Podcasts about Niskanen Center

Host James-Christian Blockwood discusses government performance and HR systems with Gabe Menchaca of the Niskanen Center and Academy Fellow and Government HR expert Steve Krauss. Menchaca summarizes a Niskanen-Academy study describing wide variation in state civil service models, limited scholarship on state HR, and mixed early results from skills-based hiring due to assessment and measurement bottlenecks and inconsistent time-to-hire metrics. Kraussand Menchaca distinguish nonpartisan hiring from competition-based merit and argue modern merit depends on valid skills assessments. Krauss emphasizes strategic workforce planning, job architecture, skills frameworks, and HR IT modernization, citing initiatives like HR 2.0, USA Hire modernization, online retirement, and more.00:36 HR Systems Overview01:19 State HR Study Findings05:43 Strategic Workforce Planning08:47 Merit Versus Skills Hiring13:58 Reimagining Federal HR17:59 Job Architecture And Classification19:16 Modernizing HR IT Systems21:48 Bipartisan Reform Lessons25:54 Incremental Wins And Big ChangesManagement Matters is a presentation of the National Academy of Public Administration produced by Lizzie Alwan and Matt Hampton and edited by Matt Hampton. Support the Podcast Today at: donate@napawash.org or 202-347-3190Episode music: Hope by Mixaund | https://mixaund.bandcamp.comMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comFollow us on YouTube for clips and more: @NAPAWASH_YT

Efforts to improve federal hiring and pay often run into the same problem. The system that defines jobs has stayed largely the same, even as the work itself has changed. Here to walk us through the problem and a path to modernization is Gabe Menchaca, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Niskanen Center.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A new think tank study has some fascinating findings about Donald Trump's national guard deployment in DC: The dramatic surge reduced property crimes by almost a quarter — but did nothing about violence. Richard Hahn from the Niskanen Center is here to explain.  Want some more DC news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter City Cast DC. You can text us or leave a voicemail at: (202) 642-2654. You can also become a member, with ad-free listening, for as little as $10 a month.  Learn more about the sponsors of this June 8th episode: Folger Shakespeare Library Mugsy Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE.

On the latest LGM podcast we return to our Oral History of the Blogosphere series! Joining Scott, Dan and myself in honor of our 22nd anniversary celebration was Dr. Jacob Levy, early blog pioneer and veteran of a great number of websites. Our discussion included his work at Jacob Levy and Bleeding Heart Libertarians, the now defunct Open University, and the Niskanen Center. At the latter he penned two very well-known essays alongside an array of other work, The Weight of the Words and Authoritarianism and Post-Truth Politics. Over the course of the pod we discuss the impact that blogging had on his career and intellectual development, as well as all the friends he made along the way. Transcript is here.  Apple Podcasts Android Youtube Podchaser Podcast Index Subscribe by E-mail Audible Spotify Amazon Music The podcast is quite rewarding, but consumes a great deal of time and effort! Please donate if you have the chance! Silent auction Paypal Patreon Merchandise Venmo Physical Address The post Oral History of the Blogosphere Part 13: Jacob Levy appeared first on Lawyers, Guns & Money.

Housing experts Annemarie Gray and Alex Armlovich joined the show to discuss Mayor Zohran Mamdani's new "Block by Block" housing plan to create and preserve 400,000 units of affordable housing over the next decade, while addressing broader development, tenant protection, homelessness, NYCHA public housing, and more. Gray is executive director of Open New York, a former city government housing and planning official, and was a key figure on Mamdani's transition committee. Armlovich is a Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center and Housing Program Officer for the Abundance and Growth Fund at Coefficient Giving. He's also a former member of the city's Rent Guidelines Board. (Ep 588)

Marco Rubio is hitting his stride, he's Trump's National Security Advisor and his Secretary of State, he's taken over the White House press briefing, sat down with the Pope and is now in China for Trump's showdown with President Xi.No wonder speculation is growing that he could be the next Republican presidential nominee, instead of Vice President JD Vance.Today, Geoff Kabaservice from the Niskanen Center think tank on the new political battle in the US.Featured: Geoff Kabaservice, Niskanen Center Vice President for Political Studies 

In recent years, the idea of a “crisis of men and boys” has taken center stage in the cultural conversation. That can feel like a pendulum swing: from making space for women to examining men's struggles, rarely holding both in view at the same time. Some see this moment as a reaction to the 2010s — an era shaped by “girlboss” ambition, #MeToo and a renewed focus on women's advancement and autonomy. So, what gets missed when these struggles are framed as separate?Host Megan McArdle is joined by Leah Libresco Sargeant, senior policy analyst at the Niskanen Center and author of "The Dignity of Dependence: A Feminist Manifesto." Sargeant offers a different lens — challenging the idea that independence is the ultimate goal and instead pointing toward a more interconnected understanding of men and women.Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

4:20 pm: Gil Guerra, Senior Policy Analyst for the Niskanen Center, joins the program to discuss his piece for the City Journal on how America's “melting pot” worked in the early 1900s and the lessons that can be used today.4:38 pm: Tim O'Brien, a contributor to PJ Media, joins Rod and Greg for a conversation about his piece on the inorganic nature of the No Kings protests.6:05 pm: Utah Attorney General Derek Brown joins the program to discuss the details of his Deseret News op-ed on the importance of access to public lands, and their roads, for residents of rural cities and towns in Utah.6:38 pm: Scott McKay, Publisher of The Hayride and a Contributing Editor to American Spectator, joins the program to discuss his piece about how the Democrats won't win the midterm elections, but the GOP could find a way to lose them.

On this episode of The Permanent Problem podcast, Brink Lindsey welcomes Damon Linker, author of the "Notes from the Middleground" Substack and a Niskanen Center senior fellow, to discuss the challenge of right-wing populism and how liberals should respond to it. After exploring the twists and turns of Linker's intellectual development, the two examine the rise of the populist right, debate the causes of its rise, and evaluate its intellectual defenders. They also address the cleavage within liberalism exposed by the populist uprising: the conflict between "brokenists" and "non-brokenists." The former see populism as a misguided response to real and serious problems in contemporary liberal societies, whereas non-brokenists respond that conceding the existence of serious problems is uncalled for and lends undeserved credibility to populism. Linker and Lindsey side with the brokenists, arguing that liberal democracy is undergoing a legitimacy crisis that can be defused only if we first recognize the scale of public disaffection and identify its sources.

