Policy Topics

Economics and finance

Showing 931 - 960 of 1806 results

Microfinance study: Yang finds people may give more generously when they can choose what their dollars purchase

Mar 17, 2015

At a microfinance bank in Maputo, Mozambique, Dean Yang and colleagues engaged clients in a lab-in-the-field experiment with interesting implications for those who care about increasing the number and level of remittances, the financial...

Preventing vote-selling in the Philippines image

Dynarski on how to boost graduation rates at community colleges

Mar 12, 2015

In this year’s State of the Union address, President Obama put forth a plan to make a student’s first two years of community college free. But is that plan viable? Susan Dynarski sees problems that must be fixed before it can conceivably work.“How...

Dean Yang publishes findings from randomized study of microsavings’ impact on agriculture, poverty

Mar 5, 2015

“Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa employs two-thirds of the labor force and generates about one-third of GDP growth,” writes Dean Yang in the introduction to “Facilitating savings from agriculture: field experimental evidence from Malawi,” a...

Ford Case Competition winners present to East Lansing City Council

Feb 20, 2015

At the East Lansing City Council’s February 17 meeting, five first year Ford School masters students, winners of the inaugural Ford Case Competition, presented to the council their proposal to resolve the city’s downtown parking concerns. The city,...

Dean Yang explores policies to increase the development impacts of migration for World Bank

Feb 12, 2015

“Evidence on Policies to Increase the Development Impacts of International Migration,” co-written by Dean Yang, has been published in the World Bank Research Observer. Posted on January 20, Yang and co-author David McKenzie of the World Bank aim to,...

Do placement exams bar students from higher ed? McFarlin says no. Read Education Week story

Feb 5, 2015

Education Week highlights Isaac McFarlin Jr.’s latest study in “Failing a Placement Exam Does Not Discourage College Enrollment,” posted by Caralee Adams on January 15.“State test cited in lower college enrollments,” a 1995 Dallas Morning News...

saac McFarlin discusses his research on Texas Top 10 Percent Plan with NPR image

“Gains from Economic Recovery Still Limited to Top One Percent,” says Justin Wolfers

Jan 30, 2015

“By this measure, the concentration of income among the richest Americans remains at levels last seen nearly a century ago,” says Justin Wolfers in his January 27, New York Times Upshot column, “Gains From Economic Recovery Still Limited to Top One...

Dynarski talks education and tax reform with LA Times

Jan 30, 2015

The White House is backing down on a minor provision detailed in the Obama administration’s tax reform proposals, but Susan Dynarski doesn’t think that provision should be given up on so easily. The Los Angeles Times’ Kathleen Hennessy writes...

Wolfers testifies before Senate Finance Committee on Jobs and Economic Growth

Jan 22, 2015

Justin Wolfers testified before the Senate Finance Committee today in a hearing on jobs and the economy. Wolfers spoke to the country’s economic recovery, long-term unemployment, and the need for increased investment in education (video here).He...

Justin Wolfers testifying before a congressional committee

Stevenson cited in coverage of Obama’s push for paid sick leave for workers

Jan 18, 2015

Betsey Stevenson was cited in numerous stories the past several days regarding the Obama Administration’s push to require companies to give workers up to seven days of paid sick leave each year.Stevenson, currently on leave from the Ford School,...

Justin Wolfers on the research, how pay increases influence and increase productivity

Jan 14, 2015

“Economists have long argued that increases in worker pay can lead to improvements in productivity—indeed, that it can actually be profitable to pay workers higher wages,” write Justin Wolfers and Jan Zilinsky in “Higher wages for low-income workers...

Obama’s college proposal a bid to rev the economy says Wolfers

Jan 10, 2015

“If [Obama] succeeds in persuading more of the next generation to continue beyond high school…there’s a strong chance the rate of economic growth will be bolstered for decades to come,” says Justin Wolfers in his January 9, New York Times Upshot...

Efforts to weaken financial reform will continue to emerge warns Barr

Jan 8, 2015

Michael Barr suspects Republicans will continue to target aspects of Dodd-Frank writes Eric Garcia of MarketWatch in the January 7 story, “House rejects bill granting banks more time to comply with Volker.” This Wednesday, the House voted on a...

Dynarski's FAFSA-on-a-postcard proposal gaining traction says LA Times

Jan 7, 2015

The "FAFSA-on-a-postcard legislation is gaining traction," writes LA Times reporter Carla Rivera in the January 6 article,"Move to simplify federal student aid application form gains traction." In the coming days, Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN)...

News

Whitman's latest Freep op-ed: economy is looking up, but not by much

Dec 19, 2014

Marina v.N. Whitman was featured in the December 13 edition of the Detroit Free Press as a Guest Writer. Her article, “The economy, looking up, but not by much,” analyzes the modest economic steps that Detroit, Michigan, and the United States have...

