Setting Domestic Priorities: What Can Government Do?

Front Cover
Henry Aaron, Charles L. Schultze
Brookings Institution Press, Dec 1, 2010 - Political Science - 330 pages

In recent years, workers earnings have hardly grown, violence and crime have plagued the inner cities, homelessness and public begging have become commonplace, and family life has greatly deteriorated. With governments facing large deficits and slowly growing revenues, and public distrust in the efficiency of government and elected officials at all-time highs, the authors ask, "What can government do for you?"

This book brings together a prominent group of experts to answer this critical question. Edited by Henry Aaron and Charles L. Schultze, two of the nation's most noted and experienced economists, the book focuses on the crucial domestic and social issues confronting America today.

Seven vital areas are discussed by the following contributors: Henry Aaron on health care; Gordon L Berlin and William McAllister on homelessness; Linda R Cohen and Roger G. Noll on research and development; John J. DiIulio, Jr., on crime; Frank Levy and Richard J. Murnane on education and training; Isabel V. Sawhill on children and families; and Clifford M. Winston and Barry P. Bosworth on infrastructure. In each problem area, the authors use the results of research and analysis to identify existing or proposed governmental interventions that are likely to work, as well as some that are likely to fail and some that need to be reformed. They then present a budget proposal that not only pays for suggested changes in domestic policy, but brings the budget into virtual balance in ten years.

 

Selected pages

Contents

What Can Government Do?
1
Health Care
3
Social Policy
4
Public Investment
12
Paying the Bills
16
Summing Up
17
Health Care Financing
23
Breaking the Bank
24
Young Children and Families
147
The Role of the Family
151
The Role of Government
164
Encouraging Parental Responsibility
174
Conclusions
183
Education and Training
185
Preparing Youth for Productive Work Lives
189
Improving American Education
194

Access
31
Reform
35
Achieving Universal Coverage
40
Controlling the Growth of Health Care Costs
50
What Is the Solution?
51
Summary and Recommendations
60
Homelessness
63
Becoming and Remaining Homeless
67
Why Simple Solutions Sometimes Backfire
74
Local Policy Constraints
78
Policy Options
83
Conclusion
98
Crime
101
What Is to Be Done?
103
The Two Federal Wars on Crime
105
Three Views of the First Federal War on Crime
108
The Second Federal War on Crime
110
Competing Views of the Second Federal War on Crime
113
Drug Treatment Programs for All Prisoners
128
Community Policing for All InnerCity Residents
134
A National Gun BuyBack Program
143
A National Program of CrimePrevention Research
144
Federal Responsibility for Domestic Defense
145
The Federal Role
211
What A Better Trained Labor Force Can and Cannot Do
221
Research and Development
223
Rationale for RD Policies
224
RD Priorities in the United States
228
The Allure of Bigness
240
New RD Institutions
243
UniversitySponsored Research
252
Assessing RD Policy
262
Public Infrastructure
267
The Public Capital Stock
268
Public Infrastructure Inefficiencies
285
Policy Implications
292
Paying the Bills
295
Magnitude and Consequences
296
The Deficits Origins and What Sustains It
297
Budgetary Costs of the Recommended Programs
300
Economic Aspects of Financing New Programs
301
How the Current Situation Restricts Choices
303
A Combination of Tax Increases and Spending Cuts
304
The Budgetary Results
314
Conclusion
317
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About the author (2010)

Charles Louis Schultze was born in Alexandria, Virginia on December 12, 1924. During World War II, he served for three years in the Army and was awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. He received a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in economics from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland. He was on the staff of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1952 to 1959, then left to teach at Indiana University. He was worked as deputy budget director under President John F. Kennedy, budget director under President Lyndon B. Johnson, and chief economic adviser under President Jimmy Carter. He was a research scholar at Brookings Institution in Washington for 45 years. He wrote several books including Memos to the President: A Guide Through Macroeconomics for the Busy Policymaker. He died on September 27, 2016 at the age of 91.

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