Leah Libresco Sargeant is a Senior Policy Analyst in Family Economic Security at the Niskanen Center as well as a writer and journalist whose work focuses on religion and family policy. She is the author of three books, of which the most recent is The Dignity of Dependence: A Feminist Manifesto. In her book, Sargeant argues that liberal feminism — and American culture more generally — champions an ideal of freedom based in autonomy that is poorly suited to human beings as they are. Instead, she advocates for a culture that sees dignity in mutual dependence. Sargeant agrees with feminist critiques from the left that many institutions and structures in society treat women as “defective men,” including the medical research that tests only male patients and the car safety devices that protect male bodies while accidentally injuring female bodies. But she also is critical of a kind of corporate capitalism that sees workers only as economic inputs, and a politics that denies the neediness, vulnerability, and interdependence of humanity. In this podcast discussion, Sargeant lays out the thesis of The Dignity of Dependence. She describes her conversion to Catholicism and the ways in which her experiences as a wife and mother inform her cultural politics. She touches on the global fertility crisis and the paradoxical ways in which it may be driven by prosperity. She further addresses the struggles that many young people have nowadays in dating and forming families, and suggests that they may be helped by social policies (including the Child Tax Credit and baby bonuses) as well as by a greater understanding of the difference between “capstone” and “cornerstone” marriages. And she distinguishes her approach to feminism from other perspectives on both the left and right. She makes clear that as a pro-life feminist she has considerable differences with mainstream feminism, but nonetheless believes it to be “a good-faith tradition of trying to struggle with what it means to be just to women in a world that is often male-normed. It's a tradition that I think has made some serious mistakes and won some significant victories.”

Since our species first emerged on the planet some 300,000 years ago, the overriding problem for most humans has been the struggle for food and shelter. But in 1930, the British economist John Maynard Keynes foresaw that economic growth (despite the Great Depression) would mean that in a century, the vast majority of people in developed societies would enjoy mass plenty and only a small number of unfortunates would still struggle with material deprivation. This would mean that “for the first time since his creation man will be faced with his real, his permanent problem — how to use his freedom from pressing economic cares, how to occupy the leisure which science and compound interest will have won for him, to live wisely and agreeably and well.” But Keynes worried that transitioning to this new problem would present huge difficulties for humanity: “there is no country and no people, I think, who can look forward to the age of leisure and abundance without dread.”Brink Lindsey, senior vice president at the Niskanen Center, has written a visionary new book addressing Keynes' conundrum. In The Permanent Problem: The Uncertain Transition from Mass Plenty to Mass Flourishing, Lindsey ponders the paradox that people in developed countries live in conditions of unparalleled wealth, health, and technological progress — and yet most people feel disappointment rather than gratitude at the results. We enjoy an abundance of material goods, yet most people are missing out on the sense of meaning, purpose, and belonging that define human flourishing.In this podcast discussion, Lindsey describes the “triple crisis of capitalism” that has brought material prosperity but also social disintegration, sputtering dynamism, and dysfunctional politics. But he also sees encouraging signs that point toward how mass flourishing might be accomplished in developments that include new technological breakthroughs and the growing Abundance movement. Ultimately he hopes for a future in which people will have closer relationships with each other as well as the natural world, and in which humanity's drive to explore and understand will reach into the larger universe. “Our destiny is up to us,” he concludes, “and therefore we should make the most of that chance. We ought to aim high.”

In this special episode recorded at Fathom's 2026 Ashby Workshops, Greg sits down with Jennifer Pahlka, founder of Code for America and author of Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better. Jennifer walks us through her career journey, from filing paperwork at a child welfare agency to helping pioneer the U.S. Digital Services in the Obama administration (3:45). She describes the need for upstream policy reform (11:29), and discusses AI's potential to both empower public servants to challenge antiquated practices and help policymakers simplify complex regulations (28:03). Finally, Jennifer shares some AI use cases she's particularly excited about in government (59:34).   Jennifer Pahlka is a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center and the Federation of American Scientists and a senior advisor at the Abundance Network. She previously served as U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer, helping start the U.S. Digital Services under the second Obama administration, and as a member of the Defense Innovation Network.   Read Jennifer's book Recoding America and check out her Substack Eating Policy.   Jennifer's recommended reading: Hack Your Bureaucracy by Marina Nitze & Nick Sinai Crisis Engineering by Marina Nitze, Matthew Weaver, & Mikey Dickerson The Procedure Fetish by Nicholas Bagley Why Nothing Works by Marc J. Dunkelman Kill It with Fire by Marianne Bellotti

My fellow pro-growth/progress/abundance Up Wingers in America and around the world:The human pursuit of progress stems from our desire for security and a higher quality of life. Yet, even as today's advanced economies are the richest and most comfortable they've ever been, something is amiss. What explains the decline in R&D growth, mental health, and birth rates, just to name a few challenges?In his new book, The Permanent Problem: The Uncertain Transition from Mass Plenty to Mass Flourishing, author Brink Lindsey identifies the critical gap between material abundance and abundant human flourishing.Today on Faster, Please! — The Podcast, Brink and I chat about what constitutes a truly healthy society, beyond surface-level affluence. We identify the conditions for continual progress after our basic needs have been met and far exceeded.Linsey is a senior vice president at the Niskanen Center. He previously served as vice president for research at the Cato Institute and as a senior scholar at the Kauffman Foundation. He has authored and co-authored six books on economics and culture, and is the author of his own Substack, also titled The Permanent Problem.In This Episode* More of everything . . . !? (1:54)* Falling fertility (7:31)* What we've lost (10:20)* Evaluating flourishing (13:13)* A culture of growth (20:24)* Future-world problems (28:04)(A lightly edited transcript of our conversation will be appear in my Week in Review issue on Saturday. Another option is using the Substack auto transcript function.)On sale everywhere The Conservative Futurist: How To Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fasterplease.substack.com/subscribe

Damon Linker writes the Substack newsletter “Notes from the Middleground.” He is a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania and a senior fellow in the Open Society Project at the Niskanen Center. In this week's conversation, Yascha Mounk and Damon Linker discuss how Trump's second term has exceeded even pessimistic expectations, why the “adults in the room” from Trump's first administration were more effective than critics acknowledged, and whether Trump's economic promises can survive contact with reality.  If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: leonora.barclay@persuasion.community Podcast production by Mickey Freeland and Leonora Barclay. Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google X: @Yascha_Mounk & @JoinPersuasion YouTube: Yascha Mounk, Persuasion LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is America the victim of its own economic success? In this episode of The Liberal Patriot Podcast, I speak with Niskanen Center senior vice president Brink Lindsey about why material abundance in America no longer translates into national meaning, cohesion, or progress. We discuss capitalism's limits, performative politics, declining birth rates, and what it would take to move from mass plenty to genuine flourishing. Brink is the author of a great new book published this month, The Permanent Problem: The Uncertain Transition from Mass Plenty to Mass Flourishing, and writes his own newsletter, also called The Permanent Problem, right here on Substack.A transcript of this podcast is available on the post page of our website (click the button at the top of the page). Get full access to The Liberal Patriot at www.liberalpatriot.com/subscribe

