Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Unequal Pursuit Of Happiness? Inequality In Agency, Optimism, And Access To The American Dream, Carol Graham

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The Declaration of Independence promises the opportunity to seek life fulfillment and happiness – in its fullest sense- for all U.S. citizens. Is happiness for all an increasingly elusive dream? There is increasing debate – both academic and political – about the extent to which the American Dream is equally available to all citizens today. U.S. trends in opportunity and in distributional outcomes are becoming more unequal by any number of measures. Is happiness as unequally shared as income in the U.S.? While U.S. attitudes about inequality and opportunity have historically been exceptional, are they still?

Our well-being metrics depict …

Health Information Exchange: Growth And Patient Privacy, Niam Yaraghi

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Health Information Exchanges (HIE) provide the electronic movement of health-related information among organizations according to nationally recognized standards. The goal of health information exchange is to facilitate access to and retrieval of clinical data to provide safer, timelier, efficient, effective, equitable, patient-centered care. HIEs are becoming integral parts of the national healthcare reform efforts, chiefly owing to their potential impact on cost reduction and quality enhancement in healthcare services. However, the potential of a HIE platform can only be realized when its multiple constituent users actively participate in using its variety of services. In this research, Yaraghi models HIE systems …

Power America's — And Nevada's — Advanced Industries: State By State, Region By Region, Mark Muro

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

With the U.S. economy still flat, economic experts and leaders continue to search for the next source of U.S. and regional growth. One key component of the next era of prosperity can be projected: It is what the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program calls the advanced industry (AI) sector. The nation’s most strategic R&D — and STEM worker intensive industries, AIs like aerospace and IT are prime movers of regional and national prosperity, because they are key sources of technology innovation and generate domestic and international exports. Accordingly, the AI swatch of 50 discrete industries has emerged as an important new …

Fixing The U.S. Congress By Embracing Earmarks, John Hudak

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Too often, earmarks, pork barrel politics, and other types of federal spending are seen as a problem in American politics. Nothing could be further from the truth. Congress’ abandonment of earmarks, the deconstruction of the appropriations process, and the breakdown in regular order in the House and Senate has coincided with a period of intense gridlock. For decades, pork greased the wheels of the legislative process, ensuring legislators could fund local needs in exchange for support on key legislation. Returning to the politics of pork offers a possible pathway to fixing a broken legislative process and meeting mounting public needs …

Grit And Dreams: Character Strengths, Social Mobility, And The American Dream, Richard Reeves

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The issue of social mobility is at the forefront of current political debate. President Obama has described it as ‘the defining challenge of our times.’ Paul Ryan says that the ‘engines of upward mobility have stalled.’ Most approaches to restoring the American dream focus on institutions: schools, companies, and colleges. There is growing evidence that individual character strengths -- especially grit (the capacity to stick with a task or a journey), and prudence (valuing future outcomes) - matter just as much as more tangible factors. Blending history, philosophy, and economics, in this public lecture I will argue that restoring the …

The Shortage Of Skilled Workers: Quality Jobs For A Trained Workforce, Jonathan Rothwell

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The Great Recession of 2008 temporarily solved employer workforce needs by lowering demand and increasing the number of unemployed skilled workers. After a few years of modest but sustained economic growth, the labor market for skilled workers has once again tightened and positions are going unfilled. This research helps national and regional leaders understand which skills are in short supply and offers policy advice on how to redress the imbalance between supply and demand. In addition to offering a national perspective on this topic, the lecture will examine the situation in Nevada.

Three African Futures, John Page

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Africa has experienced a remarkable turn-around in economic performance since 1995. It grew at around 4.6 percent per year during the first decade of the 21st century, and the region boasts three of the world’s ten fastest-growing countries. Cheerleaders as diverse as the Economist and the World Bank have branded Africa the developing world’s next “frontier market”. But beneath the headlines lie some disturbing realities. Africa is not creating enough good jobs – those capable of paying decent wages and providing opportunities to develop skills – and it is not reducing poverty at the same rate as other parts of …

America's Role In A Changing World, Bruce Jones

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

For over sixty years the United States has led an international order that provided the underpinnings of peace, security, and economic prosperity. Today, that order is under strain from a variety of sources: the rise of new powers, an economic crisis, resource scarcity, technological innovations, rising nationalism, territorial disputes, and transnational challenges. This lecture will examine these pressures and ask how the United States can reform the international order so it plays as constructive a role in the 21st century as it did in the 20th.

America Moves: Transportation And Public Policy In The United States, Adie Tomer

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The United States is in a perpetual state of motion. Every day, Americans drive over 8 billion miles, board over 20,000 flights, and ship over 45 million tons of freight. But what drives all of this physical movement? And what is the relationship to public policy? This presentation will begin to answer those questions, utilizing a combination of quantitative metrics and policy analysis to explain how, where, and why Americans move. It will outline driving habits, and the disruptive moment every metropolitan area and state faces due to federal gridlock. It will map aviation patterns, and the emerging presence of …

Does Access To Information Technology Make People Happier? Insights From Well-Being Surveys From Around The World, Carol Graham, Milena Nikolova

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

This lecture summarizes new research on the relationship between access to cell phones, TV, and the internet and subjective well-being worldwide. Technology access is positive for well-being in general, but with diminishing marginal returns for those who already have much access. It is also associated with increased stress and anger among cohorts for whom access to the technologies is new. The increased financial inclusion in very poor countries that comes with cell phones and mobile banking also has effects on well-being. Well-being levels are higher in the countries with higher levels of access to mobile banking, but so are stress …

International Migration And Economic Development Of Global Metropolitan Areas, Neil Ruiz

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

International migration is a global and local development issue. Migrants across international borders are transformative agents with economic, social, and political ties to origins and destinations. Migrants are the agents that link local economies through global flows of knowledge, trade, capital, and production. Through their networks, international migrants serve as valuable bridges between U.S. metropolitan areas and regional economies in other countries, and can facilitate trade networks through exports, imports, or the circulation of knowledge and the production process.

The Peculiar Case Of Nevada's Higher Education Governance, Robert E. Lang

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

No abstract provided.

The Metropolitan Revolution And Unlv As A Carnegie-Tier 1 University, Robert E. Lang

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

No abstract provided.