Policy Punchline

What does the history of the dollar reveal about power, sovereignty, and the way money really works? In this episode of Policy Punchline, Financial Times journalist and Princeton historian Brendan Greeley joins Princeton students Alice McCarthy ’27 and Maddie Feldman ’27 to discuss his forthcoming book, The Almighty Dollar: 500 Years of the World’s Most Powerful Money. Greeley challenges the famil...

What does it take to repair a democracy from the inside? In this episode of Policy Punchline, Princeton neuroscientist and NJ-12 candidate Sam Wang joins Princeton students Maddie Feldman ’27 and Alice McCarthy ’27 to discuss his unusual path from brain science to election reform. Wang reflects on the common thread running through his work: using evidence to understand systems that shape people’s...

[Recorded March 5, 2026] Representing New Jersey’s 16th Legislative District while continuing his work at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, State Sen. Andrew Zwicker brings a dual perspective on how frontier research translates into real-world policy. Join hosts Maddie Feldman and Alex Tseng for a conversation about a plasma physicist-turned lawmaker working at the intersection of science,...

[Recorded February 18, 2026] Join hosts Maddie Feldman and Maya Chu for a conversation with economist Michael Pettis, a leading voice on global trade, capital flows, and China’s economic trajectory. In this episode, we unpack the mechanics and misconceptions of global trade, beginning with Pettis’s core distinction between the gains from balanced trade and the costs of persistent imbalances. Drawi...

Join hosts Maddie Feldman and Ollie Braden as they sit down with Professor Meredith Martin, Faculty Director of Princeton’s Center for Digital Humanities. This conversation explores how we search, interpret, and make meaning in an increasingly data-driven world. Professor Martin challenges the idea that data is neutral and that search equals knowledge, unpacking how digital tools shape both what w...

What does it take to make health care work for everyone? In this episode of Policy Punchline, former CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure joins Princeton students Alice McCarthy ’27 and Aiko Offner ’27 to reflect on her years leading the agency that runs Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and HealthCare.gov for more than 160 million Americans. We explore how the U.S. achieved historic coverage gains un...

Why can’t America build anymore housing, transmission lines, and even EV chargers without getting stuck in endless reviews and lawsuits? Marc J. Dunkelman. author of "Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back", joins Policy Punchline to trace the arc from New Deal “builders” to today’s overlapping veto points. We dig into NIMBY politics, environmental review, Loper Bright and...

A conversation with Jason Furman, Harvard Professor and former Obama Administration economic advisor, discussing key economic policy issues. Furman shares insights on economic resilience, fiscal stimulus responses to the 2008 and COVID-19 crises, healthcare reform, the role of economic analysis in policymaking, and the future of AI in the economy. He addresses how economic indicators can be improv...

The Art of the Long-Form: Crafting Epic Business Narratives and Creating Amazing Podcasts Every Host has a Story.... In this latest episode of Policy Punchline, we sit down with David Rosenthal, co-founder and co-host of the Acquired Podcast. From his days as a Princeton "organization kid" to becoming a leading voice in business history storytelling, Rosenthal's journey is as unconventional and in...

In this latest episode of Policy Punchline, we dive deep into the world of financial regulation and economic policy with our distinguished guest, Aaron Klein. Klein, the Miriam K. Carliner Chair and Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, brings a wealth of experience from his pivotal roles in shaping U.S. financial policy. His journey—from the halls of Princeton's School o...

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Pinelope Goldberg, the Elihu Professor of Economics at Yale University and former Chief Economist of the World Bank Group. We discuss her extensive research into globalization, trade liberalization, and development. We address some of the most critical questions of global economics: how has the reduction in trade barriers affected countries across the developm...

In this episode of Policy Punchline, we delve into the remarkable career path and insights of Anthony Scaramucci, the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge and former White House Communications Director. We start with Scaramucci's upbringing on Long Island in the 1970s, its influence on him as he made his way into the heart of Wall Street and eventually the corridors of the White House. Scaram...