Laura K. Field's Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right, published earlier this month, is a book we simply had to discuss. Listeners to this podcast will recognize its cast of characters—conservative intellectuals like Patrick Deneen, Michael Anton, John Eastman, Adrian Vermeule, and Harry Jaffa, among others—whose ideas and influence Field carefully categorizes and evaluates, bringing order to an unruly decade of intellectual history. Topics include: Leo Strauss and the problem of great teachers; the use and abuse of grand narratives by the right; how the Claremonters went all in on Trump; the permission given by postliberals to some of the nastiest impulses on the right; and more!Sources:Laura K. Field, Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right (2025)— "Revisiting Why Liberalism Failed: A Five-Part Series," Niskanen Center, Dec 21, 2020Patrick Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed (2018)— Regime Change: Toward a Postliberal Future (2023)Matthew Sitman, "Liberalism and the Catholic Left," Commonweal, Dec 3, 2018Publius Decius Mus/Michael Anton, "The Flight 93 Election," Claremont Review of Books, Sept 5, 2016Adrian Vermeule, "Integration from Within," American Affairs, Spring 2018The Editors, "The Fight is Now," The American Mind, Nov 5, 2020Anemona Hartocollis, "On Campus, Trump Fans Say They Need 'Safe Spaces,'" New York Times, Dec 8, 2016Further Listening: KYE: "Rise of the Illiberal Right," July 12, 2019. KYE: "Midnight in the Garden of American Heroes (On West Coast Straussians)," Feb 11, 2021. KYE: "Unraveling Allan Bloom and Saul Bellow," June 21, 2021. KYE: "The Afterlife of January 6," July 19, 2021....and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

We want to hear from you! Please complete our survey: 2025 ABC News Daily Audience SurveyZohran Mamdani is a young, Muslim, Democratic socialist who's a relative political novice. But he could become the next mayor of New York City, despite a challenge from former Democratic Party governor Andrew Cuomo. What are his policies and does he present a challenge to the politics of the president Donald Trump?Today, Geoff Kabaservice from the centre-right think tank the Niskanen Center on how Zohran Mamdani managed to capture the attention of New York voters and whether he could be the answer to the Democratic Party's woes.  Featured: Geoff Kabaservice, vice president for political studies at the Niskanen Center

Alex Armlovich, a member of the New York City Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) and Senior Housing Policy Analyst at the Niskanen Center, joined the show to discuss the work of the RGB, Zohran Mamdani's rent-freeze pledge, how to help struggling rent-stabilized buildings and apartments, and much more. (Ep 539)

Today we're talking about housing. The ROAD to Housing Act passed the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee 24-0 in late July. Last week — despite the shutdown — it cleared the Senate. It's a package of 27 pieces of legislation to boost housing supply, improve affordability, reduce regulatory roadblocks, and reduce homelessness.When you zoom out a bit, what's happened here is pretty surprising. The chair of the committee, Republican Tim Scott, and the Ranking Member, Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, co-sponsored the bill. The bill is the committee's first bipartisan housing markup in over a decade. Passing through committee unanimously doesn't happen often for serious bills of this sort. I wanted to understand how this bill happened, and came to have a serious shot at passing. And I also wanted to get a better sense of what's actually in the bill, and why it matters for housing. If you're like me, most of the debates you hear about housing policy focus on zoning, which is a local issue — very little federal say. So what are all these pieces of legislation? Do they matter?Joining me is an unorthodox trio:* Will Poff-Webster was legislative counsel for Senator Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii. He's our inside guy today: he worked on the bill within the Senate. And today, he covers housing policy here at IFP.* Alex Armlovich is Senior Housing Policy Analyst at the Niskanen Center. He has been working on housing issues for a long time, and his fingerprints are on parts of this bill package. He's my advocate from the outside.* Brian Potter is Senior Infrastructure Fellow at IFP and author of Construction Physics, which I very much enjoy editing. If I can make one newsletter recommendation to you besides Statecraft, it's Construction Physics. He has a background in private-sector home building. And has written about several of the proposals in this package.Table of contents:* What's the federal role in housing policy?* What's in the bill?* Regulatory reform* Technical assistance plus incentives* Funding and financing reform* A brief sidebar on manufactured home chassis* Will the bill matter?* How did the bill happen, politically speaking?* The policy wonk success storyThank you to Harry Fletcher-Wood and Katerina Barton for their judicious transcript and audio edits.For the full transcript of this conversation, go to www.statecraft.pub. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub

It was another act of political violence in a nation too accustomed to assassinations.Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old right-wing political activist and staunch Trump supporter, was shot and killed while he addressed a crowd at Utah Valley University.Today, Geoff Kabaservice from the centre-right think tank the Niskanen Center on what unfolded, and whether political figures are safe in America.Featured:Geoff Kabaservice, vice president for political studies at the Niskanen Center in Washington, DC

What really went wrong with global politics? Emma welcomes Brink Lindsey, Senior VP at the Niskanen Center and author of The Captured Economy: How the Powerful Enrich Themselves, Slow Down Growth, and Increase Inequality. Lindsey traces how politics, culture, and economics became unstable, from the development of liberal capitalism since the 1990s to the resulting rise of right-wing populism. He explores the contradictory ways this crisis manifests in society and culture, and how individuals and societies might chart a way out.What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.orgWatch the podcast on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetwork⁠⁠⁠And follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Varieties of Abundance: https://www.niskanencenter.org/abundance-varieties/PDF Version: https://www.niskanencenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Varieties-of-Abundance.pdfRealignment Newsletter: https://therealignment.substack.com/Realignment Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail the Show: realignmentpod@gmail.comSteve Teles, Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center, returns to The Realignment. Ahead of next week's 2025 Abundance in DC, Marshall and Steve discuss his new Niskanen Center paper on "The Varieties of Abundance." In Steve's telling, despite broad agreement within the Abundance movement on the need to increase supply, challenge existing incumbents who benefit from scarcity, and the critical role of enhanced state capacity in addressing America's challenges, there are existing and potential varieties of Abundance across the ideological and geographic spectrums. Just as the late 19th- and early 20th-century Progressive Movement held a shared critique of the industrial-era American state, different actors took the project in different directions. Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, and Woodrow Wilson were all progressives, but operated in separate camps. In Steve's telling, abundance is already operating accordingly. In the paper, he identifies six varieties of Abundance: Red Plenty, Cascadian Abundance, Liberal Abundance, Moderate-Abundance Synthesis, Abundance Dynamism, and Dark Abundance. The aim of the paper is not to be overly inside-baseball, but to offer readers and listeners a framework for understanding the diversity of actors, institutions, and ideologies that have positively engaged with the Abundance framework. 

