Society, Policy & The Future of Wor

The New Scarcity In both China and the United States, the defining feature of the next generation will not be abundance but absence. Fewer young people are entering the workforce, and those who do will shape economies that depend on them more than they depend on those economies. The world’s largest and most advanced nations are confronting the same question from opposite directions: how do you grow when your workforce is shrinking? China’s population decline began earlier and

Stories That Travel Differently A decade ago, a film edited in Los Angeles could premiere in Shanghai with only minor changes. Today, the same production moves through translation teams, content reviews, and compliance checks before a single trailer appears. What changed is not the creativity, but the rules around it. The global creative economy now runs through parallel systems that decide what can be shown, where it can circulate, and who profits from it. For young people e

A Shrinking Window for Understanding Foreign correspondents once stood between nations as interpreters of reality. They observed, verified, and translated experience for audiences who rarely saw beyond their borders. That form of reporting is disappearing. In recent years, the space for journalists working between the United States and China has contracted under tightening visa rules, surveillance, and competing narratives about truth itself. The border may be open to trade

Where Cities Become Systems Cities have always been reflections of their people, but the newest generation of urban planners is designing something more intricate. Today’s cities operate as living systems where architecture, data, and policy intersect. Sensors track air quality, traffic, and electricity use. Algorithms control transit routes, and digital twins model entire districts before construction begins. For students entering urban design, this fusion of engineering, go

Science After the Pandemic The pandemic revealed both the fragility and the potential of global science. Laboratories that once competed began sharing data on an unprecedented scale, and researchers collaborated across borders to develop vaccines, treatments, and testing technologies. What began as a crisis evolved into a lasting change in how science operates. For young people entering bioengineering and health research, this shift has redefined what it means to innovate. Th

Technology Beyond Profit Innovation is often linked with startups and global corporations, yet governments have become equally ambitious laboratories. From digital identification to open data systems, public institutions are redesigning how citizens experience governance. The people behind this shift are public technologists, professionals who merge technical skill with civic purpose. Civil technology has expanded as governments face pressure for speed and transparency. Minis

The Age of Exposure Every generation grows up with a defining concern. For today’s youth, it is privacy. The more connected the world becomes, the more fragile that connection feels. Every click, shared file, and login leaves behind information that can be copied, traded, or stolen. The internet was built for communication, not protection, and that design has made security a global weakness. Digital threats now shape national policy and personal behavior alike. The Global Ris

The Illusion of Borderless Work When remote work became the norm, it felt like geography had lost its grip on ambition. Students could apply for internships across continents, freelancers could join projects in any time zone, and digital nomads seemed to prove that talent could exist anywhere. Yet the dream of a borderless career quietly collided with a new reality: data sovereignty. Every file shared across borders is subject to the laws of the place where it was created. Fo