2011 Policy Matters: Scholarly and Practical Perspectives on Contemporary Problems

Much of our current political attention is drawn to ongoing economic crisis—a topic we turn to starting next week. But what if our economic woes were just symptoms of a larger problem; what if our problems were really political? This is the view taken by Joel Rogers (University of Wisconsin, Center on Wisconsin Strategy), who will offer a wide-ranging perspective on the challenges we face.

Readings
Joel Rogers, Build the High Road Here (The Nation, 282, April 17, 2006: 25-26)
Joel Rogers, Cities: The Vital Core (The Nation, 280, June 20, 2005: 20-22)
Joel Rogers, Devolve This! (The Nation, 279, August 31, 2004: 20-28)
Joshua and Joel Rogers, How're We Doing: Reflecting on Moral Progress in America (The Good Society, 17(1) 2008: 13-19)

What happened to the economy, and what do we do to fix it? This is the problem tackled by Michael Ettlinger, Vice President for Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress in Washington. Ettlinger, will discuss the origins and causes of the recession, the public policy failures that abetted (or failed to stop) it, and the way forward. Peter Fisher(Iowa Policy Project) will offer an Iowa perspective, and join Ettlinger for a Q&A panel following the formal remarks.

Readings
Adam Hersh, Michael Ettlinger, and Kalen Pruss, The Consequences of Conservative Economic Policy (Center for American Progress, 2010)
Michael Ettlinger, Michael Linden, and Reece Rushing, The First Step: A Progressive Plan for Meaningful Deficit Reduction by 2015 (Center for American Progress, December 2010)
Brian Riedel, How to Cut $343 Billion from the Federal Budget (The Heritage Foundation, 2009)
Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget, New York Times online budget calculator
National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, Draft Proposal
Dean Baker, The Deficit Commission’s Parallel Universe (Boston Review, November 11, 2010)

One of the most pressing policy concerns—before and during (and presumably after) the recession—is growing income inequality in the United States. Kevin Leicht (UI Sociology), author of Post-Industrial Peasants: The Illusion of Middle Class Prosperity will give us a broad overview of income trends and their public policy implications. For the panel discussion, he will joined by Noga O’Connor of the Iowa Policy Project, and Brian Loring of the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County who will provide state and local perspectives.

Readings
Kevin Leicht, selections from Post-Industrial Peasants: The Illusion of Middle Class Prosperity (Worth, 2006), Chapter 2 and Chapter 7
Maria Cancian and Sheldon Danziger, Changing poverty and changing antipoverty policies, FOCUS (University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty, Fall 2009)
Daniel R. Meyer and Geoffrey L. Wallace, Poverty levels and trends in comparative perspective, FOCUS (University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty, Fall 2009)
Mary Jo Bane, Poverty Politics and Policy, FOCUS (University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty, Fall 2009)
Robert Haveman, What does it mean to be poor in a rich society? FOCUS (University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty, Fall 2009)
Noga O’Connor, The State of Working Iowa (Iowa Policy Project, 2010)
Andrew Cannon and Molly Fleming, The Cost of Living in Iowa (Iowa Policy Project, 2010)

Our current political challenges are accompanied by an ongoing revolution in political communication and political participation. But the promise and potential of the “new media” to deliver information and to engage citizens is accompanied by a “digital divide” between those with ready access to such resources and those without. Caroline Tolbert (UI Political Science) will give a brief introduction to the broader problem and its policy implications, and then we will move over to the presentation of Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia at the Englert Theater at 7:30 PM.

