December 18, 2025

In 2025, Harris-affiliated podcasts brought listeners inside some of the most consequential debates in public policy—on topics in public finance, polarization, climate change, inequality, public safety, and child development. Across shows and formats, Harris faculty and collaborators used the medium to explore ideas in depth, test assumptions, and connect research to the real-world decisions facing governments and communities.

Here are sixteen podcast episodes from the past year that exemplify Harris’s commitment to engaged, accessible, and rigorous policy dialogue.

1. Is Congress Really More Polarized—or Just Different?

Daniel Moskowitz, Assistant Professor
Daniel Moskowitz, Assistant Professor

Not Another Politics Podcast — Anthony Fowler and Daniel Moskowitz

Why does Congress feel more divided than ever? Professors Anthony Fowler and Daniel Moskowitz challenged conventional wisdom about polarization using new data that complicates the familiar story of ideological extremism. The episode offered a more nuanced picture of how party behavior, incentives, and institutional dynamics shape legislative conflict.

2. Property Taxes: The One Tax Everyone Loves to Hate

Christopher Berry, William J. and Alicia Townsend Friedman Professor; Director, Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation
Christopher Berry, William J. and Alicia Townsend Friedman Professor; Director, Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation

Public Money Pod — Christopher Berry on levies, rates, and angry taxpayers

Professor Christopher Berry broke down the mechanics of property taxes, explaining the difference between levy- and rate-based systems and how better data analytics can improve the accuracy of valuations. The episode explained a revenue source that sits at the center of local government finance and which frustrates all manner of taxpayers.

3. The Most Expensive Extinction You’ve Never Heard Of

Eyal Frank, Assistant Professor
Eyal Frank, Assistant Professor

Shocked — Eyal Frank on vultures and unintended consequences

In a striking episode of Shocked, the newest podcast on the UChicago campus, Professor Eyal Frank told the story of India’s vulture population collapse—and how it led to cascading effects on public health, water quality, and human mortality. The episode illustrated how environmental policy failures can generate enormous hidden social costs

4. How to Stop Gun Violence Before It Starts

Jens Ludwig, Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor
Jens Ludwig, Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor

Big Brains — Jens Ludwig on behavior, data, and prevention

In a powerful Big Brains episode, Professor Jens Ludwig explained why decades of gun policy debates have struggled to reduce violence—and what the evidence actually shows. Drawing on behavioral science, Ludwig, the author of 2025’s Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence, emphasized that many shootings stem from momentary conflicts rather than premeditation, pointing toward prevention strategies focused on behavior, environment, and community-level interventions.

5. Decoding Educational Content: A Computational Comparison Between Public and Religious School Textbooks

Anjali Adukia, Assistant Professor
Anjali Adukia, Assistant Professor

The PIE — Anjali Adukia on how textbooks across public, religious, and homeschool settings shape students’ worldviews

Professor Anjali Adukia discussed her study of textbooks across public schools, religious private schools, and homeschools. Using advanced AI tools to analyze tens of thousands of pages, she uncovered both unexpected similarities between politically divergent states and meaningful differences in how religious and secular curricula present topics from evolution to gender representation.

6. Inequality, Opportunity, and the Health of Democracy

Steven Durlauf, Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor
Steven Durlauf, Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor

Inequality Podcast — Education, bottlenecks, and women’s economic progress

Across three episodes, the Inequality Podcast tackled some of the biggest structural questions facing inequality policy today:

Together, these conversations showed how inequality is shaped not by a single policy lever, but by systems governing education, labor markets, and access to opportunity.

7. The Future of State and Local Borrowing

Andrew Kim, PMA Securities
Andrew Kim, Public Finance Director at PMA Securities, LLC

Public Money Pod — Andrew Kim on municipal market trends

Andrew Kim of PTMA Financial joined the Public Money Pod to discuss how governments finance debt, how negotiated and competitive bond sales differ, and which credit risks are misunderstood or overstated. The conversation looked ahead to the fiscal challenges local governments are likely to face in the coming decade. Kim also participated in the Careers In Municipal Finance series.

8. How Migration Shapes Politics Back Home

Anthony Fowler,Sydney A. Stein Jr. Professor
Anthony Fowler,Sydney A. Stein Jr. Professor

Not Another Politics Podcast — Emily Sellars on emigration and democracy

Political scientist Emily Sellars unpacked a provocative idea: can allowing people to emigrate weaken collective action and slow democratic reform in their home countries? The conversation challenged assumptions about migration and political power.

9. What Bipartisan Climate Policy Can Still Look Like

Michael Greenstone, Director of the Energy Policy Institute at Chicago and The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth
Michael Greenstone, Director of the Energy Policy Institute at Chicago and The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth

Shocked — Lisa Murkowski and Heidi Heitkamp with Michael Greenstone

Professor Michael Greenstone sat down with Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and former Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota) for a rare bipartisan discussion of climate policy. The conversation focused less on slogans and more on where durable climate action might still be possible in a divided political landscape.

10. The Science Behind Raising Successful Kids

Ariel Kalil, Daniel Levin Professor
Ariel Kalil, Daniel Levin Professor

Big Brains — Ariel Kalil on parenting, habits, and opportunity

Professor Ariel Kalil took listeners inside the rigorous science of parenting: how small, consistent daily habits—like reading together for short periods—can have meaningful impacts on children’s outcomes, and how emerging tools could help families navigate through difficult times.

11. The Future of U.S. Energy Policy Under Trump

Ryan Kellog, Ralph and Mary Otis Isham Professor, and Deputy Dean
Ryan Kellog, Ralph and Mary Otis Isham Professor, and Deputy Dean

The PIE — Ryan Kellog on the future of American energy.

Professor Ryan Kellog discussed the implications of these federal policy changes. From tariffs on Canadian oil and fuel efficiency standards to tax credits for renewable energy, he explored how these decisions could shape gas prices, the energy market, and the transition to a green economy.

12. What’s Really Driving Volatility in the Municipal Bond Market

Jennifer Johnston, Senior Vice President and Director of Research, Municipal Bonds, for Franklin Templeton Fixed Income
Jennifer Johnston, Senior Vice President and Director of Research, Municipal Bonds, for Franklin Templeton Fixed Income

Public Money Pod — Jennifer Johnston on muni market dynamics

As municipal markets faced renewed uncertainty, Jennifer Johnston of Franklin Templeton helped unpack what was driving volatility and how today’s conditions compare to past shocks like the Great Recession and COVID-19. The episode offered rare insight into how investors and issuers navigate uncertainty in one of public finance’s most important but least understood markets.

13. A Voter Turnout Strategy Hidden in Plain Sight

Toni Rodon, Associate Professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Toni Rodon, Associate Professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Not Another Politics Podcast — Civic habits and forced poll work

There was a historical natural experiment in 1930s Spain, where women randomly assigned to serve as poll workers became dramatically more likely to vote in the future, the topic of this episode of Not Another Politics Podcast. The episode explored with Toni Rodon, Associate Professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, how habit, exposure, and civic experience can shape democratic participation in unexpected ways.

14. War Economies: How Ukraine and Russia Are Adapting in Year Three

Konstantin Sonin, John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor
Konstantin Sonin, John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor

The PIE — Konstantin Sonin on economic realities in Ukraine-Russia war and future ahead.

More than three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the war continues to reshape not only geopolitical alliances but also the economies of both countries. In this episode of The Pie, Professor Konstantin Sonin discussed about the economic realities on the ground in Ukraine and Russia, and what might lie ahead.

15. Why Place Still Matters in a Post-Pandemic World Full of Zoom Calls

Bill Fulton, Founder of William Fulton Group
Bill Fulton, Founder of William Fulton Group

Public Money Pod — Bill Fulton on urban planning and fiscal policy

In the Public Money Pod’s 100th episode, urban planner Bill Fulton explored how “place” shapes community, fiscal health, and opportunity. The conversation discussed land use, real estate, and municipal finance—while also grappling with how natural disasters like the Los Angeles wildfires affect housing affordability and public budgets (and vice versa).

16. Unlocking Higher Education: Undergraduate Re-Enrollment and Graduate Student Lending

Lesley Turner, Associate Professor
Lesley Turner, Associate Professor

The PIE — Leslie Turner on college dropout rates and how we can help.

Professor Leslie Turner discussed results from a mentoring experiment aimed at boosting undergraduate re enrollment. She examined the ripple effects of federal policies on graduate student lending, exploring their impact on access, degree attainment, and tuition prices.

This list is part of a new series highlighting the ways the Harris School of Public Policy has helped lead—and elevate—public conversations about policy in 2025. Through Q&As, events, research, and commentary, Harris faculty and experts consistently bring evidence, clarity, and real-world perspective to some of the most consequential debates of our time.