Past events

Many statutes now permit bounties for whistleblowers who provide enforcement relevant information to the authorities.  The growth in such bounties has been quite rapid in recent years generating substantial scholarly, policy and practical interest.  However, much of the scholarship does not address a critical feature of corporate liability in the US – there is considerable uncertainty about both the scope and definition of wrongdoing. This talk examines the effects of this uncertainty on the desirable structure and incidence of bounty regimes.  Some key findings are that the greater this uncertainty the harder it will be to gather information about wrongdoing both within a firm and more generally because individuals will likely be reluctant to share information that might be relevant to enforcement. This has numerous effects. First, as gathering and sharing of information becomes more difficult it will become harder to deter and prevent wrongdoing, which in part depends on gathering and sharing information.  Second, weaker gathering and sharing of information within the firm will hamper the ability of employees to work together cohesively. This not only worsens firm performance (which has its own costs), but also is likely to increase wrongdoing because poor firm performance is a key predicator of corporate wrongdoing. The analysis thus counsels caution in extending whistleblower bounties to areas where the underlying law is uncertain, provides insights on how one might design a bounty system in light of this uncertainty (e.g., differentiating between internal and external whistleblowers, varying bounties by firm size), and lays out certain steps that might be taken to ameliorate some of the identified effects of uncertainty.

The Ford School’s Weiser Diplomacy Center (WDC) and Lou Fintor, the U.S. Department of State's Diplomat in Residence invite you to a timely diplomacy simulation exercise “Countering Violent Extremism: Balancing Civil Liberties and Security.” This simulation was developed by Department of State's U.S. Diplomacy Center and involves a hypothetical scenario based on a real global challenge: how to address violent extremism while at the same time respecting and protecting civil rights and liberties. As this exercise has not been previously used, Ford School students will be the first cohort in the nation to test this simulation. U.S. State Department's Diplomat in Residence Lou Fintor will lead the simulation here at the Ford School and supplement the exercise with examples drawn from his assignments in South Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Only signed up students can participate.

Traditional Leadership, Social Networks, and Collective Action in Northern Ghana

We present and explain the vertical organization of corruption in a traffic police agency.

The Office of Research and the Ford School's Program in Practical Policy Engagement would like to invite you to a presentation on, "The Federal Budget and Policy Process: an NSF perspective."

The event will feature distinguished leaders in the field of workforce development and economic mobility including a keynote address from Walmart's Greg Foran, US President and CEO and Julie Gehrki, Vice President of Philanthropy, and closing remarks from Garlin Gilchrist, Lieutenant Governor of the State of Michigan.

Join us for a live, unrehearsed, interdisciplinary conversation with faculty from diverse perspectives to explore the idea of Post-Human Creativity.

Join the Program for Practical Policy Engagement,  Communications & Outreach, Public Engagement & Impact, and Michigan News for a Getting Stuff Done: Communications Skills Series.

Rich Cordray, founding director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Rohit Chopra, Commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission will keynote.

IEDP students will share stories and lessons learned from their trip to Morocco. 

Elisa Maffioli, U-M SPH

Does Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) expansion have a positive or negative effect on labor market outcomes and household well being in Washington DC?  Hear Dr. Hardy discuss research on how EITC expansions undertaken by the Washington DC affect income and inequality in the city. 

This series will use CRT to foster a dialogue on important issues of U.S. public policy ranging from activism to the gentrification of physical spaces to inequalities in health and health care.

A revival of the U.S.-Japan Automotive Conference held annually between 1981 and 1989, USJAC 2.0 will gather industry leaders, policymakers, and scholars from both sides of the Pacific to discuss the past, present, and future of the U.S. and Japanese auto industries, paying particular attention to the issues of trade, management, and technological change. Keynote speaker and panelist announcements forthcoming.

An informal roundtable conversation with Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz (Ford MPP '96)  who will share his experience from Ford School student to current Mayor of the City of Toledo.

Local government fiscal health is typically assessed using objective financial indicators, but little is understood about how local officials subjectively understand their own fiscal health. We compare self-assessment data from the Michigan Public Policy Survey with financial data on Michigan local governments to explore the extent to which self-assessments align with conventional financial indicators. Qualitative results reveal that local officials emphasize long-term spending pressures (e.g. roads, infrastructure) and external factors, such as uncertainty around property values and state aid (i.e. revenue sharing) payments, when assessing their fiscal health. Quantitative results provide some corroborating evidence, but in general, conventional indicators are not powerful predictors of self-assessments, especially for high-stress governments. We believe that part of the disparity is that financial indicators do a poor job of capturing what local officials say they are most worried about. We suggest that self-assessments may be a useful supplement to conventional measures in capturing “true” fiscal health.

Join Christina Goldbaum, Bronwyn Bruton and John Ciorciari for an examination of the U.S. military’s presence and role in Africa and the implications for civilian lives and global security.

In July 2014 Washington Post journalist and former Tehran bureau chief, Jason Rezaian, was arrested by Iranian police on charges of espionage. What followed was a harrowing 544 day stint in an Iranian prison, and an extraordinary campaign led by his family, the Washington Post, and prominent journalism organizations for his release. Join Rezaian for a discussion on his book “Prisoner,” which details his 18-month imprisonment in a maximum security facility, his journey through the Iranian legal system and how his release became part of the Iran nuclear deal.

Join us for a Meet and Greet session with Lou Fintor, the Ford School’s new Diplomat in Residence. Please sign up here. 

The Data Privacy and Portability in Financial Technology Symposium celebrates the Michigan Technology Law Review’s 25th Anniversary by hosting an event dedicated to cutting-edge scholarship at the intersection of technology and the law. Specifically, this symposium is designed to examine the inherent tensions between securing privacy rights and the ease at which transactions occur, facilitated by new innovative technologies.

On February 23, the Ford School will host graduate students from 14 univerisities to participate in the 2019 NASPAA-Batten Student Simulation Competition. This year’s competition—a partnership between the University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA)—will connect a record 585 students from 11 global host sites including Dhaka, Cairo, Mexico City, and San Francisco to tackle policy issues associated with forced migration through computer-based simulated game play. 

Join the Program for Practical Policy Engagement,  Communications & Outreach, Public Engagement & Impact, and Michigan News for a Getting Stuff Done: Communications Skills Series.

Donia Human Rights Center Panel. Human Rights in North Korea: Crimes Against Humanity, Advocacy for Change, and Future ProspectsKang Cheol Hwan, Jared Genser, Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, and Kiyoteru Tsutsui

*Stream* Kalil will discuss some of the S&T policy priorities of President Obama as well as “lessons learned” from his service at the White House, and address future challenges for U.S. S&T policy.

The 2019 Schuman Challenge will welcome undergraduate students from seventeen different U.S. colleges and universities to the EU Delegation to the United States in Washington DC on February 14-15, 2019. During the competition students will work in teams to develop and defend before senior international affairs professionals new policies for transatlantic cooperation supporting Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders