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JULY 3, 2025 |
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Harvard Kennedy School | | | |
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Employees of an educational toy company work in a warehouse in Vernon Hills, Ill., Friday, April 11 2025. (Photo by Nam Y. Huh/AP Images) | | |
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SOCIAL POLICY |
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The heat is rising, and indoor shift workers are feeling it |
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Indoor heat exposure is a growing problem for service sector workers, according to a new report by the Harvard Kennedy School-based Shift Project, which is co-led by Professor Daniel Schneider. The report found widespread instances of indoor workers feeling overheated and regularly experiencing temperatures over 80 degrees. With rising temperatures and more frequent heat waves, workers are increasingly at risk of uncomfortably high temperatures in the workplace, which harms health and productivity. Among workers employed in retail or food service who work indoors, 65% reported feeling uncomfortably hot or overheated at work, and 36% reported always or often experiencing uncomfortable heat at work.
Learn more about Social Policy at HKS » | | |
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Health |
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More access to prescriptions may mean fewer costly emergency room visits |
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New research suggests a way to save billions in medical expenses each year: Reduce emergency room visits by giving patients better access to prescription medications. Emergency department (ED) visits account for more than 12% of U.S. health care costs, but many visits could be avoided if people receive care in less expensive ways, research by Professor Amitabh Chandra shows. In an analysis of more than 21 million Medicare patients, Chandra found that doctors and their spouses make 20% fewer visits to the emergency department than other people because they can write prescriptions for themselves and their spouses. “This is pointing to structural problems in how we’re building our health care system,” Chandra says. “Prescriptions are something that emergency rooms deliver that people are not able to get quickly enough.”
See also: Professor Chandra recently stepped into a new role as faculty director of Harvard Kennedy School’s Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy.
Learn more about Health at HKS » | | |
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Public Finance |
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Understanding federal debt |
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Professor Karen Dynan, a Harvard economist, explains the federal debt in a conversation with Professor Nancy Gibbs. In a conversation for the Unlocked video series, by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and Journalist’s Resource, Dynan explains that federal debt is not always bad, especially when the economy is growing and interest rates remain low—it can be used to fight a recession for instance or build needed infrastructure. “That’s okay as long as the track we are on is sustainable,” Dynan says. “The problem comes when you get into a situation where it looks like your ability to make those interest payments is not ensured. And that’s when the people who hold our debt—the investors—start to get nervous.” Watch the full Unlocked video.
See also: HKS faculty member Linda Bilmes explains reconciliation, a legislative process Congress can use to push through bills.
Learn more about Public Finance at HKS » | | |
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What we're Doing |
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As David Gergen Summer Fellows, HKS students are making a difference, including Daniela Schulman MPP 2026, who is currently working on climate policy in the Maryland Department of Environment and supporting 26 agencies in updating climate plans. | | | | | |
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