Today, John Cochrane explores criticism of Federal Reserve independence, pointing out it comes from both the far right and the extreme left. H.R. McMaster appears on the Betting on America podcast to talk about US economic statecraft. And Chester E. Finn, Jr., writes about how new smarter, leaner education accountability measures are needed as school districts and in some cases entire states shrug off mandated education quality assessments.
The Economy
Appearing on The John Batchelor Show, Senior Fellow John H. Cochrane addresses the ongoing debate over future Federal Reserve independence. Cochrane reminds listeners that the Fed has never been fully independent and responds (often slowly) to the concerns of lawmakers and the electorate. “The question is what is the right boundary between them doing what they want and democratic accountability,” Cochrane said, adding that maintaining a central bank has “always been a compromise.” Citing critics of the Fed on both ends of the political spectrum, they discuss whether the terms of Federal Reserve governors should be shortened, and also the mistakes the Fed has made in recent years. Cochrane says the Fed’s mission should be narrowed to keeping inflation in check, arguing that a broader agenda would jeopardize its credibility. Listen to the conversation here.
Determining America’s Role in the World
Speaking with host Navin Girishankar of CSIS’s Betting on America podcast, Senior Fellow H.R. McMaster speaks about his efforts to elevate economic statecraft as a guide for US foreign policy, especially when it comes to China. After years of complacency about China’s ultimate aims, its unfair trade policies, and its constant intellectual property theft, the United States and the wider world have woken up to the threat. But now what? Moving from his own time as national security advisor in the first Trump administration to today, McMaster reiterates his belief that the US should be building a wide trade and security bloc to counter China, not pushing away close allies with punitive tariffs. In advocating what an economic statecraft policy for the US would look like, McMaster cites his work with Visiting Fellow Andrew Grotto on economic statecraft, as well as other Hoover products such as the Stanford Emerging Technology Review. Watch their conversation here.
Reforming K–12 Education
In a new blog post for the Fordham Institute, Senior Fellow Chester E. Finn, Jr., writes of the surprising ways both left and right actors in the US education sector are urging a move away from education quality assessment and other accountability measures. In Oklahoma, state officials are asking to waive the requirement to administer math and English proficiency tests to all elementary-age students. Other states have enacted more modest reductions in accountability measures or testing. Finn argues schools and school districts need to develop new “smart” accountability measures and be prepared to do so without federal guidance. But he also writes that expanding what schools are judged on to include more subjects, without expanding time or resources, risks failure on many fronts and excuses other institutions that play a role in child development—while further eroding modest, objective academic accountability. Read more here.
Revitalizing American Institutions
Over on his blog at Reason.com, Senior Fellow Eugene Volokh explores the ruling in Harvard College v. US Dept. of Health and Human Services, which found that cancelling federal contracts regarding research carried out by the university amounted to a violation of the school’s First Amendment rights. Judge Allison Burroughs found that the government’s actions were “unconstitutional retaliation for Harvard’s exercise of First Amendment rights,” and that the federal government’s demand to control the content taught at the school as well as the viewpoints expressed “were unrelated to any legitimate government interest.” Read more here.
Revitalizing History
Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future, by Research Fellow Dan Wang, has reached #3 on the New York Times Best Sellers nonfiction list. In Breakneck, Wang uses multifaceted analysis and research into China to argue that it has become “an engineering state,” working to design and build national megaprojects, while the US has become “a lawyerly society” where emphasis is placed first on why something cannot be done. The book explores the wild growth of China’s megacities such as Shanghai or Shenzhen but also explores the dark underside of China’s rise, including mass surveillance and detention of the Uyghurs, political repression, and the excesses of the recent zero-COVID strategy. Read more here.
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