A new paper by Arends, Brik, Herrmann and Roesel (2023) shows that a bottom-up decentralization reform that began in Ukraine in 2014 increased trust in local government. I suggest that it may have built civic capacity that has also proven valuable in the war.
Here is a passage–one of thousands from many sources–in which a member of the landed gentry expresses mild disdain for people who make their money by working. Since it’s by Jane Austen (Emma, chapter 22), it satirizes this prejudice without entirely eschewing it. Philip Elton (a vicar, or priest) has rejected Emma’s friend Harriet as socially […]
My employer and primary community, Tufts University, appears (along with virtually all US colleges and universities) in two massive studies by Raj Chetty and colleagues. I will use Tufts’ statistics to offer some general observations about the relationships between capital and education in our economic order. Tufts represents one type of institution that plays a […]
In Monday’s Washington Post, Jon Marcus writes that “one of the most basic measures of student success” is whether a degree in a particular subject “will provide [graduates] with the gainful employment they need to make it worth the price.” As an example of a bad outcome, he notes that “a philosophy degree from Oberlin […]
Fall 19 Civic Studies 0020-01 Intro to Civic Studies Instructors: Peter Levine, Brian Schaffner. TA: Gene Corbin Sept 4: Introduction Introduction to the course and the instructors. In class exercise: “The “Christmas Tree Crisis” at Sea-?Tac Airport” (handout in class) Sept 9: Problems of collective action Timothy Burke, “How to read in college (Links to an […]