In this episode of Policy Punchline, we are honored to welcome Sir Angus Deaton, the esteemed British-American economist and recipient of the 2015 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Sir Deaton discusses the dynamics of wealth, health, and inequality across the globe and, as per his latest book, Economics in America: An Immigrant Economist Explores the Land of Inequality, his adopted homela...

In this episode, we are joined by Ashoka Mody, the Charles and Marie Robertson Visiting Professor in International Economy and Lecturer in Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. We discuss his latest book, India is Broken, and dive into some of the larger questions surrounding Indian economic development. Why has India’s development stalled in comparison to other Asian economies...

In this episode of Policy Punchline, renown MIT economist Daron Acemoglu takes us through the tumultuous and fascinating history of new technologies and how they have reshaped the societies we live in. He takes us back to the pre-Industrial era, showing that as new technological systems of agriculture changed, exploitative economic systems did not. He busts common myths about the nature of economi...

Marcin Piatkowski is a Professor of Economics at Kozminski University in Warsaw and Lead Economist at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. He holds a Ph. D. in Economics from Kozminski University and an MA in Finance and Banking from the Warsaw School of Economics. Professor Piatkowski began his career in Citibank Poland and Citigroup USA. He then served in various governmental and NGO roles, includ...

Dr. Marc Ecko is a serial entrepreneur who has been one of the influential figures of the early 2000s in shaping culture, especially around hip-hop and streetwear. His brand — Ecko Unltd. — amalgamated the cultural elements of hip-hop with Dr. Ecko’s own fashion vision to create a worldwide brand with over a billion dollars in revenue. He then went on to found Complex magazine, one of the foremost...

Matthew Yglesias is a leading policy blogger and journalist, and has long pioneered what political media looks like on the internet. He has written about politics and public policy for a wide array of publications, including the American Prospect, the Atlantic, the Center for American Progress, and Slate. In 2014, Matt co-founded Vox with Ezra Klein and Melissa Bell, where he served as a senior co...

(Disclaimer: This episode was originally recorded in July 2021.) Dr. Tiffany Vora is an educator, researcher, and entrepreneur who is the chair of medicine and digital biology at Singularity University. She does a huge amount of work in science communication, advising startup founders, and science writing. She studied molecular biology and chemistry at NYU and a PhD from Princeton. In “Science Com...

Dr. Ethan Nadelmann is one of the foremost experts on drug policy in the US and the world. Originally from New York City, he received his BA, JD, and PhD from Harvard, then his master’s degree in international relations from the London School of Economics. After teaching politics and public affairs at Princeton University from 1987 to 1994, he went on to found and direct the Lindesmith Center and...

Professor Christakis is the Sterling Professor of Natural and Social Science at Yale University. His research is focused on understanding social networks through their biological and evolutionary determinants, which encompasses studying a broad range of topics from epidemiology and contagion to human behavior and psychology. Professor Christakis has been recognized for his contributions to the fie...

Lord Mervyn King is a professor of economics and law at the NYU Stern School of Business and the School of Law, and the former governor of the Bank of England. He served as Governor of the Bank of England and Chairman of its Monetary Policy Committee from 2003 to 2013. Lord King was knighted (GBE) in 2011, made a life peer in 2013, and appointed by the Queen a Knight of the Garter in 2014. Lord Ki...

Gregory Zuckerman is a nonfiction author and special writer at The Wall Street Journal. Before joining the Journal, Zuckerman was managing editor of Mergers and Acquisitions Reports, a trade publication of Investment Dealers’ Digest, and the New York Post as a media reporter. At the Journal, Zuckerman is an investigative reporter covering business and investing topics. He is a three-time winner of...

Professor Sandro Galea is a physician and epidemiologist who is dean and Robert A. Knox Professor at Boston University School of Public Health. His research is centered on the social factors that influence health and trauma, and his work is highly cited in the field of public health. Some of his most notable work relates to the ramifications of mass trauma after natural disasters and catastrophes,...

This interview marks my last interview as the host of Policy Punchline. I will soon release another recording giving you an update about Policy Punchline’s future, but for now I just want to present to you the following conversation with Prema Gauranga Das. Over the last three years with Policy Punchline, I’ve interviewed more than 150 guests, mostly public intellectuals, policy makers, journalist...