2008 Observations

Barack Obama’s Education R&D Plan

By Allison Armour-Garb
Barack Obama’s education reform program has a largely unheralded, but important, plank that basically acknowledges our collective lack of knowledge about how best to improve education in this country. To build our education know-how, he would double federal investment in education R&D.
December 2008

From 'Can-Do' to Candor in Government

By Richard Nathan
Richard Nathan, co-director of the Institute, focuses on the widespread desire for change in American government. He suggests that it’s time for candor about the size of the tasks to be faced, and about the difficulties that arise in bringing about institutional change. We can’t simply assume that big and bold changes will quickly go into effect.
November 2008

Stretched Net: Spending on the Poor

By Thomas Gais
Will state and local social welfare systems hold up in this recession? A new Rockefeller Institute report found reasons for concern. Nearly all major social welfare programs are now block grants, capped matching grants, or grants whose eligibility is highly restricted in some other way. And these grants aren’t keeping pace with the growing number of poor families.
October 2008

Workforce Development at Community Colleges

By David Shaffer
America's workforce has long been the most productive in the world — but we know that in the years ahead, workers are going to need training, and training again, and again, to keep up with the competitive pressures of the global economy. Both candidates for president have put community colleges on the center stage of their plans for workforce development.
September 2008

Nelson Rockefeller and the Future of Federalism

By Richard Nathan
In an address at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College, Co-director Richard Nathan recalls that as governor of New York, Rockefeller saw the federal idea as “probably the supreme American contribution to the struggle of all self-governing people to build political structures strong enough to assure order and freedom in their lives.” The address notes that “the need for inventiveness” in governmental institutions is stronger today than ever.
September 2008Video Highlights   [YouTube]

The Legacy of Strong Leadership

By Robert B. Ward
Governors and presidents such as Smith, Roosevelt, Rockefeller, and Reagan made important things happen by using the bully pulpit and other powers of the chief executive. We've heard concerns that, today, too much power is concentrated in executive hands. But perhaps the opposite is the case.
July 2008