Adam Kern is a graduate student in the politics department. His current research focuses on taxation and distributive justice. His dissertation develops a novel approach to international tax policy, proposing that taxing rights should be allocated not so as to fit pre-existing political allegiances, but so as to bring about fair distributions for individuals. Other work examines how to tax personal injury awards, how to allocate COVID-19 vaccines, and how to measure social welfare when people move in and out of societies.

Adam received a A.B. in philosophy (summa cum laude) from Harvard. He then earned a B.Phil in philosophy from Oxford and a J.D. from NYU, where he studied as a Furman Scholar.

Adam will clerk for Judge Jed S. Rakoff in the Southern District of New York and for Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Selected Publications

"An Ethical Framework for Global Vaccine Allocation," Science (forthcoming, 2020) [third author, with Ezekiel Emanuel, Govind Persad, and members of the FAAR Consortium]

"The Democratic Limits of Political Experiments," Politics, Philosophy & Economics (forthcoming, 2020) [with Eric Beerbohm and Ryan Davis]

"Illusions of Justice in International Taxation," Philosophy & Public Affairs 48 (2020): 151-84 

"Taxing Pain and Suffering," NYU Law Review 94 (2019): 507-43

"Our Deeds, Ourselves," Analysis 72 (2012): 665-67