Category Archives: National vs. state vs. local

What should policymakers do about state and local business incentives?

Posted on December 2, 2012 by

Louise Story of the New York Times has a series, starting December 2nd (2012), on state and local business incentives. Full disclosure: I was interviewed by Ms. Story for the series, and I am quoted in the first article. From … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Incentive design issues, National vs. state vs. local

U.S. job growth and education jobs

Posted on September 7, 2012 by

The latest U.S. job growth figures, released this morning (September 7, 2012) by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, continued to show positive growth, but at an insufficient rate to boost employment rates and labor market conditions. If we focus … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Economic development, National vs. state vs. local

State government revenue capacity

Posted on July 18, 2012 by

The New York Times gave front-page coverage, on July 18, 2012, to a recent report by the State Budget Crisis Task Force. This report argued that states faced major long-term budget problems due to “rising health care costs, underfunded pensions, … Continue reading →

Posted in National vs. state vs. local

Federal versus state and local roles in children’s programs

Posted on July 17, 2012 by

I was recently asked to comment on a report by First Focus, which describes itself as “a bipartisan advocacy organization dedicated to making children and families a priority in federal policy and budget decisions”. This report, released on June 27, … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, National vs. state vs. local | 1 Comment

ReadyNation issue brief on my book

Posted on June 7, 2012 by

ReadyNation has a new and improved version of an issue brief that summarizes my 2011 book, Investing in Kids. This issue brief summarizes the main points of my book, and accompanies this summary with some great graphics. Specifically, the issue brief … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Local variation in benefits, National vs. state vs. local

Why relocation doesn’t solve local labor market problems

Posted on May 28, 2012 by

Well-known blogger Matt Yglesias has an interesting post commenting on labor economist Enrico Moretti’s recent Wall Street Journal column. Moretti argues that policymakers should help workers to move away from high unemployment metro areas. (Moretti’s column is based in part … Continue reading →

Posted in Business incentives, Early childhood programs, Economic development, National vs. state vs. local

Different views of “investing in Julia”

Posted on May 21, 2012 by

Nancy Folbre, an economist at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, has a good on-line column at the New York Times on the recent controversy over the Obama campaign’s online ad about an imaginary woman named Julia. The Obama ad tried to … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic development, National vs. state vs. local

Universal pre-K and the Presidential campaign

Posted on May 1, 2012 by

Prominent bloggers Kevin Drum and Matt Yglesias have both linked to Dana Goldstein’s brief blog post suggesting that universal pre-K be a key issue in the Presidential campaign. Dana Goldstein advocates for high-quality universal pre-K and child care for all … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs, National vs. state vs. local

Making the case for pre-K: some fiscal and economic arithmetic

Posted on April 6, 2012 by

Andrew Rotherham has an April 5th Time magazine column with the ominous title, “Are Pre-K Programs About To Get Gutted?” Mr. Rotherham apparently has access to an advance copy of the forthcoming annual report on state preschool programs from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood programs, Economic development, National vs. state vs. local, Timing of benefits

Which businesses should be interested in “the business case” for early childhood programs?

Posted on January 25, 2012 by

Sara Mead has a recent blog entry that comments on problems with the likely interest of business leaders in promoting state and local education. Her comment was in part prompted by Steve Perlstein’s comments on problems in local leadership for … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Economic development, National vs. state vs. local