La Follette School faculty have been sharing their knowledge with policymakers and journalists this fall.
CounterPunch carried an question-and-answer article with economic Menzie Chinn on the U.S. dollar’s status as the world’s currency reserve. “[C]alamitously bad policies that induce rapid currency depreciation, or high inflation” would prompt the dollar to lose its status to the euro, Chinn says.
Chinn also commented in USA Today on the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh in September, and his blog, www.econbrowser.com, was cited in Canada's Globe and Mail in early October.
Economist Andrew Reschovsky commented in the Wisconsin State Journal on the federal economic stimulus bill, which“quickly provided significant tax cuts and added payments to Social Security recipients and the unemployed. He said it also made sense to help schools and local governments as they struggle with busted budgets for years to come.
“‘If we had a stimulus package that pumped money in right away, we’d still have a (need) down the line,’ he said. ‘There should be a mix.’”
Reschovsky also co-authored with Wisconsin Department of Revenue economists Rebecca Boldt and Bradley Caruth a special report in the publication State Tax Notes. The article uses Wisconsin data to examine the changes over time in homeowners’ property tax liabilities and tax burdens. They find “that the burden of the property tax on homeowners and any economic hardships it creates vary tremendously among homeowners. While some homeowners are facing both high and increasing property tax burdens (at least relative to their current income), for other homeowners, the property tax is relatively low or falling over time.”
Some of public management expert Donald Moynihan’s research on performance management was cited in a hearing in the Senate in September on performance management. Paul Posner, director of the master’s in public administration program at George Mason University, was a witness at a hearing before the subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services and International Security. The subcommittee is under the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Posner cited Moynihan’s 2008 book, The Dynamics of Performance Management and noted that performance management leads to improvements within agencies “by building a sustainable culture of learning and innovation.” The testimony is on page 13 of Posner’s transcript.
In October, Moynihan commented in the Quad City Times and the Globe Gazette on the state of Iowa’s fiscal crisis and the governor’s across-the-board 10 percent budget cut.
Research by Bobbi Wolfe and Yale University assistant professor Jason M. Fletcher finds that children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are more likely to participate in crimes such as burglary, theft and drug dealing as adults, the New Haven Register reported. The research was published in the Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics.
Will the Dollar Remain the World's Reserve Currency in Five Years?, CounterPunch, October 26, 2009
Fed chief warns greenback’s global status at risk, October 1, 2009, The Globe and Mail
G-20 takes first steps to change, September 28, 2009, USA Today
Much of state's stimulus money still in the bank, October 17, 2009, Wisconsin State Journal
Iowa financial crisis offers chance to reshape government, October 18, 2009, Quad City Times
State budget crisis could spur government reinvention, October 17, 2009, Globe Gazette
Yale researchers eye link between ADHD and propensity for crime, October 24, 2009, New Haven Register
— posted October 29, 2009