How can lawmakers and public servants design policies which benefit from continuous learning?? How will government offices that learn and adopt agile practices be able to achieve better outcomes for the public?Jennifer Pahlka is a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center, founder of Code For America, and the founder of the US Digital Services under the Obama administration. She is also the author of Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better.Greg and Jennifer discuss why the government struggles with adopting modern digital practices such as agile and waterfall methods. She explains the disconnect between policy-making and implementation, emphasizing the need for a more integrated and feedback-driven approach. They explore other topics such as the over-reliance on contractors, burdensome procurement rules, and the essential role of user research in creating effective digital services. *unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:How feedback loops can make government more agile06:07: Turns out that when you implement this policy in the way that you are telling me, we get a really perverse outcome. If there is no feedback loop to send that information back up to the decision makers, you get a lot of wasted money, you get a lot of perverse outcomes, you get a lot of angry people. But, you know, when the architects can say, or the builders can say, actually no, you can go into a discussion about that, then you have not just an agile development process, but you have a more agile government process.​​The system, not the people, is broken30:37: It is not that public servants are lazy or stupid. It is that the system that they are working in is just ill-fit, it is just ill-suited to the job we need it to do.Why government keeps building concrete boats30:58: So you are referring to the story I have in the book of this guy at the Veterans Administration (VA), which, by the way, has gotten so much better. He is kind of a leader now. But I am questioning him about this project that we are working on at the USDS, sort of what was pro-USDS before. It was one of the first engagements that were sort of testing out the thesis of the USDS. And I kept asking. This guy was a senior leader in technology in the VA. Like, why is it built this way? Why did you make this decision? And over and over, he says, that is not my call. You have to ask the procurement people, or the program people, or the compliance people. He just did not have answers. And I asked him why he was so deferring on all these. And he said, if they ask us to build a concrete boat, we will build a concrete boat. And I said, why? And he said, well, because that way when it does not work, it is not our fault. And that speaks to the incentives. Your incentive is to make sure that when it does not work, it is someone else's fault.Show Links:Recommended Resources:Department of Government EfficiencyCode for AmericaAgile software developmentWaterfall modelYadira SanchezGrace HopperBrooks ActPaperwork Reduction ActOffice of Information and Regulatory AffairsCharles WorthingtonEzra KleinGuest Profile:Niskanen Center ProfileWikipedia ProfileJenniferPahlka.comLinkedIn ProfileSocial Profile on XSocial Profile on InstagramGuest Work:Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do BetterSubstackMedium

If you happen to visit Washington DC anytime soon, you could notice troops and even armoured vehicles on the streets.No, America is not at war, President Donald Trump has deployed hundreds of members of the National Guard to crack down on crime.Today, Geoff Kabaservice from the centre-right think tank the Niskanen Center in Washington on whether DC is actually dangerous and what Trump hopes to achieve. Featured: Geoff Kabaservice, vice president for political studies at the Niskanen Center in Washington, DC

Host Lauren Clarke and immigration policy analyst Cecilia Esterline from the Niskanen Center break down the latest USCIS data on the Immigration Nerds. With an 18% drop in case completions and I-90 applications seeing 938% longer processing times, the numbers reveal unprecedented administrative strain. From I-765 work authorization backlogs jumping 181% to 450 USCIS employees reassigned to enforcement, we explore how 175 executive actions in 100 days are reshaping America's immigration system through data-driven analysis. Resource Links:Immigration Analysis from Cecilia Esterline, Niskanen CenterGuest: Cecilia Esterline, Senior Immigration Policy Analyst, Niskanen CenterHost: Lauren ClarkeNews Nerd: Rob Taylor Producer: Adam Belmar

The ROAD (Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream) to Housing Act is a bipartisan bill now making its way through Congress. And as today's guest, Alex Armlovich, and his colleagues at the Niskanen Center argue, it is “the first comprehensive bid to tackle the roots of America's‬ affordability crisis in a generation—it correctly‬‭ identifies, and takes initial steps to attack,‬ the interlocking barriers to housing abundance at every level.” Not only that, but the bill is “miraculously‬ bipartisan, and its negotiation and development exhibited a stunning, almost‬ anachronistic return to the old Senate tradition of depolarized collegiality and bipartisan‬ problem-solving.‬”But before discussing the contents of the bill, Alex and Cardiff first talk about recent shifts in housing-policy alliances, the roots of the housing affordability and availability problem, housing experiments that have worked (and haven't), the roll of the “Abundance” movement, and the genuine collective-action problems that housing advocates too often ignore. Then they break down the ROAD to Housing Act into three main buckets, going into detail on each: 1) Regulatory reform, 2) carrots and sticks, and 3) financing and funding. They also comment on what the bill would fix and what it wouldn't, and its chances of becoming law. Finally, Alex and Cardiff reflect on housing, construction, and the nature of physical change in New York City, where both have spent the bulk of their adult lives. Related links: Alex Armlovich about page (at Niskanen Center)Niskanen Center home page (where the upcoming ROAD to Housing Act analysis from Alex and his colleagues will appear) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, Nathan Goodman interviews political theorist Jacob Levy about the rule of law and its tensions with modern immigration enforcement. Drawing on his 2018 article, “The rule of law and the risks of lawlessness,” Levy explains that the rule of law requires laws to be general, predictable, and applied equally. Referencing thinkers like Montesquieu, Fuller, Hayek, Oakeshott, and Shklar, Levy argues that immigration control often violates these principles, especially when it involves militarized policing, extrajudicial punishment, and fear-based governance, which ultimately threatens both civil liberties and democratic institutions.Dr. Jacob T. Levy is Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory and associated faculty in the Department of Philosophy at McGill University. He is the coordinator of McGill's Research Group on Constitutional Studies and was the founding director of McGill's Yan P. Lin Centre for the Study of Freedom and Global Orders in the Ancient and Modern Worlds. He is a Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center. He is the author of The Multiculturalism of Fear (Oxford University Press, 2000) and Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom (Oxford University Press, 2014).If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts.Virtual Sentiments, a podcast series from the Hayek Program, is streaming. Subscribe today and listen to season three, releasing now!Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgramLearn more about Academic & Student ProgramsFollow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatusCC Music: Twisterium

For decades, many observers held onto an optimism that, despite occasional setbacks, the arc of history inevitably bent towards a richer, freer, and better-governed world. However, the political turbulence witnessed across established democracies in the past decade has shattered this optimism and exposed deeper problems.Today, The UnPopulist's Editor-in-Chief Shikha Dalmia is joined by Brink Lindsey, senior vice president at the Niskanen Center and writer behind the Substack The Permanent Problem.Shikha and Brink explore Brink's central concept: the permanent problem, or how mass affluence has radically transformed human expectations, leading people to seek not just basic needs, but also fulfillment, meaning, and belonging, and how paradoxically, this success has led to a crisis of legitimacy for liberal democracy, as the institutions that delivered such prosperity are now struggling to meet these new, elevated expectations.We hope you enjoy.***Thanks for checking out The UnPopulist! Subscribe for free to support our project.Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X.© The UnPopulist, 2025 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theunpopulist.net

After spending hundreds of millions of dollars to help put Donald Trump in the White House, Elon Musk is launching his own political party. Musk says his ‘America Party' will challenge the status quo, which he believes is bankrupting the United States. Today, political scientist Geoff Kabaservice from the Niskanen Center on what the party stands for and who might vote for it.Featured: Geoff Kabaservice, vice president for political studies at the Niskanen Center in Washington, DC

This week on Breaking Battlegrounds, Chuck Warren is joined by guest co-host Shay Khatari for a compelling lineup of guests and conversations. Former British soldier and Middle East strategist Andrew Fox kicks things off, diving into his article, “The Moronic Obscenity of Siding with Iran.” With three tours in Afghanistan and firsthand experience with Iranian interference, Andrew explains why Western appeasement isn't just misguided—it's dangerous. Next, Hollywood executive and author Chris Fenton joins the show to discuss his RealClearPolitics piece, “Why This Lifelong Democrat Voted for Trump,” sharing how his global media career, stand against Chinese censorship, and new American-made film Bad Counselors reflect his deeper concern for freedom, fairness, and national sovereignty. Then, Sarah Hunt, President of the Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy, breaks down why smart energy policy rooted in national security and innovation is essential in the global AI race—especially against China—and how her organization is working to revive the American Dream by empowering emerging leaders. Don't miss this impactful episode—and as always, stick around for Kiley's Corner, where Kiley gives an update on the Karen Read trial and shares the shocking story of four fifth graders who were plotting to stab a classmate.www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegroundsTruth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@breakingbattlegroundsShow sponsors:Invest Yrefy - investyrefy.comOld Glory DepotSupport American jobs while standing up for your values. OldGloryDepot.com brings you conservative pride on premium, made-in-USA gear. Don't settle—wear your patriotism proudly.Learn more at: OldGloryDepot.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground' to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comAbout our guest:Andrew Fox is a former soldier; research fellow specialising in the Middle East, Defence, and how Western societies are under attack from authoritarian regimes.I served in the RWF and the Parachute Regiment; three tours of Afghanistan (including one with US Special Forces), as well as the Middle East, Bosnia and N Ireland.Bachelor's in Law & Politics. War Studies MA, dissertation on strategy in the Middle East. Psychology MSc study on leadership and the psychology of disinformation. Level 7 qualifications in education; leadership & strategic management. PhD study, ongoing. Follow him on X @Mr_Andrew_Fox.Read: The moronic obscenity of siding with Iran-Company Founder, Chris Fenton, served as GM of DMG North America & President of DMG Entertainment Motion Picture Group, internationally orchestrating the creative, investment, and business activities of a multi-billion-dollar global media company headquartered in Beijing. During his tenure he served on the board of Valiant Entertainment, directing its eventual acquisition, and he worked closely with both Marvel and Hasbro, executing various projects to monetize their IP globally. As an author, Fenton chronicled much of his time at DMG in FEEDING THE DRAGON: Inside the Trillion Dollar Dilemma Facing Hollywood, the NBA, & American Business (Simon & Schuster).Most recently, and after three years of serving as President and CEO of Media Capital Technologies (MCT), a specialty finance company focused on strategic investments in premium content, Fenton stepped down to focus on formally advising companies, investors, brands, and Congress on how to best navigate sector disruptions and optimize America's complicated relationship with China and other challenging markets...AND HE LOVES IT!!! Follow him on X @TheDragonFeeder.-Sarah E. Hunt is a globally focused leader in climate advocacy, technology, and democracy. Her expertise is regularly sought by national publications such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. As President of the Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy, a think tank and leadership community in Washington D.C., Ms. Hunt leads her team to generate new solutions to some of our nation's most critical challenges and then cultivates a new generation of leaders to actually implement them.Prior to founding the Rainey Center, much of Hunt's background centered in the areas of climate change and election law. She launched a clean energy program at the American Legislative Exchange Council and a climate change program at the Niskanen Center. Before that, she managed state issues and ethics for a political consulting firm and practiced political law at a boutique law firm in the Pacific Northwest.She currently also serves as Director, Policy & Strategy at the Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service at Arizona State University.Ms. Hunt holds a BA in political science from the University of New Mexico, a JD from Willamette University College of Law, an LLM in international environmental law from Georgetown University Law Center, and an MPS in global advocacy from the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. She is admitted to the bar in Washington, DC, Oregon, and the 9th Circuit. Follow her on X @sarahehunt01. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

The explosive break-up of Donald Trump and Elon Musk has been fascinating to watch as the pair trade insults and threats. Could there be a reconciliation between the president and the billionaire? Or could Elon Musk follow through on his threats to start backing other political forces?Musk's space and satellite businesses are heavily involved in the US government, so there could be real world consequences if the two don't come to some sort of understanding. Today, Geoff Kabaservice from the centre-right think tank the Niskanen Center explains why the disintegration of their relationship is entertaining but also disturbing.  Featured: Geoff Kabaservice, vice president for political studies at the Niskanen Center in Washington, DC

On this edition of Parallax Views, comedian and writer Kate Willett joins us to examine the growing influence of Silicon Valley billionaires on the Democratic Party and the controversial politics behind the so-called Abundance Agenda. Framed by figures like Ezra Klein as a bold, future-focused vision of progress, this agenda is increasingly backed by tech elites such as Dustin Moskovitz—co-founder of Facebook—and promoted through a network of well-funded think tanks, including the Niskanen Center, that aim to push the party in a technocratic, pro-market direction. With sharp wit and political insight, Kate unpacks how the Abundance movement—closely aligned with key figures on the Tech Right—represents a slick, astroturfed rebranding of neoliberalism. Beneath its glossy surface lies a coordinated strategy to marginalize progressive and working-class voices while recasting Silicon Valley's private interests as public goods. We explore how this plays out most visibly in San Francisco, where billionaire-funded groups have successfully reshaped local politics and helped unseat progressive officials. Kate also offers a thoughtful critique of California's YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) movement. While she is not a NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) advocate either, she raises serious concerns about how YIMBY rhetoric often functions as a Trojan horse for real estate developer- and tech-driven policies that displace working-class communities under the guise of solving the housing crisis. This episode explores the intersection of tech money, urban development, media influence, and intra-party power struggles—and asks the vital question: “Abundance for whom?” Show Notes: "Abundance: Big Tech's Bid for the Democratic Party by Kate Willet (New International Magazine)

