Mexico's new top diplomat: A gay millennial with deep knowledge of the U.S. Mexico's new foreign secretary brings to the post a deep understanding of the U.S., a key skill in the age of Trump.

Mexico's new top diplomat: a graduate of the Harris School of Public Policy. Congratulations, Roberto Velasco Álvarez, MPP'17! https://har.rs/4sPczyp

Why Trump's DoorDash stunt fell flat compared with his McDonald's shift Trump called back to his 2024 McDonald's moment with a DoorDash driver in the Oval Office. This time, the reaction was different.

🗳️ In @newsweek.com, Anthony Fowler argues that authenticity matters, and voters are quick to spot when something feels staged – which may help explain why Trump’s DoorDash stunt didn’t quite land. www.newsweek.com/why-trump-doordash-stunt...

The UChicago Public Safety Advisory Council seeks community input on issues impacting safety and security on campus. The meeting will be hybrid, and attendees can join in-person or via Zoom. RSVP: https://bit.ly/RSVP-PSAC

How anarchist was Africa? Precolonial statelessness may have been a sign of success, not failure

In @economist.com, James Robinson, 2024 Nobel Prize laureate, uses games like chess and mancala to illustrate how societies think about power, arguing that in precolonial Africa, statelessness often reflected preference and success, not failure. ♟️ https://har.rs/4cyEqOu

Explore AI's role in public services, and how to measure its impact, in this week’s edition of Public Money Policy: A Harris Newsletter. Subscribe for the latest insights on fiscal choices, economic policy, and markets. https://har.rs/3TBLZt0

Many Parents Value Grades Over Test Scores, Missing Signals to Intervene Many parents don't think tests accurately reflect a child's knowledge, but a new report found not considering them can “leave skills on the table.”

📊 In @the74.bsky.social, Professor @arielkalil.bsky.social explains why parents often miss key learning signals: test scores are complex and confusing, so families rely on grades – even when they mask skill gaps. “This is all very confusing to parents,” she says. https://har.rs/47Ni2hI

March jobs report shows gains, but economist warns of deeper concerns | ChicagoLIVE University of Chicago economist Steven Durlauf says the latest jobs numbers are better than expected, but weak wage growth, lower labor force participation and broader uncertainty still point to longer-term economic concerns.

📊 Economist @durlauf.bsky.social of the @ucstonecenter.bsky.social tells @fox32chicago.bsky.social that the latest jobs report beat expectations, but flags warning signs ahead. https://har.rs/4siCtKK

🎉 Congrats to MPP students Prerna Panda, Ayan Sarkar, and Sindhuja Reddy for winning 1st place at the Harvard Kennedy School Policy Hackathon, competing against ~800 entries! Their project, UDHAR, tackles credit access for micro-entrepreneurs in Jammu & Kashmir. 👏

🌍 New research shows how domestic unrest can drive foreign conflict escalation. Studying eastern Ukraine, scholars find that protests at home are followed by increased proxy violence abroad, showing how leaders may use conflict to divert attention. https://har.rs/4buw6Pt

The Force Behind the March Labor Report: Healthcare Jobs Work in healthcare, including nursing, boomed again in March. The sector has provided some of the most consistent job growth since the 1980s.

📰 In @wsj.com, Prof. Joshua Gottlieb (@gottliebecon.bsky.social) calls healthcare “a modern middle-class jobs engine.” New research shows wages in the sector (especially for nurses) have grown faster and more evenly than in the broader workforce since 1980. https://har.rs/4t1pdLY

A group of Harris students recently went on a career trek to Washington, DC. While there, they went on office visits to World Bank Group and Cornerstone Research.

Fifteen Elite Students Selected as Inaugural Harris Social Impact Fellows The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy has named 15 of the nation's most promising quantitatively-trained recent and soon-to-be college graduates as the inaugural cohort of the Harris Social Impact Fellowship, a highly selective, 11-mo...

🎉 Introducing the inaugural Harris Social Impact Fellows! Selected from nearly 800 applicants (under 2% acceptance), 15 exceptional STEM graduates will spend 11 months applying rigorous analysis and data-driven research to tackle some of society’s most urgent policy challenges https://har.rs/41f6dNE

Has Class Mobility in America Really Changed? New Research Finds a Complicated Answer March 26, 2026 Back to News Steven Durlauf, Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor For decades, Americans have worried that rising inequality is making it harder for children to move beyond the economic circumstances they were born into. A new B...

📊 Has class mobility in the U.S. really changed? Are the rich getting richer? New @ucstonecenter.bsky.social research finds a nuanced answer: overall mobility looks stable, but beneath the surface there’s growing stickiness at the top and bottom. https://har.rs/3O3PDx9

Operation Epic Fury and the Problem of an Undefined War As the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran entered its fourth week, experts gathered at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy to explore a conflict that is reshaping global markets, alliances, and the nature of modern warfare -- with no clear ...

