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Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center

MPM S2

"Chart of Mortality of the Great Plague in London from 1665-6" used in Frank O'Hara's Maine Policy Review article showing the spike in cases between June and December of 1665 with cases spiking to 8,000 in September 1665 to represent the Maine Policy Matters podcast episode on comparing COVID-19 to the Great London Plague of 1665.

S2E8 Comparing COVID-19 to the Great London Plague of 1665

This episode of Maine Policy Matters explores Frank O’Hara’s commentary from Maine Policy Review’s special issue on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the article, O’Hara uses historical accounts from a 5-year-old survivor of the London Plague of 1665, Daniel Defoe, to compare the experiences of that plague and the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. […]

S2E7 Sustainable Small Businesses and Employee Ownership

This episode of Maine Policy Matters explores the key to helping retirement-age business owners who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The episode offers data and strategies from Rob Brown, the director of Business Ownership Solutions at the Cooperative Development Institute based in Northampton, Massachusetts. Business Ownership Solutions works throughout the Northeast states with […]

A bar graph that represents responses to the Maine Rapid Business Response survey, in which 70 percent to 75 percent of agricultural businesses reported negative effects during three waves of surveys in June and the BFRN follow-up survey in September, where 46 percent of respondents reported decreased sales (and 30 percent, increased sales) when comparing August 2019 to August 2020 to represent the Maine Policy Matters podcast episode on the Maine food system during the pandemic..

S2E6 Maine Food System and the Pandemic: Interview with JG Malacarne and Jason Lilley

This episode covers an article in Maine Policy Review by JG Malacarne, Jason Lilley, and Nancy McBrady, entitled “The Response of the Maine Food System to the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic,” which argues that reflecting on how the Maine food system weathered shocks early in the pandemic can help us prepare for future crises. […]

Maine Policy Review Volume 24 number 1 cover depicting the U.S. capitol building to represent a Maine Policy Matters episode that contains an interview with Liam Riordan on democracy and the humanities.

S2E5 Interview with Professor Liam Riordan on Democracy and the Humanities

This episode is an interview with Liam Riordan, Adelaide and Alan Bird Professor of History at the University of Maine, where he has been on the faculty since 1997. Riordan was the past director of the University of Maine McGillicuddy Humanities Center and is a past board member of the Maine Humanities Council. To celebrate […]

S2E4 William D. Adams’ Reading of “The Urgency of Democracy”

In preparation for election day on November 8, 2020, this episode presents William D. Adams—the tenth chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities—reading his essay “The Urgency of Democracy.” [00:00:00] Eric Miller: In preparation for election day today, we are hosting William D. Adams, the 10th chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. For a […]

Maine Policy Review cover depicting a woman's face half white and half black with the number 200 on each side. 200 is upside down on the black side. Word "dirigo" is at the top and bottom and dirigo is upside down at the bottom to represent the Maine Policy Matters podcast episode focused on commemorating Indigenous Peoples' Day.

S2E3 Commemorating Indigenous Peoples ‘ Day with Gail Dana-Sacco

In commemoration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day on October 10, 2022, this episode features Gail Dana-Sacco reading her article entitled “Indigenous Voices Charting a Course Beyond the Bicentennial: Eba gwedji jik-sow-dul-din-e wedji gizi nan-ul-dool-tehigw (Let’s try to listen to each other so that we can get to know each other)” from Maine Policy Review’s special issue commemorating Maine’s […]

S2E2 Interview with Amanda Rector, Maine State Economist

In this second episode of Maine Policy Matters Season 2, Eric Miller interviews Amanda Rector, the Maine state economist since 2011. Rector describes what it was like to be the state economist during the pandemic, how things turned out compared to how she originally thought they would turn out, the effects from the federal response […]

S2E1 Amanda Rector’s ”(Un)precedented: Reflecting on the Early Lessons of the COVID-19 Pandemic”

What’s a state economist to do in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic? When everyone is asking for answers, but they are hard to find? In this episode of Maine Policy Matters, Amanda Rector, the Maine state economist since 2011, shares her thoughts on the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic’s economic […]

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