It's an almighty fight. In one corner is Donald Trump and the other Harvard, one of the oldest institutions in America.The US president wants to defund the university, attacking it for alleged anti-Semitism on campus. But Harvard's retaliating, making it among the few major institutions in the US willing to take Trump on.Today, Geoff Kabaservice from the centre-right think tank the Niskanen Center on why Trump's targeting Harvard and whether Americans will stand for it. Featured: Geoff Kabaservice, vice president for political studies at the Niskanen Center in Washington, DC

Join Aaron Renn as he sits down with Geoffrey Kabaservice, Vice President of Political Studies at the Niskanen Center and author of Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party. In this compelling episode, they dive into the decline of moderate Republicanism, tracing the transformation of the GOP from the era of Dwight Eisenhower to the rise of Ronald Reagan, the Tea Party, and beyond. Why did moderate Republicans fade from prominence? What role did populism play in reshaping the party? And is there a future for pragmatic, effective governance in today's polarized America? This conversation explores the historical shifts, key figures, and structural challenges facing the Republican Party, offering insights for anyone interested in American political history.GEOFFREY KABASERVICE LINKS:

Gen Z may not be the liberal base of support many on the left hoped they would be. Today, there is a growing split between voters under 30, with 22-29 year olds favoring Democrats by 6.4 points and 18-21 year olds favoring Republicans by almost 12 points. As America's youngest voters are growing up in the age of COVID lockdowns, social media, and cancel culture, conservative and MAGA ideology is emerging as the new counter-culture, giving young men in particular an opportunity to escape the world around them. How will the youngest voter cohort change the bases of both parties? And how will young voters change as they grow older? Milan Singh is the founder and Director of the Yale Youth Poll. Originally from Cambridge, Massachusetts, he is a junior in Pierson majoring in Economics. He has previously worked as a researcher at Slow Boring; a data science fellow at Decision Desk HQ; and social policy intern at the Niskanen Center. This past summer, he worked as a consultant for Blueprint and WelcomePAC. Outside of the classroom, he is one of the Opinion Editors for the Yale Daily News.Read the transcript here. Subscribe to our Substack here.

The left in America has long accused the right of advancing minority rule and rejecting the principles of democracy. Though there is some truth to that charge, it applies as much to the left itself as it does to the right. A closer look at housing and infrastructure regulations, public-employee unions, professional licensing, and the governance of higher education suggests that “minoritarianism” pervades our politics. Guest Steve Teles joins us to discuss the bipartisan penchant for minority rule and how lawmakers might restore a more majoritarian, democratic politics. Steve Teles is a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University and a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center. He's the author of several books about topics such as economic inequality, welfare, and the conservative legal movement.This podcast discusses themes from Steve's essay in the Spring 2025 issue of National Affairs, “Minoritarianism Is Everywhere.” Books and Essays Mentioned:-Neighborhood Defenders: Participatory Politics and America's Housing Crisis-Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools-“The Strength of a Weak State: The Rights Revolution and the Rise of Human Resources Management Divisions” -“Professionalization 2.0: The Case for Plural Professionalization in Education”-“Beyond Academic Sectarianism” -In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us-“The Rise of the Abundance Faction” -“The Future Is Faction”

Listen to this episode commercial free at https://angryplanetpod.comSpecial for our international listeners, did you know you can now buy a pathway to U.S. citizenship for the low, low price of $5 million sent directly to the U.S. treasury? For decades America's immigration policies were a boon to its national defense. No one has better intelligence on a rival country than a fleeing dissident with firsthand knowledge.Times have changed.Gil Guerra of the Niskanen Center is here to talk all about those changes. It's an episode packed with bizarre anecdotes and interesting tidbits about how America runs now. You'll learn why evangelical Christians are turning their back on refugees, why China won't accept deportation flights, and how to navigate the Darien Gap using short form video posts.Immigration is a foreign policy toolDissident refugees as a strategic winWhat we know about how the “Gold Card” will work“You simply can't create greencards out of nowhere.”How Mexico uses immigration to get concessions from the U.S.“At a certain point the people who send you into the blades look like the bastards.”Dealing with a dictator20,000 Chinese nationals at the southern borderThe internet has made it easier to immigrateNavigating the Darien Gap, one TikTok video at a timeOp-ed: Trump's gold card visa, explainedDomestic debate, global strategy: Revisiting immigration in U.S. foreign policyChina owns 380,000 acres of land in the U.S. Here's whereWeapons of Mass MigrationSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

