The Brookings Cafeteria

Senior Fellow Richard Reeves discusses his analysis of data on COVID-19 deaths and why a disproportionate number of men, and Black people, are dying.  Also, Molly Reynolds explains what actions Congress is taking in response to the protests against police misconduct, and why it matters that many of these proposals are being sponsored by Black members of Congress. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

In this special edition of the Brookings Cafeteria Podcast, Lindsey Ford, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in Foreign Policy, interviews two scholars on two important aspects of China's increasing global presence, including in the Horn of Africa and Chinese military activities in the Indian Ocean region as a whole. Joshua White is a nonresident fellow in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings and an associate professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. Zach Vertin, also a nonresident fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings, is a lecturer of public and international affairs at Princeton University. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

Senior Fellow William Frey from the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution has been tracking COVID-19's spread from mostly urban areas that have a large number of African American residents, and tended to vote more for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, to other parts of the country that are less urban, are whiter, and more strongly supported President Trump.  On this episode, Frey talks about his analysis and what it means for our understanding of the spread of COVID-19 nationwide.  Also on this episode, Senior Fellow David Wessel asks what shape the economic recovery could take in the months and years to come. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

A defendant in a criminal trial is accused of threatening someone over a social media app. The prosecution can subpoena digital records from the social media company to build its case against the defendant. However, evidence that would prove the defendant’s innocence is also held by that company, and yet defense investigators are unable to obtain it due to the way data privacy laws are currently written. In this scenario, a privacy asymmetry exists between prosecution and defense that could keep an innocent person in jail. Rebecca Wexler, a law professor at the University of California Berkeley School of Law and a nonresident fellow at Brookings's Center for Technology Innovation, has identified and studied this emerging problem and has suggested how legislators can fix data privacy laws to address it. On this episode of the Brookings Cafeteria, Wexler is interviewed by John Villasenor, a Brookings nonresident senior fellow, about her research on this issue. Also on this episode, in a new Coffee Break segment

The Brookings Institution hosted a virtual event to complement the launch of a new publication on how to reopen America. The event opened with keynote remarks from Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. An expert panel of Brookings experts discussed the roadmap for reopening America. Brookings President John R. Allen moderated the discussion. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

In this episode, Governance Studies Senior Fellow John Hudak interviews Representative Judy Chu (D-Calif.), who represents California's 27th Congressional District, about immigrants and immigration in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. Rep. Chu talks about legislation intended to help immigrants—especially frontline workers—get the assistance they need, and addresses whether she thinks immigration reform is possible at some point in the future. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

In his new book, "Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities," just published by Brookings Institution press, Andre Perry takes readers on a tour through six-majority Black cities whose assets and strengths are undervalued, and offers a new paradigm to determine the value of Black communities. On this episode, Robert Wicks interviews Perry, a fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program, about his book. Also on this episode, Senior Fellow Sarah Binder walks you through three developments on Capitol Hill in Washington that deserve a closer look. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

Senior Fellow Isabel Sawhill leads a conversation with Stephanie Aaronson, the vice president and director of Economic Studies at Brookings, and Molly Kinder, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program, about some of the key issues in women’s participation in the workforce and society, with attention to the gender impact of the coronavirus pandemic. This episode marks the launch of "19A," the new gender equality series at the Brookings Institution. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

Is it time to pay reparations to the descendants of enslaved Black Americans? That’s the topic of a new Big Ideas paper from the Brookings Policy 2020 initiative, and the authors--Rashawn Ray and Andre Perry--are on the show to discuss it. Ray is a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings and also an associate professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, where he serves as executive director of the Lab for Applied Social Science Research.  Perry is a fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings and a scholar in residence at American University. He is also author of the just released book from Brookings Institution Press titled, Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

Responding to coronavirus as individuals, society, and governments is challenging enough in the United States and other developed countries with modern infrastructure and stable systems, but what happens when a pandemic strikes resource-poor and fragile countries that have few hospitals, lack reliable electricity, water, and food supplies, don’t have refrigeration, and suffer from social and political violence?   To explore these scenarios and talk about policy solutions during the coronavirus pandemic, Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings, talks with Paul Wise, a medical doctor and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, where he is also a professor of pediatrics at Stanford Hospital. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.  

