The Brookings Cafeteria

On this two-part episode, Senior Fellow William Frey from the Metropolitan Policy Program answers a few questions about recent and upcoming 2020 Census data. Also, Brookings scholar Richard Reeves and AEI scholar Scott Winship discuss the new AEI-Brookings report, "Long shadows: The Black-white gap in multigenerational poverty." 01:30 = Discussion on the Census with William Frey 16:00 = Interview with Richard Reeves and Scott Winship. Show notes and transcript:   Follow Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback email to , and follow us and tweet us at  on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the .

The world is in an age of peace, relatively speaking. Great powers are not fighting each other and haven’t for a long time. But, the expert guest on this episode says, the United States must stay good at the art of war. Senior Fellow Michael O’Hanlon talks about his new book, “The Art of War in an Age of Peace: U.S. Grand Strategy and Resolute Restraint,” published in May by Yale University Press. In it, O’Hanlon presents a national security policy that contends with current challenges like Russia, China, North Korea, and Middle East turmoil, but also calls for attention to new dangers, including biological, nuclear, digital, climatic, and domestic cohesion. In this era, O’Hanlon argues for continued American engagement, military deterrence, and working with allies. Also on this episode, Senior Fellow Molly Reynolds offers her thoughts on what’s happening in Congress, especially how the filibuster has shaped recent events in the Senate—including failure to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the

On this episode, an interview with Sanjay Patnaik, director of the Center on Regulation and Markets at Brookings and the Bernard L. Schwartz Chair in Economic Policy Development. He discusses the mission of the center, and also talks about his own research on topics like climate resilience and carbon pricing. Also on this episode, David Wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, offers his views on why inflation expectations are extremely important. Show notes and transcript:   Follow Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback email to , and follow us and tweet us at  on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the .

In his new book, “Middle Class Shanghai: Reshaping U.S.-China Engagement,” Brookings expert Cheng Li, who directs the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings, argues that American policymakers should not overlook the dynamism and diversity in present-day China, exemplified by the city of Shanghai and its expansive and cosmopolitan middle-class culture. Moreover, Li argues, Washington should neither underestimate the role or the strength of the Chinese middle class, nor alienate this force with policies that push it toward nationalism to the detriment of both countries and the global community. On this episode, Brookings Institution Press director Bill Finan talks with Li about his book, a conversation in which Li takes us from his growing up in Shanghai during the Red Terror of the Cultural Revolution; to a Chinese middle class today that enjoys the markers of a middle-class lifestyle; and even to the avant-garde art scene in that city. Also on this episode, Senior Fellow John McArthur, director of the Cen

A discussion on criminal justice reform with Rashawn Ray, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings, and Brent Orrell, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, who led the Brookings-AEI Working Group on Criminal Justice Reform. The working group issued the report “A better path forward for criminal justice,” featuring essays by more than a dozen experts offering a range of research-grounded policy analysis and ideas to move the criminal justice system toward a more humane and effective footing. Also, Mark Muro, senior fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program, offers his perspective on why the American Rescue Plan’s funding for state and local governments supports both innovative recovery solutions but also local discretion, as the case of Indiana demonstrates. Show notes and transcript:   Follow Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback email to , and follow us and tweet us at  on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the .

More than one in ten mothers of young children left their jobs due to child-care responsibilities at some point in 2020. That’s one of ten facts in a new report from The Hamilton Project at Brookings titled, “Ten economic facts on how mothers spend their time,” which is the theme of this Mother’s Day weekend episode of the Brookings Cafeteria. Lauren Bauer, a fellow in Economic Studies and The Hamilton Project, and one of the report’s authors, discusses some of the ways that work, time use, and caregiving have changed for mothers with young children over the last year. Also on this episode, Senior Fellow Sarah Binder discusses what’s happening in Congress as President Biden looks ahead to his next 100 days in office. While the first 100 days were largely a legislative and political success for the president and congressional Democrats, Binder says the next 100 days look murkier. Show notes and transcript:   Follow Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback email to , and foll

Three people involved in addressing climate change through girls’ and gender-equal education share their insights and policy ideas about how a green learning agenda can help address the climate crisis through education. Christina Kwauk is a nonresident fellow in the Center for Universal Education at Brookings; Lucia Fry is director of research and policy at Malala Fund; and Raju Narzary is a Malala Fund Education Champion and executive director of North East Research and Social Work Networking in India’s Assam State. Show notes and transcript:   Follow Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback email to , and follow us and tweet us at  on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the .  

