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Policy Punchline
by Princeton University
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
Episodes
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From Panama to the Orange Bubble to Negotiating with Terrorists, with Rachael Greenberg ‘14
Join hosts Maddie Feldman and Josh Stiefel as they sit down with Rachael Greenberg ‘14, Senior Vice President of Patient Acquisition and Retention at HarmonyCares and former Chief of Staff in the State Department’s Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. This conversation...
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The Sherpa's View: Four Decades of French Diplomacy with Philippe Etienne
What does it take to hold France's place at the centre of Europe's biggest crises? In this episode of Policy Punchline, Philippe Etienne, France's Ambassador to the United States from 2019 to 2023, joins Princeton students Alice McCarthy ’27 and Darden Shuman ’27 to discuss his memoir, Le Sherpa.…
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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…
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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…
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‘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…
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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…
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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…
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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...
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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”...
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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…
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Acquired Podcast's David Rosenthal: The Art of the Long-Form
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...
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Credit Scores, and Congress: the Front Lines of Financial Regulation
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...
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Making Sense of Globalization: The Past and Future of World Trade
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...
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Wall Street to Washington and Back Again: Meeting the Mooch
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…
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Economics in America and the World: Problems and Promise of the Profession
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...
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Is India Broken? An Interview with Ashoka Mody
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...
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Daron Acemoglu: The Past and Future of Innovation in our Economy
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...
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Marcin Piatkowski: Europe's Growth Champion
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...
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Marc Ecko: Bringing Creativity to Scale
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...
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Matthew Yglesias: Discussing a Career in Political Media
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…
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Tiffany Vora: Science Communication in the Post-COVID Era
(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…
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Ethan Nadelmann: Drug Policy's Past, Present, and Future
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…
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Nicholas Christakis: Understanding the Genetics of Social Networks
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...
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Lord Mervyn King: Radical Uncertainty
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…
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Gregory Zuckerman: A Shot to Save the World
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,...
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Sandro Galea: The Contagion Next Time
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...
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Tiger’s Last Interview - Prema Gauranga Das: Satsang on the Ganges and the Pursuit of Absolute Truth
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...
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Jean Hebert: Do Our Minds Have To Decline With Age?
Dr. Jean Hebert is a professor at the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is also a professor in the department of genetics, and has conducted research that has been published in renowned journals such as Science. His current scope of...
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Anders Sandberg: Radical Views of Utility and Evaluating Risk
Dr. Anders Sandberg is a James Martin Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford. He is a senior research fellow on the ERC UnPrEDICT Programme, and a research associate to the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, and the Oxford Centre for Neuroethics.…
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Peter Wendell: The Evolution of Venture Capital and Secular Tech Growth
Peter Wendell is the founder of Sierra Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has invested more than $2 billion over the past 35 years in a wide variety of successful technology companies. Peter has taught more than 2,000 Stanford MBAs over the past 30 years, specifically the very...
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Richard V. Spencer: Integrated Naval Force, Eddie Gallagher, and the Philosophy of War
Richard V. Spencer served as the 76th United States Secretary of the Navy from 2017 to 2019. He also briefly served as Acting Secretary of Defense and Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense in 2019. Sec. Spencer’s term as the Navy Secretary was terminated on November 24, 2019, when Secretary of…
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Jamil El-Imad: Connecting Our Brains to the World
Dr. Jamil El-Imad is the CEO of The Brain Forum, a neuroscience, brain-computer interface (BCI), and virtual reality (VR) research foundation in Switzerland, as well as the co-founder of NeuroPro, a Swiss-based Digital Health Solutions company that leverage the latest advances in computer science...
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Toni Townes-Whitley: Digital Transformation in Government and Ethics of Innovation
Toni Townes-Whitley graduated from Princeton University in 1985 with a B.A. in Public Policy and Economics. She then went to the peace corps for three years in Gabon. With a non-tech background, she went on to become the President of the IT and business consulting services firm CGI Federal and...
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Mitch Julis: Credit Investing in Covid, Complex Systems, and How Structure Determines Behavior
Mitch Julis is the Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Canyon Partners, one of the largest and best-performing multi-strategy hedge funds in the world. If you listen to the end of our interviews or visit our website, you’ll see that Policy Punchline is generously funded by the Julis-Rabinowitz Center…
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Paul Haaga Returns: A Deep Dive Into Facebook Oversight Board and Deplatforming Trump
Paul G. Haaga Jr. is the former acting CEO of NPR, the former chairman and director of Capital Research and Management Company, and the Chairperson of the Facebook Oversight Board Trust. In this episode, we welcome back Mr. Haaga Jr. to Policy Punchline to discuss Facebook's recent decision on...
