In Context
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The Paradox of Freedom in a Country That Wants to Keep Immigrants Locked Up
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A routine visit to the immigration field office in Dallas, Texas, upended life for Mahir Tarabishi (62), who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in October 2025. Mahir’s detention proved fatal for his disabled son, Wael Taraishi, who died on January 23, 2026, in the absence of Mahir,…
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America’s manufactured medical shortage
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Why is it so hard to see a healthcare provider in America? The US has fewer doctors per person than most developed countries and too few to meet growing demand, according to projections. Most Americans have felt the symptoms of this longstanding shortage: higher prices and difficulty finding care. But what is less well-known is…
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Revisiting Competency-Based Education: Lessons from Maine’s Experiment
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Outside Contributor: Nathan Lesch is a second-year PhD student studying American political institutions at Columbia University, Department of Political Science. Introduction Most American schools follow a Carnegie Unit-derived system, where students’ attainment is determined by the number of hours they spend in the classroom, in conjunction with grades that range from A to F. While…
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Is AI Killing Jobs? A New Bill Seeks Data
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As artificial intelligence models start performing wider ranges of tasks, companies are increasingly claiming to be cutting jobs due to AI. In May, Dario Amodei, the CEO of AI lab Anthropic predicted AI will cause unemployment as high as 20% within five years. In September, Salesforce cut 4,000 employees, saying…
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The U.S. Kids Online Safety Act: Balancing Child Protection and Digital Autonomy
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The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) recently reemerged as one of Washington’s most closely watched bipartisan tech proposals. As worry has grown on Capitol Hill about children’s and teens’ online safety, research in recent years has increasingly found social media use to be driving surging rates of adolescent depression, anxiety,…
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Rural Labor and Delivery: Should We Let Great Get in the Way of Good?
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For years, the United States has lagged behind other developed countries in its ability to keep mothers alive. A recent report from the National Center for Health Statistics found the US maternal mortality rate is 18.6 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to an average of 10 deaths per 100,000…
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Leveling the Playing Field
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For decades, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) prohibited student-athletes from profiting off their name, image, and likeness (NIL). That changed in 2021 when the Supreme Court, in NCAA v. Alston, held that the NCAA could not restrict education-related benefits for athletes. Although the ruling did not mandate NIL rights…
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The Democratic Case for Intervention in Venezuela
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Eight million people have fled a country that is not at war. Parents cross borders with nothing but a child’s backpack. Hospitals function without electricity. Political dissidents vanish into military prisons. These are not abstractions; they are the lived conditions of a nation dismantled by its own government. Yet the discourse surrounding Venezuela remains filtered through a…
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Reform, Resilience and Growth: Evolution of Indian Fiscal Policy from 1991 – 2024
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The evolution of the fiscal policy of India from 1991 to 2024 is a story of transformation, resilience and adaptation, reflecting the interplay of domestic reforms, political imperatives and global challenges. Throughout these decades, India shifted from managing a severe balance of payments crisis to becoming one of the world’s…
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Argentina Reborn: A Tale of Two Finance Ministers
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After more than a decade of stagnation, unsustainably high inflation, fiscal irresponsibility, and profound market distortions, Argentina’s newly appointed Minister of Economy forged ahead with an ambitious plan to restore currency stability, trust, and prosperity. This was evident in December 2023, when Minister Luis Caputo announced the wide-ranging reform package…
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China’s Economic Woes
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Members of Congress are growing increasingly concerned about economic competition with China. In 2022, President Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law to decrease US reliance on Chinese-made semiconductors. The following year, the president signed another law, the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act, to sanction foreign companies for…