Ryan Streeter
Tyler Cowen's e-book, The Great Stagnation, has been getting a lot of coverage. David Leonhardt at Economix blog has a good, concise Q&A with Cowen that contains some nuggets for policymakers.
On immigration:
The U.S. system of higher education is working very well and it remains a clear global leader. Most of all it is based on ideas of competition and meritocracy. I think it needs better treatment from the immigration authorities, most of all, for both undergraduate and graduate students. It should not be an ordeal for the world’s smartest people to come study in the United States. In general, I do not think that our federal government is well suited to lead educational innovation, with or without funding as a carrot or stick.
On higher education:
In general, I would also like to see more of our elite institutions of higher education take the explicitly meritocratic and indeed arguably anti-egalitarian approaches of Caltech and also University of Chicago. Those two institutions are big successes — M.I.T. too — yet they are not always so easy to copy. We should be trying harder. In terms of respect for intelligence, achievement, and science, we should be more like Singapore.
On K-12 education:
The real problems start much earlier [than higher education], namely at the K-12 level and possibly also in the earlier family environment. Too many students simply aren’t prepared to finish a decent community college. Most of all, we need to make it easier to fire bad teachers in this country, but we should start at the lowest grades possible. Only then will the lower tiers of our higher education system have a chance to improve.
On making science a higher prestige career:
I have in mind a cultural change. Ask yourself a simple question: how many famous scientists are there? Not so many. Or try this one: how many men or women dream of marrying or dating a scientist? Not so many. These changes have to happen at the individual and family level. I’m not against science prizes or higher pay, but those ideas alone are not going to do the trick, as they are top down solutions.
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