For the last several years, manufactured crises in Washington have hindered, rather than helped, economic growth and opportunity. Earlier this year, however, Democrats and Republicans came together to produce a 2014 budget that invests in key areas of innovation, education, and infrastructure--investments that will help grow the nation's economy,…

The "Programme for Government" is the Welsh Government's plan of action for this term of the Assembly. At the forefront of the programme is growth and sustainable jobs. As a small economy, still recovering from the decline of manufacturing and the coal industry, Wales' economic and social outcomes are inextricably linked. Certainly, the…

Across the globe, education is essential to social mobility, bettering the lives of individuals and moving whole nations from poverty to affluence. Yet educational opportunity and the upward mobility it can bring are not equally available to everyone. In rich and poor nations alike, the disadvantaged--defined by gender and geography, race and…

When President Barack Obama took office, he pledged to revitalize an economy in the midst of the deepest recession in a generation. Working with Congress, he acted quickly to enact an $878 billion package to stimulate the economy in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). More than $100 billion of that will be for education, spanning…

House Democrats recently unveiled draft legislation for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Widely touted as an economic stimulus package, the $825 billion draft legislation included as much as $142 billion for education. This includes the creation of a $79 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund to assist state governments in…

The momentum behind high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten is growing dramatically across the country--in families, in communities, and in the halls of academia and government. Thanks to this strong wave of support, state spending on pre-k increased from $2.4 billion to $4.2 billion nationwide between 2002 and 2007. This investment is built upon…

Studies indicate investments in social programs that raise a poor working mother's income may be especially beneficial to her children when they are of preschool age. Other studies show that high-quality preschool education interventions can have long-term beneficial impacts on school dropout, lifetime earnings and incarceration rates for…

Many in Congress and the administration have called for new investments in education in order to make the United States more competitive, with President Bush stressing the importance of education in preparing young Americans to "fill the jobs of the 21st century." Yet advocates of early childhood education have only recently stressed the economic…

A growing number of countries have recognised the importance of high quality early childhood provision for the development of the young child and the impact on economic growth and prosperity. What shapes Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in an expanding Europe of today? Many factors clearly influence policy decisions and program…

Early education programs have long been regarded as an important step in preparing children for primary school--but investing in the education of America's youngest learners has emerged as one of the most promising ways to help strengthen the future economic and fiscal position of our states and nation. High-quality preschool programs offer…

This paper discusses a framework for education policy, from early childhood through post-secondary education, along with major reform ideas consistent with that framework. We present evidence showing that education is critical to broad-based economic growth. Investments in education yield large returns to both society and the individual.…