More Advice for the Next Administration

Before the election, we asked faculty members what advice they would give to the next administration – regardless of who won. We published five pieces of advice in October, and have five more faculty members weighing in below. The pieces of advice were written before a winner was known, and touch on several issues, including healthcare, climate change, protectionism, immigration, and partisanship.

Ashley Swanson
Assistant Professor
Economics

I think that the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed some of the weak points in our health system, in terms of helping people maintain coverage during times when there's massive employment loss. It's also revealed that our health IT infrastructure – this is something we already knew – is not great. We do have an increased amount of adoption of electronic medical records, but they do not necessarily talk to each other well. Thinking of this trial as a stress test for the insecurities, vulnerabilities, and weak points in our health system would be a good lesson for the next administration.

Oded Netzer
Arthur J. Samberg Professor of Business
Marketing

Two things. First, we need to unite the tribes. I think that the partisan divide is wide, and part of what my research has shown is that it goes deeper than we think. The second, related to that, is the belief that because one side was elected the problem is solved. Electing your side or the other side does not fix the problem. We need to address the underlying reasons that got us here. It will be solved by fixing issues such as closing the gap in income inequality, for example.

Bruce Usher
Professor of Professional Practice

Few topics are more partisan or divisive in America than climate change. And yet all Americans have the most to gain by rising to the challenge of a warming planet. The technologies to eliminate greenhouse gases, from renewable wind and solar power to electric vehicles, were invented in America, and the entrepreneurs and capital to deploy them are here as well. America lacks only the political leadership. From wind project developers in Texas, the top renewable energy state in the country, to electric vehicle manufacturers in Ohio, Americans across the country are building solutions to the climate crisis. But they need a national political leader with a plan to tackle climate change that they can count on. Be that leader and history will look back on the next four years as the moment when America rose to the challenge and began the long fight to beat climate change.

Wei Jiang
Arthur F. Burns Professor of Free and Competitive Enterprise
Finance

America is special because it has been a welcoming destination for global talents. The inclusion of foreign-born, high-skilled workers and professionals creates more domestic jobs and spurs innovation. The US will not continue its leadership in technology unless it is willing to host the brightest.

Amit Khandelwal
Jerome A. Chazen Professor of Global Business
Economics

The US trade war has been costly for consumers and has not generated the employment gains promised. US consumers have borne the full cost of the tariffs, as foreign exporters have not reduced their before-tariff prices. Domestic workers and producers have not reaped the full benefits of protectionism: input costs have risen and trade partners have retaliated. Overall, the tariffs have resulted in real income losses for the US economy. The next administration should remove these unilateral tariffs, assemble a multilateral coalition that pressures China to reform its non-market practices, and implement domestic policies that enable all US workers to reap the benefits of an integrated global economy.