******Support the channel******Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/thedissenterPayPal: paypal.me/thedissenterPayPal Subscription 1 Dollar:https://tinyurl.com/yb3acuuyPayPal Subscription 3 Dollars:https://tinyurl.com/ybn6bg9lPayPal Subscription 5 Dollars:https://tinyurl.com/ycmr9gpzPayPal Subscription 10 Dollars:https://tinyurl.com/y9r3fc9mPayPal Subscription 20 Dollars:https://tinyurl.com/y95uvkao ******Follow me on******Website:https://www.thedissenter.net/The Dissenter Goodreads list:https://shorturl.at/7BMoBFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedissenteryt/Twitter:https://x.com/TheDissenterYT This show is sponsored by Enlites, Learning & Development done differently. Check the website here:http://enlites.com/ Dr. Matt Grossmann is Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) and Professor of Political Science at Michigan State University. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center in Washington, DC, host of The Science of Politics Podcast and a regular contributor to FiveThirtyEight's online political analysis. He is the author (with David A. Hopkins) of Polarized by Degrees: How the Diploma Divide and the Culture War Transformed American Politics. In this episode, we focus on Polarized by Degrees. We talk about the diploma divide, and trends that led to it since the 1980s. We discuss the demographics of the diploma divide, the “culture war” and how it manifests politically, the contrast between Obama and Trump, the divide between your men and young women, differences between Democrats and Republicans, and attitudes toward experts and institutions, the media, and corporations. We also talk about how the divide manifested in terms of policymaking during the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, we discuss whether there is a solution to this divide.--A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS/SUPPORTERS: PER HELGE LARSEN, JERRY MULLER, BERNARDO SEIXAS, ADAM KESSEL, MATTHEW WHITINGBIRD, ARNAUD WOLFF, TIM HOLLOSY, HENRIK AHLENIUS, FILIP FORS CONNOLLY, ROBERT WINDHAGER, RUI INACIO, ZOOP, MARCO NEVES, COLIN HOLBROOK, PHIL KAVANAGH, SAMUEL ANDREEFF, FRANCIS FORDE, TIAGO NUNES, FERGAL CUSSEN, HAL HERZOG, NUNO MACHADO, JONATHAN LEIBRANT, JOÃO LINHARES, STANTON T, SAMUEL CORREA, ERIK HAINES, MARK SMITH, JOÃO EIRA, TOM HUMMEL, SARDUS FRANCE, DAVID SLOAN WILSON, YACILA DEZA-ARAUJO, ROMAIN ROCH, DIEGO LONDOÑO CORREA, YANICK PUNTER, CHARLOTTE BLEASE, NICOLE BARBARO, ADAM HUNT, PAWEL OSTASZEWSKI, NELLEKE BAK, GUY MADISON, GARY G HELLMANN, SAIMA AFZAL, ADRIAN JAEGGI, PAULO TOLENTINO, JOÃO BARBOSA, JULIAN PRICE, EDWARD HALL, HEDIN BRØNNER, DOUGLAS FRY, FRANCA BORTOLOTTI, GABRIEL PONS CORTÈS, URSULA LITZCKE, SCOTT, ZACHARY FISH, TIM DUFFY, SUNNY SMITH, JON WISMAN, WILLIAM BUCKNER, PAUL-GEORGE ARNAUD, LUKE GLOWACKI, GEORGIOS THEOPHANOUS, CHRIS WILLIAMSON, PETER WOLOSZYN, DAVID WILLIAMS, DIOGO COSTA, ALEX CHAU, AMAURI MARTÍNEZ, CORALIE CHEVALLIER, BANGALORE ATHEISTS, LARRY D. LEE JR., OLD HERRINGBONE, MICHAEL BAILEY, DAN SPERBER, ROBERT GRESSIS, IGOR N, JEFF MCMAHAN, JAKE ZUEHL, BARNABAS RADICS, MARK CAMPBELL, TOMAS DAUBNER, LUKE NISSEN, KIMBERLY JOHNSON, JESSICA NOWICKI, LINDA BRANDIN, GEORGE CHORIATIS, VALENTIN STEINMANN, PER KRAULIS, ALEXANDER HUBBARD, BR, MASOUD ALIMOHAMMADI, JONAS HERTNER, URSULA GOODENOUGH, DAVID PINSOF, SEAN NELSON, MIKE LAVIGNE, JOS KNECHT, LUCY, MANVIR SINGH, PETRA WEIMANN, CAROLA FEEST, MAURO JÚNIOR, 航 豊川, TONY BARRETT, BENJAMIN GELBART, NIKOLAI VISHNEVSKY, STEVEN GANGESTAD, AND TED FARRIS!A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PRODUCERS, YZAR WEHBE, JIM FRANK, ŁUKASZ STAFINIAK, TOM VANEGDOM, BERNARD HUGUENEY, CURTIS DIXON, BENEDIKT MUELLER, THOMAS TRUMBLE, KATHRINE AND PATRICK TOBIN, JONCARLO MONTENEGRO, AL NICK ORTIZ, NICK GOLDEN, AND CHRISTINE GLASS!AND TO MY EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS, MATTHEW LAVENDER, SERGIU CODREANU, BOGDAN KANIVETS, ROSEY, AND GREGORY HASTINGS!

Jennifer Pahlka believes America's bureaucratic dysfunction is deeply rooted in outdated processes and misaligned incentives. As the founder of Code for America and co-founder of the United States Digital Service, she has witnessed firsthand how government struggles to adapt to the digital age, often trapped in rigid procedures and disconnected from the real-world impact of its policies. Disruption is clearly needed, she says—but can it be done in a way that avoids the chaos of DOGE? Tyler and Jennifer discuss all this and more, including why Congress has become increasingly passive, how she'd go about reforming government programs, whether there should be less accountability in government, how AGI will change things, whether the US should have public-sector unions, what Singapore's effectiveness reveals about the trade-offs of technocratic governance, how AI might fundamentally transform national sovereignty, what her experience in the gaming industry taught her about reimagining systems, which American states are the best-governed, the best fictional depictions of bureaucracy, how she'd improve New York City's governance, her current work at the Niskanen Center, and more. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video. Recorded March 4th, 2025. Help keep the show ad free by donating today! The British remake of Ikiru referenced in today's podcast is: Living Other ways to connect Follow us on X and Instagram Follow Tyler on X Follow Jennifer on X Sign up for our newsletter Join our Discord Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts here.

In this week's episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown interviews Associate Director Jack Malde about BPC's new report Bridging the Gap: Meeting Workforce Needs Over the Next Decade. The report uses a data-driven approach to identify the occupations and industries at the highest risk of workforce shortages over the next decade, with healthcare leading the list. Then, Jack interviews Cassandra Zimmer-Wong, Immigration Policy Analyst at the Niskanen Center, about her report investigating how immigration reform can address healthcare workforce shortages.  Bridging the Gap: Meeting Workforce Needs Over the Next Decade - The Bipartisan Policy Center: https://bipartisanpolicy.org/report/bridging-the-gap-meeting-workforce-needs-over-the-next-decade/   Immigration as a solution to healthcare workforce shortages – The Niskanen Center: https://www.niskanencenter.org/immigration-as-a-solution-to-healthcare-workforce-shortages/    (00:00) Intro (10:02) Bridging the Gap: Meeting Workforce Needs Over the Next Decade (25:17) Immigration as a solution to healthcare workforce shortages (1:03:14) Outro

REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.comCost Disease Socialism: How Subsidizing Costs While Restricting Supply Drives America's Fiscal Imbalance - Niskanen CenterThe rise of the abundance faction - Niskanen CenterThe Captured Economy: How the Powerful Enrich Themselves, Slow Down Growth, and Increase Inequality: Lindsey, Brink, Teles, Steven M.: 9780190627768: Amazon.com: BooksFelicia Wong, Principal at the Roosevelt Institute, and Steve Teles, Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center and Johns Hopkins University Professor, return to The Realignment. Felicia, Steve, and Marshall debate and discuss the tensions between the rising "Abundance Agenda" faction and left populists, the role of unions, whether one can focus on increasing the supply of scarce goods and lowering prices while also addressing inequality, how to increase the effectiveness of government, and what a synthesis of different parts of the center to left spectrum could look like in 2028 and beyond.

REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.comDidi Kuo, author of The Great Retreat: How Political Parties Should Behave and Why They Don't, joins the Niskanen Center's Steve Teles and Marshall on The Realignment. Didi, Steve, and Marshall discuss why political parties have reached record levels of unpopularity in the United States, what "good" political parties could look like, the history of party reform organizations like the Democratic Leadership Council of the 1980s and 1990s, the positive case for political parties as a way of organizing the will of the people, and the differences between the American party system and alternatives across the democratic world. 

Chris Miller, a professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and Nonresident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Marshall Kosloff, Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center and co-host of the Realignment Podcast, join Kevin Frazier, a Contributing Editor at Lawfare and adjunct professor at Delaware Law, and Alan Rozenshtein, Senior Editor at Lawfare and associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota, to discuss AI, supply chains, and the Abundance Agenda.We value your feedback! Help us improve by sharing your thoughts at lawfaremedia.org/survey. Your input ensures that we deliver what matters most to you. Thank you for your support—and, as always, for listening!To receive ad-free podcasts, become a Lawfare Material Supporter at www.patreon.com/lawfare. You can also support Lawfare by making a one-time donation at https://givebutter.com/lawfare-institute.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

President Trump is making big moves to shrink and reshape the federal workforce. He's offered buyouts, instituted a hiring freeze, and called for prioritizing job seekers who are "passionate about the ideals of our American Republic." While his actions have drawn criticism, some see an opportunity for the new administration to improve the federal hiring process. Today on the show, Jennifer Pahlka, Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center, tells us why, in her view, government hiring has been broken for a long time while sharing her thoughts on Trump's proposals to fix it. Related episodes:What happens when Social Security runs out of money? (Apple / Spotify)Why Trump's potential tariffs are making business owners anxious (Apple / Spotify)For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The How We Need Now: A Capacity Agenda for 2025: The how we need now: a capacity agenda for 2025 - Niskanen CenterJennifer Pahlka Substack: Eating Policy | Jennifer Pahlka | SubstackREALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.comJennifer Pahlka and Andrew Greenway, co-authors of the Niskanen Center's The How We Need Now: A Capacity Agenda for 2025, join The Realignment. Marshall, Jennifer, and Andrew discuss why state capacity is one of the most important ideas of 2025, the roots of America's inability to build U.S. navy ships on time, 17-year approval processes for "fast-tracked" power projects, and the lack of delivery of the Biden administration's legislative agenda in state capacity failure, and the reforms that left, right, and center should implements moving forward.

Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.com In the latest edition of Marshall and Steve Teles of the Niskanen Center and Johns Hopkins University discussion series, they wrap the series for 2024, revisit The New Republic's tradition of offering annual recriminations during the holiday season, and discuss the new series of articles critiquing the abundance agenda.

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to economist Sam Hammond.  Canadian-born Hammond serves as the Senior Economist at the Foundation for American Innovation. His work primarily focuses on innovation and science policy, with particular attention to the societal and institutional impacts of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence. Before his role at FAI, Hammond was Director of Poverty and Welfare Policy at the Niskanen Center. Hammond also held a research fellowship at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, focusing on policy issues related to technology and regulation. He holds a BA in Economics from Saint Mary's University and MA's in Economics from George Mason University and Carleton University. After a quick discussion about Canadian housing, Razib and Hammond consider his piece 95 theses about AI. Hammond's contention is that AI might prove as impactful as the printing press, or, at the outer edge equivalent to photosynthesis. Nearly two years into the current “AI hype cycle” we still haven't found the “killer app” of AI, but thinkers like Hammond are getting ahead of the likely inevitable societal changes. He believes that change is inevitable, and the details that need to be worked out are how we as a species adapt and evolve in response to our technology. Hammond contends that the AI-revolution is likely to produce changes in the next generation analogous to industrial transformations of the late 19th centuries and early 20th centuries, when cars, electrification and airplanes transformed civilization.    For early access, feel free to explore it there. https://www.razibkhan.com/p/sam-hammond-i-for-one-welcome-our   

The core conflict in our politics right now is over institutions. Democrats defend them, while Republicans distrust them, and seek, in some cases, to eliminate them.This is really bad. It's bad for institutions when Republicans are elected, because of the damage they might inflict. And it's bad for institutions when Democrats are elected, because when you're so committed to protecting something, it's hard to be clear-eyed or honest about all the ways it's failing. And when Democrats won't admit to the problems that so many Americans can see and feel, that creates a huge opening for the right. So, what are Democrats missing?Steven Teles is a political scientist and director of the Center for Economy and Society at Johns Hopkins, and a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center. Jennifer Pahlka is the founder of Code for America and the author of one of my favorite books on why government doesn't deliver, “Recoding America: Why Government is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better.” She's also a senior fellow at Niskanen.In this conversation, we discuss how and why the country has become polarized over institutions; the ways this was supercharged during the pandemic; the reasons government agencies are so focused on process, often at the expense of outcomes; how a second Trump administration will probably distract from some much needed institutional reforms; and more.This episode contains strong language.Recommendations:“Voice and Inequality: The Transformation of American Civic Democracy” by Theda Skocpol“Infrastructure Costs” by Leah Brooks and Zachary D. LiscowWhy Nothing Works by Marc DunkelmanThe Unaccountability Machine by Dan DaviesThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Jack McCordick. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair. Mixing by Isaac Jones and Aman Sahota. Our supervising editor is Claire Gordon. The show's production team also includes Rollin Hu, Elias Isquith, and Kristin Lin. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.comIn the latest edition of Marshall and Steve Teles of the Niskanen Center and Johns Hopkins University discussion series, they discuss reasons behind Kamala Harris's loss to Donald Trump, the debate over whether Kamala should have gone on the Joe Rogan Experience, whether 2010s-2022 "wokeness" fatally wounded Democrats, what a successful 2028 nominee needs to learn from 2024, and of course, a shoutout to the Abundance Agenda.

Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignmentEmail Us: realignmentpod@gmail.comFoundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-faiMatt Grossmann, Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center, and co-author of Polarized by Degrees: How the Diploma Divide and the Culture War Transformed American Politics, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Matt discuss how the growing diploma divide reshaped post-Cold War politics, how Democrats became the party of highly-educated Americans who trust credentialed experts and Republicans became populists supported by voters without college degrees who distrust institutions, why the culture wars increasingly feel perpetual, and how every aspect of non-political American culture politicized over the past 40 years.