Richard Bush, whose experience with Taiwan spans decades, discusses his new book, “Difficult Choices: Taiwan’s quest for security and the good life,” just published by the Brookings Institution Press. Also, David Wessel offers his thoughts on the Federal Reserve's approach to inflation, calling it a "big deal." Show notes and transcript:   Follow Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback email to , and follow us and tweet us at  on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the .

Infrastructure is front and center in the Washington DC policy debate, and with President Biden’s 2.3 trillion dollar proposal on the table, this won't be another so-called infrastructure week that comes and goes with a chuckle but no action. On this episode of the Brookings Cafeteria, Adie Tomer, the co-author of a deeply important report on how to address America’s infrastructure challenges and opportunities, talks about what it means to not just rebuild infrastructure, but to REIMAGINE it. Adie Tomer is a fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program and, along with Joseph Kane and Caroline George a co-author of “Rebuild with purpose: An affirmative vision for 21st century American infrastructure.” Also on this episode, Global Economy and Development Senior Fellow Homi Kharas presents a new Sustainable Development Spotlight, in which he discusses the problem of debt crises in developing countries. Show notes and transcript:   Follow Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback e

How does an online community, dominated by privileged parents, discuss its local school system? In a new report titled “We all want what’s best for our kids: Discussions of D.C. public school options in an online forum,” Brookings researchers examined thousands of messages on the D.C. Urban Moms school discussion forum to find out what they were talking about and how their conversations reflect continued racial segregation in the public schools of the nation’s capital. The report is co-authored by Vanessa Williamson, Jackson Gode, and Hao Sun. Williamson, a senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings, joins the Cafeteria to discuss the report. Show notes and transcript:   Follow Brookings podcasts on Apple or Google podcasts, or on Spotify. Send feedback email to , and follow us and tweet us at  on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the .

Teacher diversity is teacher quality, and students of color especially benefit by having teachers who look like them, says Michael Hansen, co-author with Seth Gershenson and Constance A. Lindsay of "Teacher Diversity and Student Success: Why Racial Representation Matters in the Classroom," published in March by Harvard Education Press. Hansen, who is the Herman and George R. Brown Chair and director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings, and also a senior fellow in Governance Studies, explains why promoting racial diversity among the teacher workforce disproportionately benefits students of color and helps narrow longstanding achievement gaps. Also on this episode, Senior Fellow Molly Reynolds explains what’s happening in Congress, specifically the challenge to the Democratic majority in the Senate to make changes to the filibuster to advance their agenda, and also how House Democrats are dealing with obstruction tactics from Republicans in the minority. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or

In "Assignment Russia: Becoming a Foreign Correspondent in the Crucible of the Cold War," award winning journalist Marvin Kalb tells the story of how as a young reporter and student of Russia he was present not only at the creation of a new way of bringing news immediately to the public, but also doing so in the midst of Cold War tensions between Eisenhower’s America and Khrushchev’s Soviet Union. In this episode, Brookings Institution Press Director Bill Finan interviews Kalb about his new book, the second volume of his memoirs published by Brookings. Also on this episode, David Wessel, senior fellow and director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at Brookings, discusses what a post-pandemic economic recovery could look like in terms of GDP growth and job gains. “This is not going to be another jobless recovery,” he says.

March is typically a time to celebrate women’s contributions in history, but the past year of COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on women – especially women of color. On this episode, in honor of Women’s History Month, we asked women at the Brookings Institution to share their thoughts on what top policy considerations they have for the Biden administration to help address the needs of women – both in the US and around the world. Also on this episode, Marcela Escobari offers another edition of our of Sustainable Development Spotlight series, with a focus on her new policy brief on how federal infrastructure investment can put America to work. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