State & Hill

Policy analysis and prescience, making life better

Dec 18, 2014

To solve a vexing problem. To seize a promising opportunity. To find the best path forward. For centuries, for millennia, we’ve sought the power of prescience. These days, policy analysis—well and thoughtfully done—is among the most powerful tools...

Policy analysis and prescience, making life better

State & Hill

What good is history, anyway?

Dec 18, 2014

With public service in our DNA, what we’d really like to do is to peer into the future, to see and shape what’s coming around the bend. So we asked ourselves, ‘Can a deeper understanding of the past help to shape and inform the future?’ The myth...

State & Hill

The Power of Policy

Dec 17, 2014

Public policy is a principled guide to action, designed to lead to the greater good. As we celebrate our centennial as America’s first graduate-level training program in public administration, we take a moment to reflect on the powerful role policy...

State & Hill

Measuring poverty, a more accurate picture

Dec 9, 2014

By Miriam Wasserman Jordan Matsudaira, PhD alum, stays second year to work as chief staff economist for President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers Only a very small number of economists get to work for the Council of Economic Advisers....

Measuring poverty, a more accurate picture

State & Hill

Serving the public, without going broke: the best investment

Dec 8, 2014

By Jeff Mortimer In the present, John Chamberlin is teaching an undergraduate course on U.S. inequality, even though he’s officially retired. In the past, he taught statistics, and values and ethics in public policy, and led the launch of the...

Serving the public, without going broke: the best investment

Dynarski speaks with Marketplace about student loan debt increase

Nov 13, 2014

Susan Dynarski spoke with Marketplace Morning Report for a November 13 story discussing new statistics on student loan debt released by The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS). The cost of getting a bachelor’s degree remains on the...

News

As Detroit bankruptcy wins federal judge approval, a summary of Ford School engagement

Nov 7, 2014

As the Detroit bankruptcy agreement wins federal judge approval, we’re sharing a quick roundup of stories highlighting the Ford School’s engagement. In July of 2013, just after the bankruptcy filing was announced, BBC Radio interviewed Tom...

Wolfers on country music and the Fed’s dual mandate

Nov 7, 2014

“The struggle to balance the demands of keeping unemployment low versus keeping a lid on inflation is just the sort of dilemma crying out for the full country-music treatment,” states Justin Wolfers in Simone Pathe’s recent article, “From Alan...

MarketWatch cites Collins on the missing ‘e-word’ in today's Senate races

Oct 24, 2014

Greg Robb, a senior economic reporter for MarketWatch, quotes Susan Collins in his October 23 piece, “In the battle for the U.S. Senate, the ‘E-word’ is largely ignored.” “I’ve got to say that it hasn’t been a great political season for good...

Michael Barr in WaPo on proliferation of rent-to-own retailers and their impact on the working poor

Oct 21, 2014

Michael Barr was quoted in a Washington Post news feature about the boom of the rent-to-own retail industry since the Great Recession. The article, “Rental America: Why the poor pay $4,150 for a $1,500 sofa,” examines the impact these retailers have...

Mainstream economists express skepticism about Piketty

Oct 17, 2014

Following a University of Chicago Economic Experts panel on the work of Thomas Piketty, Justin Wolfers pens New York Times Upshot column, “Fellow Economists Express Skepticism about Thomas Piketty.”“There’s no doubt that Thomas Piketty has...

Law enforcement increasingly intolerant of dissent image

Read 'the Ford School feed'

Oct 17, 2014

The latest edition of the Ford School feed, an email news source for alumni and friends of the school, arrived in inboxes this week.This fall edition:Reminds alumni and friends to RSVP for the Centennial Reunion, Oct. 31 – Nov . 1, which will...

The changing economics of nuclear power

Oct 9, 2014

Policy Points is a video series featuring short segments on current events or recent research by faculty from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. We encourage opinion leaders worldwide to use material from these videos or transcripts in...

Melyvn Levitsky on Brazil's Presidential Election

Oct 3, 2014

Melvyn Levitsky analyzes the dynamics of Brazil’s voting populace in Christina Silva’s October 3 International Business Times piece, “Brazil Recession Drives Heated Election Between President Dilma Rousseff, Marina Silva.” Levitsky believes the...

Melyvn Levitsky on Brazil's Presidential Election

Helping working families will help the economy, says Stevenson

Sep 26, 2014

In a Q&A session with the New Republic, Betsey Stevenson discusses the impact new policies to support working families—such as paid sick and maternity leave, and universal pre-kindergarten—could have, both on families and the economy.Stevenson, who...