The Price Is Right

The Price Is Right illustration

HLS Professor Cass Sunstein ’78 argues that for all their differences, every president since Ronald Reagan has agreed on one fundamental principle of government. That is, “No action may be taken unless the benefits justify the costs.” Sunstein identifies President Reagan as the main architect of this concept, and he credits the president he served under, Barack Obama ’91, with cementing what he calls “the cost-benefit revolution,” which is also the title of Sunstein’s new book.

David Harris receives 2018 Governor’s Award in the Humanities

David Harris receives 2018 Governor’s Awards in the Humanities

In October, David J. Harris, managing director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School, received the Massachusetts Governor’s Award in the Humanities. Harris was one of four leaders recognized for their “public actions, grounded in an appreciation of the humanities, to enhance civic life in the Commonwealth.”

Legal Services Center reaches out to homeless veterans at Stand Down 2018

Legal Services Center Team at Stand Down 2018

A team of volunteers from Harvard Law School’s Legal Services Center recently partnered with Veterans Legal Services to provide legal advice to homeless or at risk veterans at Veterans Stand Down 2018, a one-day event that brings service providers and veterans together allowing veterans to access services ranging from employment assistance to legal support to medical care.

Wendy Jacobs, Harvard officials call on EPA to withdraw proposed ‘transparency’ rule

Wendy Jacobs, Harvard officials call on EPA to withdraw proposed ‘transparency’ rule

A letter drafted by HLS’s Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic Director Wendy Jacobs, and signed by nearly 100 hospital leaders and Harvard faculty, calls on the Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw its proposed rule on scientific “transparency,” saying that the change would drastically limit the scientific and medical knowledge that underlie a host of EPA regulations that protect human health.

Eric Gitari LL.M. ’18 on litigating a landmark LGBT case in Kenya: ‘It has given people confidence to see what’s possible’

Eric Gitari LL.M. ’18 on litigating a landmark LGBT case in Kenya: ‘This case has given people confidence to see what’s possible’

After a landmark victory for gay rights in Kenya, Eric Mawira Gitari will continue to work for legal reform in Africa, both with his NGO, the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and with the help of an academic fellowship that will allow him to focus on the transformation of his country’s constitution.

Harvard project will use behavioral insights to improve health care decisions and delivery

Harvard Project Will Use Behavioral Insights to Improve Health Care Decisions and Delivery 

Harvard has announced the creation of a new, interdisciplinary project called the Behavioral Insights Health Project—a partnership between faculty members at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School, and other schools at Harvard that will explore how behavioral science and behavioral economics can help improve health outcomes for patients, and decisions made by doctors.