Shorenstein Center and former editor-in-chief of Time, Goldberg said that journalists’ important role in reporting the truth is especially important today. “You sleep well at night because you are doing a job that the founders of the United States wanted you to be doing,” he said. “The reason it’s so great to be in journalism right now is that there is a job to do.”
Learn more about Media at HKS » | | |
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What we're reading |
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For more than 40 years, HKS has taught active-duty officers through the National Security Fellows executive education program. At a recent reception for the current cohort of fellows, Harvard President Allen Garber said, “This program is a crown jewel in so many ways, bringing people of accomplishment and experience into our environment, where we hope you learn from us and we certainly learn from you. I want to thank you for spending your time with us.” | | | | | |
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