Central / national / federal government

Why working-class Americans almost never become politicians, what that means for democracy, and what reformers can do about itWhy are Americans governed by the rich? Millionaires make up only three percent of the public but control all three branches of...

How American political participation is increasingly being shaped by citizens who wield more resourcesThe Declaration of Independence proclaims equality as a foundational American value. However, Unequal and Unrepresented finds that political voice in...

The last three decades have seen a massive expansion of China's visual culture industries, from architecture and graphic design to fine art and fashion. New ideologies of creativity and creative practices have reshaped the training of a new generation of...

Propelled by the belief that government has slipped out of the hands of ordinary citizens, a surging wave of populism is destabilizing democracies around the world. As John Matsusaka reveals in Let the People Rule, this belief is based in fact. Over the...

Governments have always struggled to tax in ways that are effective and tolerably fair. Sometimes they fail grotesquely, as when, in 1898, the British ignited a rebellion in Sierra Leone by imposing a tax on huts- and, in repressing it, ended up burning...

In the growing body of work on democracy, little attention has been paid to its links with migration. Migration and Democracy focuses on the effects of worker remittances-money sent by migrants back to their home countries-and how these resources shape...

How the creation of the Nobel Prize in Economics changed the economics profession, Sweden, and the worldOur confidence in markets comes from economics, and our confidence in economics is underpinned by the Nobel Prize in Economics, which was first...

How collective intelligence can transform business, government, and our everyday livesA new field of collective intelligence has emerged in recent years, prompted by digital technologies that make it possible to think at large scale. This "bigger...

From New York Times bestselling author and economics columnist Robert Frank, bold new ideas for creating environments that promise a brighter future. Psychologists have long understood that social environments profoundly shape our behaviour, sometimes...

How middle class economic dependence on the state impedes democratization and contributes to authoritarian resilienceConventional wisdom holds that the rising middle classes are a force for democracy. Yet in post-Soviet countries like Russia, where the...

An in-depth look at how politics and economics shape the relationship between Congress and the Federal ReserveBorn out of crisis a century ago, the Federal Reserve has become the most powerful macroeconomic policymaker and financial regulator in the...

A provocative and timely case for how the science of genetics can help create a more just and equal societyIn recent years, scientists like Kathryn Paige Harden have shown that DNA makes us different, in our personalities and in our health - and in ways...

A compelling account of the threat immigration control poses to the citizens of free societies. Immigration is often seen as a danger to western liberal democracies because it threatens to undermine their fundamental values, most notably freedom and...

How to overcome barriers to the long-term investments that are essential for solving the world's biggest problemsThere has never been a greater need for long-term investments to tackle the world's most difficult problems, such as climate change and...

The unknown history of deportation and of the fear that shapes immigrants' livesConstant headlines about deportations, detention camps, and border walls drive urgent debates about immigration and what it means to be an American in the twenty-first...

An original and engaging account of the Obama years from a group of leading political historiansBarack Obama's election as the first African American president seemed to usher in a new era, and he took office in 2009 with great expectations. But by his...

From the New York Times bestselling author of Nudge and The World According to Star Wars, a revealing account of how today's Internet threatens democracy-and what can be done about it As the Internet grows more sophisticated, it is creating new...

How the 'First State' has enabled international crime, sheltered tax dodgers, and diverted hard-earned dollars from the rest of us.The legal home to over a million companies, Delaware has more registered businesses than residents. Why...

A revealing look at how today's bureaucrats are finding their public voice in the era of 24-hour mediaOnce relegated to the anonymous back rooms of democratic debate, our bureaucratic leaders are increasingly having to govern under the scrutiny of a...

It is clear that in our society today, issues of diversity and social connectedness remain deeply unresolved and can lead to crisis and instability. The major demographic changes taking place in America make discussions about such issues all the more...