When Private Entities Compete with a Public Option
The beginnings of an idea: as health care reform discussions heat up in the Senate, policy makers will have to consider how a "public option" will interact in a market place with a number of smaller...
View ArticleThe Consequences of Increasingly Competitive College Admissions
Two new NBER working papers on a similar theme came across my inbox this morning:The Rug Rat RaceAfter three decades of decline, the amount of time spent by parents on childcare in the U.S. began to...
View ArticlePeople Skills at MIT
This seems like a great program that is long overdue, and not just at an engineering-focused school like MIT. The crux of the matter:“A lot of MIT graduates go out into the real world and fall on...
View ArticleA Suggestion for the Republicans: Change the Tax Treatment of Private School...
Since the No Child Left Behind Act was passed, to mixed reviews and with mixed success, I have been thinking about how the Republican Party should promote its education agenda of more choice and less...
View ArticleContinued Signs of Labor Market Weakness, Local Edition
Reports of strong growth in the fourth quarter of 2009 were a welcome addition to the positive growth in the prior quarter, but I remain concerned about the sustainability of that growth. The...
View ArticleThe Essence of Teaching, and Training Better Teachers
Elizabeth Green has a must-read feature in this weeks'New York Times, "Building a Better Teacher." There are several worthwhile parts focusing on effective techniques, but I particularly enjoyed the...
View ArticleYes, We All Should Practice
Here's an amusing sobering reflection on what the high cost of college means for we in the professoriate, courtesy of Professor Winston at MIT. Enjoy?
View ArticleLeisure College, USA
New from Professors Philip Babcock and Mindy Marks is an analysis of trends in how college students are spending their time. The answer is "less studying, more leisure." The summary provided by the...
View ArticleCharter Schools Outside of Urban Areas
Readers of the blog know that I tend to advocate for choice-based alternatives to our current system of public education in which local monopolies are granted to individual schools. I think there is...
View ArticleThe Value of a College Degree
Peter Orszag provides some clear and sobering commentary on the value of a college degree in a column for Bloomberg yesterday. The key message is here:The effects of globalization are already moving...
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