WashU Experts

Jeffrey Plunkett, a professor of practice in accounting at WashU Olin Business School, answers common questions about new tax rules, how changes in Internal Revenue System staffing could impact the filing process and who needs an accountant.

Widespread promotion has started for so-called Trump Accounts, including an ad during the Super Bowl. The accounts allow parents to opt in to claim investment seed money of up to $1,000 for their children. But that opt-in part is problematic, say two experts on child development accounts at Washington University in St. Louis.

Over the last few decades, Christianity in America has become synonymous with conservative causes. But it wasn’t always that way. As faith leaders join protesters in the Twin Cities, they’re showing the next generation of American young people that there are multiple ways to be a Christian, according to Ryan Burge, an expert in religion and politics at Washington University in St. Louis.

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe has called for a phaseout of the state’s income tax, a move that would cause the most pain to the state’s low-income residents, says an expert on tax law at Washington University in St. Louis.

The markets essentially shrugged when the U.S. removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a special operation. But that could change if the U.S. follows through on other geopolitical threats, says political scientist Timm Betz at Washington University in St. Louis.

Faculty experts in political science, history and law at Washington University in St. Louis discuss the recent capture of the Venezuelan president and offer context about President Donald Trump’s latest challenges to international order.

The unfolding crisis in Venezuela, as well as President Trump’s subsequent threats to countries including Greenland, Colombia, Mexico and Iran, threaten international relations and embolden adversaries. David Carter, an expert in international relations and territorial conflict at Washington University in St. Louis, explains why.

Historically, public opinion has constrained presidents’ use of unilateral power. But political scientist Dino P. Christenson, at Washington University in St. Louis, explains why public opposition to President Trump’s actions in Venezuela is unlikely to sway him.

Under international law, one of the clearest red lines for states is the use of force to take another sovereign’s territory — a prohibition that sits at the heart of the modern global legal order, says MJ Durkee, a Washington University in St. Louis law professor.

When it comes to curbing gun violence in America, the field of public health should consider focusing less on the guns themselves and more on the human emotions that make people reach for guns in the first place, says a researcher from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.