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Paul Haaga on Leading NPR and the Threats to Public and Local Journalism
Paul G. Haaga Jr. is the former acting CEO of NPR, the former chairman and director of Capital Research and Management Company, and the Chairperson of the Facebook Oversight Board Trust.
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Tim Roughgarden: Gödel Prize Winner and Trailblazer from Algorithmic Game Theory to EIP-1559
Tim Roughgarden is a Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University and a winner of the Gödel Prize, which is often considered as “the Nobel Prize of theoretical computer science.” His research interests include the many connections between computer science and economics, as well as the...
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Atif Mian: Fixing the Imbalance of Global Macrofinance
My guest today is someone of great personal significance to me. He is my senior thesis advisor and one of the most important mentors in my student career. Atif Mian is the John H. Laporte, Jr. Class of 1967 Professor of Economics, Public Policy and Finance at Princeton University, and the…
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Matt Levine: King of *The* Financial Newsletter
Matt Levine writes the popular daily newsletter “Money Stuff” on Bloomberg Opinion that has over 150,000 subscribers and a “cult-like” following on Wall Street and beyond. He is widely regarded as one of the most iconic, witty, and sophisticated financial writers of our age. Before Bloomberg…
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Alex Tabarrok: Fractional Dosing Vaccine, Libertarianism in COVID, and the Great Tech Stagnation
Alex Tabarrok is Bartley J. Madden Chair in Economics at the Mercatus Center and a professor of economics at George Mason University. Along with Tyler Cowen, he is the co-author of the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution and co-founder of Marginal Revolution University. He is the author of...
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Ramesh Ponnuru on American Conservatism’s Crossroads
Ramesh Ponnuru is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, senior editor with the National Review, and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. A leading conservative thinker and pundit, Ramesh has made numerous appearances on shows like Meet the Press and Face the Nation. He is also an...
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Tony Yoseloff: Sustaining Excellence at Davidson Kempner and Supporting Equality in Education
Anthony (Tony) Yoseloff is the Executive Managing Member and Chief Investment Officer of Davidson Kempner Capital Management, one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers with more than $37 billion in assets under management. Tony graduated from Princeton University in 1996 with a B.A....
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Bridgewater CEO David McCormick: Dalio's Transition, Macro Uncertainty, National Innovation Policy
David McCormick is the CEO of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund with over $140 billion in assets under management. David joined Bridgewater in 2009 and was President and Co-CEO before becoming CEO in 2020. Prior to Bridgewater, he was the US Treasury Under Secretary for...
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John Ikenberry - A World Safe for Democracy: Liberal Internationalism and the Crises of Global Order
Professor Ikenberry is the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University in the Department of Politics and the School of Public and International Affairs. He is one of the most notable scholars in the entire field of international relations, with an...
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The Path to Net-Zero: Modular Nuke, Electric Vehicle, and Patient Capital in Green Tech
William Bohnett is the Chair of the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. He served from 2009-2018 as a member of the National Board of the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum and research complex. Bill sits on the Executive Committee of the U.S. Council...
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Matt Weinberg: A Mechanism Designer’s View on Cryptocurrency, Incentives, Trust, and Human Nature
Matt Weinberg is an assistant professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. His primary research interest is in Algorithmic Mechanism Design: auction design, cryptocurrency, voting systems, and more. In this interview, Prof. Weinberg provides both a detailed overview of mechanism design...
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Ben Hunt: Epsilon Theory, Wall Street's Game of Leverage, Forecasting Uncertainty and Narratives
Ben Hunt is the creator of Epsilon Theory and inspiration behind Second Foundation Partners, which he co-founded with Rusty Guinn in June 2018.
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Gas, Green Electricity, and Geopolitics: America in a World of Renewable Energy
Nikos Tsafos is interim director and senior fellow of the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He’s researched, written, advised, and consulted extensively on a range of fascinating topics, including natural gas, the geopolitics…
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Rob Johnson: The Future of Economics, Social Design, and Radical Uncertainty
Our host Tiger recently received his first ever podcast interview as a guest on the Economics & Beyond podcast hosted by Rob Johnson, President of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET). This is certainly a great honor for him, as Rob’s guests typically range from Nobel Laureates to...
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Podcasting and the Fragile Public Discourse - Tiger Interviewed by Rob Johnson
Our host Tiger recently received his first ever podcast interview as a guest on the Economics & Beyond podcast hosted by Rob Johnson, President of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET). This is certainly a great honor for him, as Rob’s guests typically range from Nobel Laureates to...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
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
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Princeton University
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How many episodes does Policy Punchline have?
Policy Punchline currently has 183 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Policy Punchline 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...
How often does Policy Punchline release new episodes?
Policy Punchline publishes regularly with 183 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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You can listen to Policy Punchline on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Policy Punchline?
Policy Punchline is created and hosted by Princeton University.
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