A week in America

Welcome to my blog. I’m on a career break from the UK civil service in order to take up a visiting scholarship at Harvard. Each week, I’ll use it to set out some thoughts on a range of policy issues and reflect on my experiences at Harvard.


Aside from book-burning the biggest policy issue of the last week has been the economy. Following the release of another set of sluggish employment figures (unemployment remains at just under 10%) president Obama was forced to admit that the economic recovery had been ‘painfully slow’.


As you would expect, there are opposing views on how these figures should be interpreted and what the government’s response should be. Very crudely, Obama's team are arguing that the figures show that further stimulus is needed to boost demand and create jobs. The Republicans, on the other hand, believe that the latest figures are proof of the failure of Obama’s fiscal stimulus plan and that, rather than burdening the economy with more debt, the priority should be to cut spending.


Whichever of these versions you believe, it is interesting to observe how tame this all sounds in comparison to the economic debate within the UK. For example, even the most vocal Republicans are only proposing to cut government spending back to pre-2008 levels i.e. before the fiscal stimulus and bank bailouts. Compare this to the radicalism of the UK coalition government’s approach, which is planning to bring spending back to 1990s levels - and it puts it into perspective a bit.


Meanwhile at Harvard, a quick scan of the courses on offer for Autumn 2010 reveals some interesting trends in American public life:


“Nudging” is as popular in the US as it is in the UK with numerous courses promising to help students apply the principles of behavioural economics to a whole range of public policy issues from addiction to gender equality.


Education policy research is enjoying something of a renaissance, partly as a result of the Obama administration’s promise to promote “what works” in its Race to the Top schools program, which offers federal grants to states that raise academic standards and improve teacher quality. Harvard is awash with courses offering to share the latest cutting edge research on education policy.


The influence of television extends into every facet of American public life. When flicking through the Harvard coursebook I was amazed to read that the Faculty of Arts and Sciences will be offering a course on ‘HBO’s The Wire and its contribution to understanding urban inequality’. I once read that following the release of the powerful French film La Haine the Prime Minister ordered his entire Cabinet to watch it. I wonder whether The Wire is now set to have a similar impact on the American political and cultural establishment.


That’s it for today. My daughter has cabin fever and needs to have a go on the swings so I’m off to the local park. ‘Till next week.