On this sixth and final episode from the Blueprints for American Renewal and Prosperity project, two Brookings experts discuss their blueprints for climate and resilience. Nathan Hultman is a nonresident senior fellow in Global Economy and Development at Brookings and also the director of the Center for Global Sustainability and associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. He is the co-author with Samantha Gross of “How the United States can return to credible climate leadership.” Joseph Kane is a senior research associate and associate fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, and is co-author with Jenny Schuetz, Shalini Vajjhala, and Adie Tomer of “How a federal Climate Planning Unit can manage built environment risks and costs.” Also on this episode, Alan Berube, senior fellow and deputy director of the Metropolitan Policy Program, shares some insights from the new Metro Monitor, an annual assessment of growth, prosperity, and inclusion in nearly 200 metro areas

March 2021 marks ten years since an earthquake off Japan’s Pacific Coast and the tsunami it caused led to reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to melt down, releasing radiation and forcing the government to evacuate over 100,000 residents in surrounding areas. As the author of a new book from the Brookings Institution Press writes, failures at all levels of Japan’s government and private sector worsened the human and economic impact of the disaster and ensured that its consequences would endure for years to come. On this episode of the Brookings Cafeteria, Brookings Press Director Bill Finan interviews Yoichi Funabashi, author of “Meltdown: Inside the Fukushima Nuclear Crisis.” Funabashi, an award-winning Japanese journalist, columnist, and author, and now chairman of Asia Pacific Initiative, interviewed more than 300 government officials, power plant operators, and military personnel to provide a meticulous recounting and analysis of the struggle at all levels to contain the disaster. Also o

On this fifth episode from the Blueprints for American Renewal and Prosperity project, two Brookings experts discuss their blueprints for strengthening governance to meet key international challenges in the technology arena. Senior Fellow Landry Signé is co-author with Stephan Almond of "A blueprint for technology governance in the post-pandemic world," and Senior Fellow Joshua Meltzer is co-author with Cameron Kerry of "Strengthening international cooperation on artificial intelligence." Also on this episode, Senior Fellow David Wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at Brookings, looks at the politics and the economics around raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Listen to this segment on Soundcloud. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

On this fourth episode from the Blueprints for American Renewal and Prosperity project, Senior Fellow Molly Reynolds talks about how to make Congress a better place to work, and Senior Fellow Elaine Kamarck discusses how to build an agile government for an era of megachange. Also on this episode, Amar Bhattacharya, senior fellow in Global Economy and Development and the Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings, says this is a decisive decade for the planet as we face the two crises of COVID-19 and climate change. In this Sustainable Development Spotlight, Bhattacharya calls for strong and coordinated action across the world on four interrelated priorities. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

Who do you turn to for support and access to opportunities? Who can help you with information about a new job, or educational choices, or health care and housing? This is your social network, your social capital, and it matters for your economic mobility in this society. On this episode, a discussion with a scholar who, along with teams of researchers, has analyzed how social networks in four American cities impact social mobility, and what that research says in particular about social networks by race, gender, and income. Camille Busette is a senior fellow and director of the Race, Prosperity, and Inclusion Initiative at Brookings. Also on this episode, Joseph Parilla, a fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program, on what he calls America’s wage problem. The prevalence of low wage work, he says, puts families under financial strain. Listen to find out what can be done to lift struggling families into self sufficiency.  Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu

In this episode, a discussion about a new book from the Brookings Institution Press titled "Rivalry and Response: Assessing Great Power Dynamics in Southeast Asia." In this timely volume, leading experts from Southeast Asia, Australia and the United States assess great power dynamics between the U.S. and China in the region by examining the strategic landscape, domestic governance trends and economic challenges in Southeast Asia. The book's editor is Jonathan Stromseth, who hosted the Lee Kuan Yew Chair in Southeast Asian Studies and is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy, the Center for East Asia Policy Studies and the John L. Thornton China Center. Joining him on the show is one of the book's contributors, senior fellow David Dollar, who also hosts the podcast Dollar & Sense: The Brookings Trade podcast. Bill Finan, director of the Brookings Institution Press, conducts the interview. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at

Earlier this year, the Africa Growth Initiative (AGI) at Brookings released the latest edition of the annual Foresight Africa report. AGI Director Aloysius Uche Ordu, also a senior fellow in Global Economy and Development, discusses the themes in the report.  Also on this episode, Senior Fellow Molly Reynolds explains how the budget reconciliation process in Congress works, especially the Senate parliamentarian’s critical role, and why Democrats may use it to pass President Biden’s COVID-19 relief measures with a simple majority vote in the House and Senate, thus avoiding a Senate filibuster. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.