On this episode, a discussion about a new Brookings resource called Techstream, a publication site on brookings.edu that puts technologists and policymakers in conversation. Chris Meserole, a fellow in Foreign Policy and deputy director of the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative, explains what Techstream is and some of the issues it covers. Also on the episode, Darrell West, the vice president and director of Governance Studies at Brookings, answers a listener’s question about how the coronavirus might affect the U.S. presidential election. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

In this special edition of the Brookings Cafeteria Podcast, Lindsey Ford, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in Foreign Policy, interviews two scholars on some of the key issues in the U.S.-China technology competition, which is the topic of the most recent release of papers in the Global China series. Tom Stefanick is a visiting fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings, and Chris Meserole is a fellow and deputy director of the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

In her new book, "Becoming Kim Jong Un: A Former CIA Officer's Insights into North Korea's Enigmatic Young Dictator," Brookings Senior Fellow Jung Pak describes the rise of North Korea's ruler. In this episode, she is interviewed by Senior Fellow Michael O’Hanlon. Also on this episode, Senior Fellow Sarah Binder offers four lessons about how Congress has responded to the coronavirus pandemic, and what may follow. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to , and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

In this special edition of the Brookings Cafeteria Podcast, Lindsey Ford, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in Foreign Policy, interviews two authors of the most recent release of papers in the Global China series focused on China's aspiration to be a global technology leader. Saif Khan and Remco Zwetsloot are both research fellows at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown University, which collaborated with Foreign Policy at Brookings to release this new tranche of papers. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to , and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

In late 1989, popular protests against the communist government in Czechoslovakia brought an end to one-party rule in that country and heralded the coming of democracy. The Velvet Revolution was not met with violent suppression as had happened in Prague in 1968. A new book from the Brookings Institution Press documents the behind the scenes role that the US Embassy in Prague, led by Ambassador Shirley Temple Black, played in meeting with students and dissidents, and helping to prevent a violent crackdown by the regime. Norm Eisen, a senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings and a former US Ambassador to the Czech Republic, is the editor of this new book, titled "Democracy’s Defenders: U.S. Embassy Prague, the Fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia, and Its Aftermath," which is told through the lens of diplomatic cables between the embassy and Washington. He is interviewed on this episode by Brookings Press Director Bill Finan. Also on this episode, Senior Fellow David Wessel explains the Paycheck Protecti

On this special edition of the podcast, four U.S. military officers who are participating in the 2019-2020 class of Federal Executive Fellows at Brookings share their expert insights about the effects that the coronavirus pandemic is having on the readiness of their respective services, and how their services are responding to the crisis. Brookings Senior Fellow Michael O'Hanlon moderated the conversation with: Colonel Thomas Burke, a U.S. Army aviator Lieutenant Colonel Chesley Dycus, a mobility pilot with the U.S. Air Force Colonel Eric Reid, a career infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps, and Commander Jessica Worst, a U.S. Coast Guard officer. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts or on , send feedback email to , and follow us and tweet us at . The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the .

The terrorist group Boko Haram has killed tens of thousands of people in Nigeria, displaced millions, and infamously kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls in 2014, many of whom remain missing. The phrase “boko haram” translates literally as “Western education is forbidden.” In this episode, the author of a new paper on Boko Haram talks about her research and findings on this dangerous militant group. Madiha Afzal, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings, is the author of “From ‘Western Education is Forbidden’ to the world’s deadliest terrorist group: Education and Boko Haram in Nigeria.” She’s interviewed by Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow and director of research in Foreign Policy at Brookings. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts on iTunes, send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

In this special edition of the podcast, with Brookings Senior Fellows Bill Galston and Elaine Kamarck discuss President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, his administration's response, and public opinion on that response. Also, what effect will the crisis and response to it have on the election in November? Galston is the Ezra K. Zilkha Chair in Governance Studies and Kamarck is the founding director of the Center for Effective Public Management at Brookings. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts or on , send feedback email to , and follow us and tweet us at on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the .

On this episode, Andrea Risotto, the associate vice president of communications at Brookings, interviews William Burke-White and Todd Stern about the connection between the global coronavirus pandemic and the international response to climate change. Burke-White is the Richard Perry Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a visiting fellow in foreign policy at Brookings. Stern is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and is part of the Cross-Brookings Initiative on Energy and Climate. He served from January 2009 until April 2016 as the special envoy for climate change at the Department of State. Also on this episode, a presidential election is still coming in the fall, and a variety of policy issues remain at the forefront. Earlier this year we asked students to send us questions about issues in the campaign, and have been including them here as part of the Policy 2020 initiative at Brookings. In this episode, Senior Fellow Michael Hanson, director of the Brown Center on Education Po

As Congress passes multi-trillion dollar economic support packages in response to the economic and physical shocks of the coronavirus pandemic, what are state and local governments doing to respond? What kinds of economic and other assistance do they need? What will be the enduring impact of this crisis on workers and certain industries? On this episode, two Brookings experts address these and related issues. Amy Liu is vice president and director of the Metropolitan Policy Program and Mark Muro is a senior fellow and policy director of the program. Also on this episode, Senior Fellow Sarah Binder offers three lessons on we can learn from Congress’s efforts to address the crisis and what lies ahead. Subscribe to Brookings podcasts  or on , send feedback email to , and follow us and tweet us at  on Twitter. The Brookings Cafeteria is part of the .