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OCTOBER 9, 2025 |
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Harvard Kennedy School | | | |
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People use their mobile phones as they wait in a subway station in New York City. (Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images) | | |
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Fairness & Justice |
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Text messages may help keep people out of jail |
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Every year, millions of Americans are required to appear in court. Missing a court date—even unintentionally—can have devastating consequences: arrest warrants, jail time, loss of housing, strained family ties, and long-term damage to employment prospects. A new study shows that a surprisingly simple solution—a text message reminder—can help people avoid these harms. HKS Professors Todd Rogers and Sharad Goel, New York University Assistant Professor Alex Chohlas-Wood, and other coauthors found that text message reminders reduced bench warrants by about 20% and lowered incarceration for missed court dates by a similar amount in a study they conducted in California.
Learn more about Fairness & Justice at HKS » | | |
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Education, training, & labor |
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Amazon’s need for speed leaves delivery drivers behind, research shows |
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Research from the Shift Project at HKS, led by Professor Daniel Schneider, shows that Amazon delivery’s focus on speed may come at the expense of job quality for drivers. Unlike other major U.S. delivery companies, Amazon drivers work through gig-like arrangements or a subcontractor system. On average, they make $19 per hour, compared to $35 per hour at UPS and $25 per hour at FedEx. In addition, Amazon drivers have less job stability and fewer benefits. Technological surveillance also affects the delivery giant’s drivers’ experiences. The researchers say the trends Amazon sets have potential to spread through the industry: “The continuing expansion of the Amazon business model could portend very different and troubling ripples for working people more generally.” The research underscores crucial questions for policymakers, labor advocates, and consumers about the tensions firms face between speed and protections and sustainability for workers.
Learn more about Education, Training, & Labor at HKS » | | |
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What We're Hearing |
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“We’ve created a community deeply committed to building a thriving world for all. And we’re doing it in a way that involves impacted communities from the start.” |
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Fatema Z. Sumar, Center for International Development Executive Director, in a new CID Faculty Spotlight | | |
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Politics |
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Heard and seen in the Forum |
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In the last couple of weeks, the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum’s programming has brought heads of state, U.S. political leaders, and figures from the media and entertainment to campus. Here’s a taste of what we heard at the Forum. Czech President Petr Pavel said, “we may have taken European security for granted and our own responsibility too lightly.” Former National Security Advisor John Bolton called Trump an “aberration in American politics.” Former Vice President Mike Pence expressed “great confidence in the American people.” Speechwriter and podcaster Jon Favreau said, “Stories that make people angry are always going to travel more. The social media algorithms have supercharged that.” And political commentator Scott Jennings said, “Media is having a crisis of trust. They are also having a crisis of competition. You can get news from a lot of different places than you used to be able to.”
Learn more about Politics at HKS » | | |
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What we're Doing |
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Harvard Impact Labs, based at HKS, is helping Harvard faculty members tackle public problems in two big ways. Through public service leaves, it is supporting faculty members to share their expertise by working in government or nonprofit organizations for a semester. And through a nine-month fellowship, it is providing faculty with training, coaching, and $25,000 in seed funding to collaborate with public and private leaders on evidence-based, scalable solutions to social problems. | | | | | |
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Media |
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The Federal Communications Commission and free speech |
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Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler—who is a fellow at HKS’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government—explained what he sees at stake in FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s threats towards ABC over comments made by TV host Jimmy Kimmel following the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk. “I think we need to take FCC Chairman Brendan Carr at his word,” Wheeler said in a recent Q&A. “We are in the midst of what Chairman Carr calls a ‘massive shift in the dynamics of the media ecosystem.” We are all living through this shift as, for instance, internet platforms and services reshape both print and video communications. Clearly, Chairman Carr intends to play a part in that transition.”
Learn more about Media at HKS » | | |
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