Amir Jina is an Assistant Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, UChicago. His research focuses on the role of the environment and environmental change in shaping of how societies develop. He has conducted fieldwork related to climate change adaptati... More »
How do countries pursue socioeconomic development in a sustainable and equitable way? This question has received considerable attention, more so with the COVID-19 pandemic bringing about discussion of a green (economic) recovery. The United Nations formulated ... More »
As we pass the anniversary of the first round of lockdowns, Americans are longing for a return to normalcy. With COVID-19 numbers decreasing due to increased testing and vaccine distribution, schools nationwide have begun the process of returning teachers and ... More »
Society charges schools with the duty to provide all students the opportunity to learn in a safe and positive environment. However, newly released data shows that educators and administrators increasingly and inappropriately utilize seclusion — or “isolated ti... More »
Here we are, over one year later: trapped inside as news of daily deaths keeps breaching the barricade around our isolated lives. How did it come to this? As we mourn COVID-19’s first anniversary, the history of this pandemic continues to be written, and most ... More »
Marvin Slaughter contributed to this piece.The killing of 13-year-old Adam Toledo by officers of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) has led to renewed calls for improved police training. But no amount of training can fix the institution of policing; we need a... More »
The idea of Universal Basic Income (UBI) has gained traction over the past decade. While the idea of a basic income has existed since the American and French Revolutions, it has never been implemented on a country-wide level. Myriad questions remain on its exe... More »
In 2018, the Trump administration announced a new policy allowing states to require certain Medicaid enrollees to do a minimum number of “community engagement” hours in order to keep their coverage. These policies, often called work requirements, differ from s... More »
A large body of evidence shows that Black and Hispanic Americans are disproportionally exposed to harmful pollutants. People of color are more likely to live near hazardous waste landfills, more likely to reside near contaminated waterways, and more likely to ... More »
The global transport sector constitutes a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions — nearly 72% of this derived from road transport. Since many countries remain heavily reliant on fossil fuel-powered vehicles for road transportation despite advances in technology, ... More »
With promising advances in the COVID-19 vaccination effort and a new administration in the White House, 2021 has felt hopeful for many reasons. For me, an Iranian-American immigrant who has maintained an emotionally split home for the past eighteen years, the ... More »
In 2013, the science-fiction drama Her questioned whether communication with artificial intelligence could be indistinguishable from communication with humans. While this day is yet to come, AI is increasingly facilitating human-to-human communication. This ph... More »