Policy Punchline

Princeton University
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Created and produced by Princeton students, Policy Punchline sits down with the thinkers, leaders, and innovators defining public policy today. Each episode features in-depth interviews with leaders shaping today’s most pressing debates. We bring rigorous analysis and accessible storytelling to the issues that matter. Sponsored by the Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance and the Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies at Princeton University. Visit us on policypunchline.com

  1. The Almighty Dollar: The Global History Behind America’s Money

    May 26

    The Almighty Dollar: The Global History Behind America’s Money

    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 familiar story that the dollar began as an American invention. Instead, he traces its origins through Spanish silver, German mining towns, colonial ledgers, promissory notes, banking panics, and the private systems of credit that long preceded the modern Federal Reserve. The conversation explores why there is no single “dollar,” how different forms of money serve different people, and why monetary sovereignty is often far messier than governments or economists suggest. The discussion then turns to the present: crypto, stablecoins, America’s broken payments infrastructure, and the uncertain future of dollar dominance. Greeley argues that many supposedly new financial innovations are better understood as old banking problems in new packaging, and that the durability of the dollar depends not only on American power, but on the institutions, regulations, and trust that make money work. This interview is part of the Policy Punchline podcast series. Supported by Princeton’s Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance, the series aims to foster dialogue on critical public-policy issues, connecting listeners with leading experts from around the world. Join us as Brendan Greeley offers a sweeping and often surprising account of the dollar’s past, and what it can teach us about money, markets, and power today.

    1h 2m
  2. Fixing Democracy’s Bugs: Sam Wang on Gerrymandering, Ballot Design, and Congressional Bid

    May 5

    Fixing Democracy’s Bugs: Sam Wang on Gerrymandering, Ballot Design, and Congressional Bid

    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 lives, whether in the brain, the ballot box, or Congress. The conversation begins with his research on neuroscience and autism before turning to his work founding the Princeton Gerrymandering Project, where he has used data, law, and statistical analysis to challenge distorted electoral maps and defend fair representation. Wang also discusses his run for Congress in New Jersey’s 12th District. We discuss New Jersey’s political system, including Wang’s role as an expert witness in the lawsuit that helped dismantle the state’s county line ballot system. This interview is part of the Policy Punchline podcast series. Supported by Princeton’s Julius Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance, the series aims to foster dialogue on critical public-policy issues, connecting listeners with leading experts from around the world. Join us as Sam Wang offers a scientist’s lens on American democracy, and a reformer’s blueprint for how to fix it.

    45 min
  3. ‘My State Senator is a Rocket Scientist’: A More Perfect Fusion

    Apr 14

    ‘My State Senator is a Rocket Scientist’: A More Perfect Fusion

    [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, energy policy, and public service. In this episode, we explore how scientific expertise shapes political decision-making, from New Jersey’s role as one of the most concentrated innovation hubs in the world to the challenges of building a clean energy economy. Zwicker reflects on the promise and politics of fusion energy, the realities of state-level policymaking, and what the strategies he’s learned about political communication on the campaign trail vis-à-vis promoting long-term scientific investment.

    1h 7m
  4. Trading on Mars: How Global Imbalances Really Work with Michael Pettis

    Apr 14

    Trading on Mars: How Global Imbalances Really Work with Michael Pettis

    [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. Drawing on decades of experience in sovereign debt markets and more than twenty years teaching finance in Beijing, Pettis argues that trade is about how countries distribute the costs of domestic economic distortions across borders. Along the way, we debate the economic philosophies of John Maynard Keynes and Joan Robinson, explore Pettis’s “two doors” framework for how deficit countries adjust, learn the steps for how best to “overdose” on economic and financial history, and, of course, assess the gusto of Beijing-based indie rock bands like Carsick Cars.

    57 min
  5. Search Isn’t Research: Digital Humanities with Meredith Martin

    Apr 13

    Search Isn’t Research: Digital Humanities with Meredith Martin

    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 we see and what we miss. We discuss the Princeton Prosody Archive, the limits of large language models, historians of the future, and why the humanities remain essential for understanding meaning in an AI-mediated age.

    48 min
  6. Inside America’s Health Engine: Expanding Access and Equity with Chiquita Brooks-LaSure

    11/11/2025

    Inside America’s Health Engine: Expanding Access and Equity with Chiquita Brooks-LaSure

    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 under the Affordable Care Act and why maintaining that progress has proved so fragile. Brooks-LaSure reflects on the constant tension between innovation and cost control, the bureaucratic frictions that still leave millions without care, and the deeper question of who should bear responsibility for the social conditions that shape health. She offers a frank look at the limits of reform in a system constrained by politics, paperwork, and inequity, before turning to America’s maternal health crisis and her drive to embed equity at the core of CMS policy amid efforts to roll back years of progress. This interview, conducted by Princeton students Alice McCarthy ’27 and Aiko Offner ’27, is part of the Policy Punchline podcast series. Supported by Princeton’s Julius Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance, the series aims to foster dialogue on critical public-policy issues, connecting listeners with leading experts from around the world. Join us as Chiquita Brooks-LaSure offers a rare inside look at how America’s health-care system really works and what it would take to make it fairer, simpler, and more humane.

    41 min
  7. Voice Without a Veto: How to Bring Progress Back with Marc Dunkelman

    10/22/2025

    Voice Without a Veto: How to Bring Progress Back with Marc Dunkelman

    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 agency power, and the paradox where progressive rules now stall progressive goals. Join hosts Maddie Feldman and Eli Padoan in asking what it takes—politically, legally, culturally—to get America building again.

    1h 6m
  8. Jason Furman Interview with Princeton's Policy Punchline

    11/24/2024

    Jason Furman Interview with Princeton's Policy Punchline

    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 improved, the challenges of implementing healthcare cost controls, the importance of honest analysis of trade-offs in policy decisions, and his thoughts on integrating AI into economics education. The interview was conducted by Princeton students Alice McCarthy '27 and David Piegaro '25 and is part of the Policy Punchline podcast series, supported by Princeton's Julius Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance.

    43 min
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4.8
out of 5
28 Ratings

About

Created and produced by Princeton students, Policy Punchline sits down with the thinkers, leaders, and innovators defining public policy today. Each episode features in-depth interviews with leaders shaping today’s most pressing debates. We bring rigorous analysis and accessible storytelling to the issues that matter. Sponsored by the Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance and the Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies at Princeton University. Visit us on policypunchline.com

Information

  • Creator
    Princeton University
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    182
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    Policy Punchline

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