A Talk with Rick McGahey

Talk Details:

Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani has become New York City’s mayor, and now confronts serious policy, budget, and political challenges. Can he deliver on his core policy ideas, including housing (a rent freeze and constructing 200,000 affordable units), transportation (free bus services), universal child care, and other social investments? This talk examines the economic, legal, institutional, and political barriers that shape what any New York mayor can do, especially given the state’s control over many city functions. The talk also will cover Mamdani’s dual challenge: governing with a very tight budget while facing an adversarial Trump Administration hostile to large cities, especially liberal ones like New York. Economist Richard McGahey, an expert on New York’s economy, public finance, and governance, will discuss these issues in an open forum with opportunities for questions and discussion.

About Rick McGahey:

Rick McGahey (PhD, Economics, New School for Social Research) is a Senior Fellow at the Schwartz Center and the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy. Before that, he was a Professor of Public Policy and Economics at the New School’s Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy, where he also served as a Faculty Fellow at the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. McGahey has worked in academia, philanthropy, the private sector, and government at all levels—federal, state, and local—and is a nationally recognized expert on urban and regional economic development, program evaluation, retirement policy, and workforce development.