Readings
Karen Mossberger and Caroline Tolbert, Digital Excellence in Chicago: A Citywide View of Technology Use (July 2009)
David Perlmutter, Daily Show Interview (May 8, 2008)
David Perlmutter, Political Blogging and Campaign 2008 (The International Journal of Press/Politics, 2008; 13: 160)
Malcolm Gladwell, Small Change (The New Yorker, October 4, 2010: 42)

Resources

Resources for this topic include a short roll of local and Iowa political blogs:

Iowa Politics Blog roll
John Deeth Blog
Sullivan's Salvos (Rod Sullivan, Johnson County Supervisor)
Reluctant Revolutionary (Karen Fesler)
The Iowa Republican
Blog for Iowa
Coralville Courier
Iowa Democratic Party Blog
Bleeding Heartland
Iowa Senate Democrats Blog
Iowa Senate Republicans Blog

This lecture will cover a variety of aspects of balancing work and life from both an academic and a practical business perspective. With some 27,000 books and articles published on the topic in the past year or so, happiness has gone “prime time.” This is not all to the good; there are plenty of charlatans in the mix. But there are also a growing number of social scientists with important research-based discoveries to share. We are discovering what factors go in to creating happiness. Part is biological – perhaps as much as 50%. But social and environmental conditions matter too. Things that contribute to happiness include time with family and friends, satisfying work, a sense of community, trust in neighbors, and gratitude. What seems to matter less is education and money – beyond a basic minimum. David L. Gould, Lecturer in the Leisure Studies Program, will provide an academic overview of issues related to work/life balance and happiness. Local business owner Mark Ginsberg, will discuss the practical issues of treating employees well while staying profitable, as well as the importance of businesses connecting with their communities.

Readings
Balanced Lives: Best Policies for the New Economy Symposium
The Progressive Politics of Happiness
Goodman: Zappos move a ‘watershed moment’ for downtown Las Vegas
Importance of Vacation Time for Healthy Workers
Jody Heymann's Senate Testimony

Sustainability is a hot topic these days, but on closer examination, one finds that sustainability is something of an umbrella term that covers many different social and environmental challenges. This week's panel will address three: sustainability of communities (Charles Connerly, Professor and Director, University of Iowa School of Urban and Regional Planning), transportation sustainability (John Fuller, Professor and Associate Chair, Director of Graduate Studies, University of Iowa School of Urban and Regional Planning), and housing sustainability (Jerry Anthony, Associate Professor, University of Iowa School of Urban and Regional Planning).

Transportation’s Sustainability Challenges
Should we worry whether in the future transportation will be capable of providing the same levels of mobility and access Americans enjoy today? Are today’s gas prices forecasting the end of cheap energy? Will electric car technology, high-speed trains, and a return to walking and bicycling be solutions? Are there other problems, perhaps unforeseen or little understood? Each of these questions comes with policy challenges; few of the challenges are being addressed by today’s public policies.

Sustainable Housing: Is Home Ownership for Everyone?
What roles should governments and regulatory agencies play in the housing market? What roles should non-profits and the community play? Should society provide subsidized rental housing for low-income persons? 

Readings
Stephen M. Wheeler, Sustainability in Community Development. In, An Introduction to Community Development (2009), Rhonda Phillips and Robert H. Pittman, Eds. New York: Routledge.
A Worldwide Car Culture: Can It Be Sustainable? (2008). TR News, 259 (Nov-Dec).

The “golden years” of American economic growth depended on a seemingly inexhaustible reservoir of natural resources. But it is now widely recognized that these premises (and the economy built upon them) face daunting challenges—including population growth, natural resource depletion, ecological degradation, climate change and escalating energy costs. These sobering facts have refocused our attention on the sustainability of local, state, and national resources. This week, we focus on watersheds—the hydrology that sustains our population and our economy, even as it flows though both to affect those hundreds of miles from Iowa; and on foodsheds—the economic and ecological geography of our agricultural system. Fred Kirschenmann, of the Leopold Center, and Mary Skopec, of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, will present.

Readings
Fred Kirschenmann, Alternative agriculture in an energy- and resource-depleting future, Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2010), 25: 85-89  
Herman E. Daly (School of Public Policy, University of Maryland), From a Failed Growth Economy to a Steady-State Economy. USSEE (United States Society for Ecological Economics) lecture, June 1, 2009
Peters et al, Foodshed Analysis and Its Relevance to Sustainability.  Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2008)
NSAC, Agriculture and Climate Change, (July 2009)
Teresa Galluzo and Andrea Heffernan, Scum in Iowa’s Waters: Dealing with the Impact of Excess Nutrients (Iowa Policy Project, 2009)
Iowa Geological Survey, Nitrogen and Phosphorus Budgets for Iowa Watersheds (2004)
Iowa DNR, Social Dynamics of Water Quality (2004)
Iowa DNR, Water Quality Impairments in Iowa (Reading 1; Reading 2) 
Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, River and Stream Valuation Survey 

Resources

Agriculture
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)
Abbe Hills Farm
American Farm Bureau and Associated links
US Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistic Service
Iowa Department of Agriculture
Iowa Extension Service

Water
United States Geological Survey
Environmental Protection Agency
National Water Resources Association
Iowa Geological Survey
Iowa Water Center
IOWATER
University of Arizona's Water Resources Research Center
Universities Council on Water Resources

How can the Midwest move toward a sustainable future? Where do we start? Dr. Tracey Holloway, Director of the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, leads an interdisciplinary team of 30+ researchers who study connections between climate, land use, food, biodiversity, human health, and energy systems. Professor Holloway will discuss policy options that can enable the region to simultaneously address the grand challenges of mitigating and adapting to climate change, improving long-standing regional air quality problems, and learning to wisely develop its vast potential for renewable energy.

Readings
R.W. Howarth, S. Bringezu, M. Bekunda, C. de Fraiture, L. Maene, L.A. Martinelli, O.E. Sala. (2008). Executive Summary: Rapid Assessment on Biofuels and the Environment. In, "Biofuels: Environmental Consequences and Interactions with Changing Land Use." Proceedings of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) International Biofuels Project Rapid Assessment, Gummersbach, Germany: 1-13.
S. Pacala, and R. Socolow. (2004). Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies. Science, 305(5686): 968-972.

Resources
EPA AirNow
SAGE

This week, we join a larger campus event, the Iowa stop of the Concord Coalition’s “Fiscal Solutions Tour.” The Concord Coalition, a non-partisan, fiscally-conservative, watchdog organization is one of the leading voices for budgetary reform and restraint. For the Coalition, the central question is: How can we build a stronger economic future by meeting the challenges of unsustainable budget policies, spiraling debt, low savings rates, dangerous reliance on foreign lenders, escalating health care costs, and the growing needs of an aging population? Critics of the Coalition have accused it of exaggerating the “crisis” in entitlement program funding.

Readings
For a sense of the Coalition’s views and priorities, browse its website
For a critic’s view, see Dean Baker, Action on Social Security: The Urgent Need for Delay(November 2010)

This class will review the history of health care and efforts to reform the health care system in the United States. It will also provide an overview of the US health care system, health care spending and a comparison of the US health care system to those in Canada, Great Britain, Japan and the Netherlands.

Readings
A History of Overhauling Health Care
Colin Gordon, We’ve Been Here Before: History and Health Reform  (Princeton University Press Blog, September 2009)
Colin Gordon, Hands Off My Medicare: The Deadly Legacy of Social Insurance (LA Progressive, January 2010)

Resources
Kaiser Foundation’s Kaiser Health News
Commonwealth Fund's Health Reform page
Ezra Klein's blog, Washington Post
Jonathan Cohn's blog, New Republic
The New Health Dialogue at the New America Foundation
David Leonhardt,  New York Times
American Medical Association
Physicians for National Health Care
Conservatives for Patients' Rights
Health Policy at the University of Iowa Public Policy Center

An overview of the current efforts to reform the health care system including a review of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) will be presented. If the legislative schedule allows, several Iowa legislators will discuss the efforts to reform the mental health system in Iowa and other issues relating to the implementation of PPACA at the state level.

Readings
Please familiarize yourself with the content of these sites for this class session
HealthCare.gov
Kaiser Foundation Health Reform Source
The Commonwealth Fund
The Heritage Foundation