🌍 At a recent Policy Outlook event, experts unpacked Operation Epic Fury in Iran and the risks of an “undefined war” — exploring how shifting objectives and unclear end goals can complicate strategy and escalate conflict. https://har.rs/3O4hcqb

Can economic prosperity last? On April 14, join three leading economists at History's Lessons for Economic Growth to explore what sparked the extraordinary boom of the 18th century, and what could halt growth today. Don’t miss your chance to learn from history, register now → cvent.me/Nywo1v

🗳️ Do congressional votes really reveal what lawmakers actually believe? New research from Professor Anthony Fowler shows how protest voting can skew the picture, and that political polarization may be even stronger than traditional measures suggest. https://har.rs/4sHpG5u

V. Joseph Hotz on women’s labor supply & fertility and balancing data privacy & use | Princeton Industrial Relations Section Centennial

Prof. V. Joseph Hotz joins podcast, The Work Goes On, to discuss his research on life cycle models of labor supply and fertility, the challenges of balancing data disclosure risk with data usability, and the child tax credit’s impact on child poverty. https://har.rs/4bKdhb3

New Chapters, New Communities | Harris School of Public Policy | The University of Chicago In this blog, Finnegan Keilty, MPP Class of 2027, shares his experience with finding community at Harris.

Finnegan Keilty, MPP Class of 2027, writes about building community at UChicago by finding shared hobby groups in unexpected places and exploring on and off campus with his cohort. Read more: har.rs/3OmBtqU

For Trump, a Promised Economic Boom Collides With the Costs of War President Trump said he had envisioned a growing economy and improving fortunes for American families in 2026. That appears at risk in his war with Iran.

📰 In the @nytimes.com, Professor Emeritus Tomas Philipson says the White House views economic fallout from the Iran conflict as secondary to its strategic goal: “The economy is a side effect of a larger goal here, which is to disarm Iran.” https://har.rs/4bxRqCv

Dig into the complexities of funding environmental change in this week’s edition of Public Money Policy: A Harris Newsletter. Subscribe for the latest insights on fiscal choices, economic policy, and markets. https://har.rs/3TBLZt0

MACRM Mentors Set Students Up for Success in Research and Academic Careers The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy's MA in Public Policy with Certificate in Research Methods (MACRM) sends graduates in many directions. Some cross into Ph.D. programs. Others head into industry. Some return to policy leadership.

The MA in Public Policy with Certificate in Research Methods (MACRM) at UChicago Harris prepares students for jobs in research and academia, as well as PhD programs. We interviewed three MACRM alumni about how their mentors helped to set them up for success. Read more: har.rs/3P1Smre

Examine how survey methods can influence perceptions of polarization in this week’s episode of Not Another Politics Podcast. Listen here: https://har.rs/4rsr1vS

⚾ Should Chicago subsidize pro sports stadiums? Newly announced finalists in the Harris Policy Innovation Challenge are tackling that question with bold proposals on public subsidies, stadium financing, and neighborhood impact. Live final event: April 23. https://har.rs/4uIKQ51

I am a former White House official who helped develop the first U.S. government–wide strategy to combat fentanyl and the cartels behind it. I’m the author of Fentany... Explore this post and more from the IAmA community

Jake Braun, a former White House official and the Executive Director of the Cyber Policy Initiative at Harris, is answering your questions live on Reddit about the fentanyl crisis, cartel evolution, and the U.S. strategy to combat it. Ask your questions here: https://har.rs/4uksR4j

"Wealth in People" and Rethinking the Social Fabric A radical reframing of prosperity in conversation with Nobel Prize winner James Robinson

In a new interview, Harris' own 2024 Nobel laureate James Robinson reflects on the idea of "wealth in people," arguing that in many societies prosperity has been rooted in social networks, kinship, and community institutions, not just material assets. https://har.rs/4aTZNsT

Federal agencies, US cities on alert for potential retaliatory attacks amid Iran war Federal and local law enforcement nationwide are on high alert for Iranian retaliation.

🚨 In @abc7chicago.bsky.social, Jake Braun warns U.S. cities should be vigilant for cyber retaliation amid the Israel–Iran conflict. Iran could target the banking system, oil supply networks, and other critical infrastructure. https://har.rs/4be8c9I

Consult expert research and opinion that reveals how taxes can be used to increase equity in this week’s edition of Public Money Policy: A Harris Newsletter. Subscribe for the latest insights on fiscal choices, economic policy, and markets. https://har.rs/3TBLZt0

What death of cartel leader 'El Mencho' in Mexico means for flow of drugs, violence into Chicago The leader of Mexico's billion-dollar CJNG cartel may be gone, but his death has those who've spent their careers working to dismantle cartel influence wondering what it could mean to the flow of drugs and potential violence in Chicago.

📰 In @abc7chicago.bsky.social, Jake Braun says the killing of cartel leader #ElMencho could reshape the drug trade, but warns that targeting kingpins alone isn’t enough. "It has to be layered in with a full-on counter network approach." https://har.rs/4rvb8Vz

Why Did U.S. Fentanyl Overdose Deaths Drop? A big part of the story now seems that law enforcement coordinated across U.S. agencies, and elements of the Mexican government, to disrupt fentanyl trafficking. A conversation w/ Jake Braun.

📉 Why are U.S. fentanyl overdose deaths falling? @samquinones.bsky.social discusses realities on the ground with Harris' Jake Braun, a former White House official, who has written about federal efforts to target the Sinaloa Cartel and its chemical supply chain. https://har.rs/4ru9Fih

Russia's war on Ukraine puts women off having children -- and that could spell economic disaster Four years of war have discouraged Ukrainian and Russian women from having children, and that could impact their economies in the future.

In @cnbc.com, @ksonin.bsky.social says Russia’s push to boost births is “all about societal control." “What matters…is the general feeling of safety. And this is not there in Russia.” He argues war and instability are driving insecurity — and low fertility. https://har.rs/4tZ31mA