The Brookings Cafeteria

"I was always interested in doing good policy analysis, and improving the policy process," says Alice M. Rivlin in this interview about her career in public policy and contributions to making the policy process better. She is a senior fellow in Economic Studies and the Center for Health Policy at Brookings, and one of the nation's, and this Institution's, most important public policy leaders. Among Rivlin's many important roles, she served as director of the Office Management and Budget (OMB) in the first Clinton Administration and as vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board. She was the founding director of the Congressional Budget Office starting in 1975 and served as chair of the District of Columbia Financial Management and Assistance Authority. Rivlin first came to the Brookings Institution as a research fellow in 1957. Also in this episode, Senior Fellow David Wessel examines the impacts of an aging population on the U.S. economy, and how immigration contributes to economic vitality. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to [email protected], and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

East Asia is home to diverse political regimes, economies, and religions, and is central to global economic trade and growth. But it is also a region increasingly defined by U.S.-China competition. Moving forward, what role Japan will play in upholding a rules-based order, and how will China's rise influence domestic political trends, particularly in Southeast Asia? In this podcast, the second episode a four-part podcast series from the Democracy and Disorder Project at the Brookings Institution, host Torrey Taussig talks with Senior Fellows Jonathan Stromseth and Mireya Solís about challenges to democracy in East Asia. Taussig is a a nonresident fellow with the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings and a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow based in Berlin. Stromseth is the Lee Kuan Yew Chair in Southeast Asian Studies and Solís is the Philip Knight Chair in Japan Studies, as well as director of the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at Brookings. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to [email protected], and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

In new research, Carol Graham and Sergio Pinto assesses the troublesome levels of ill-being among out-of-work men, and the challenges this poses to the future of work and the future of the middle class more generally. Carol Graham, the Leo Pasvolsky Senior Fellow and research director in the Global Economy and Development Program at Brookings, came on to the show to discuss this new research, titled "Men without work: Why are they so unhappy in the US compared to other places." Also on today's episode, meet Margaret Taylor, a new fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings and senior editor and counsel at Lawfare. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to [email protected], and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

A new crisis has been unfolding over the past weeks between India and Pakistan. To help you understand what's been going on, what's new, and the road ahead, two Brookings experts discussed the crisis. Tanvi Madan, director of the India Project at Brookings and a fellow in the Foreign Policy program, talked with Joshua White, nonresident fellow in Foreign Policy and a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to [email protected], and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

This episode is the first of a four-part podcast series from the Democracy and Disorder Project at the Brookings Institution, and is hosted by Torrey Taussig—a nonresident fellow with the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings and a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow based in Berlin. In the interview, Taussig speaks with experts Célia Belin and Constanze Stelzenmüller about a range of challenges to democracy in Europe, including the rise of populism on the left and right, plus new challenges to democratic institutions including migration and the rise of illiberal governments within the EU and NATO. The discussion also highlights renewed skepticism about European institutions coming from some populist parties leading into the upcoming elections for the European Parliament. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to [email protected], and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

"How we connect defines who we are," says Brookings visiting fellow and former FCC chair Tom Wheeler on today's episode. He is the author of the new book published by the Brookings Institution Press titled, "From Gutenberg to Google: The History of Our Future," in which he brings to life the great network revolutions of our past to help us understand and deal with what is to come. Bill Finan, director of the Brookings Institution Press, interviews Wheeler on today's program. Also on today's episode, Metropolitan Policy Program Fellow Joseph Parilla shares his thoughts on Amazon's decision to discontinue plans to open a new headquarters in New York City and what this means for economic development incentives. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to [email protected], and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

In 2018 Stacey Abrams ran in Georgia to become the nation's first African-American female governor. Despite a narrow defeat in the race, Abrams and her campaign launched a new national conversation about the importance of voting rights by shining a light on voter suppression efforts in Georgia and nationwide. As part of the Brookings Institution's celebration of Black History Month, Abrams visited Brookings to discuss how her organization, Fair Fight Georgia, is addressing the problem of voter suppression as the African-American electorate and candidates claim more political space. She was joined on the Brookings stage by The New Yorker's Jelani Cobb, who is also a professor of journalism at Columbia University. In today's episode of the Brookings Cafeteria, you'll hear the conversation between Abrams and Cobb that took place at Brookings. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to [email protected], and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

How will automation change the way we live and work? Will robots take your job? These and related questions have been asked about labor and the economy for decades, and with more urgency as artificial intelligence continues to become more pervasive in our lives. In this episode, Mark Muro, a senior fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program, discusses his new report, coauthored with Robert Maxim and Jacob Whiton, that addresses these questions. In "Automation and Artificial Intelligence: How machines are affecting people and places," Muro and his coauthors write that "while the robots are coming they will bring neither an apocalypse nor utopia, but instead both benefits and stress alike." Plus, in her review of what's happening in Congress, Senior Fellow Molly Reynolds looks beyond the government shutdown drama to explain House and Senate hearings on a wide range of issues. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to [email protected], and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

Camille Busette, senior fellow and director of the Race, Prosperity, and Inclusion Initiative at Brookings, illuminates Brookings scholars' research during Black History Month, with a focus on building more inclusive economies, addressing structural inequities, and understanding issues surrounding race and civic engagement. Also in this episode, in his Economic Update, Senior Fellow David Wessel examines the question, should we be concerned about rising federal deficits? Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to [email protected], and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

In a special episode of the Brookings Cafeteria podcast, five Brookings experts—Suzanne Maloney, Bruce Riedel, Jeffrey Feltman, Daniel L. Byman, and Elaine Kamarck—describe how the consequences of Iran's 1979 revolution affected Iran and the region and continue to shape a range of international dynamics today. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts here or on iTunes, send feedback email to [email protected], and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.