The Political Economy of Hard Policy Problems

Catalog description

Will tackle the “hard problems” governments sometimes have to deal with. For example, while governments are often cajoled and enjoined to produce economic growth, especially during recessions, do something about economic inequality and social mobility, and improve the life chances of millions through purposive action, actually delivering these things is incredibly hard. These areas constitute ‘“hard problems” for two main reasons. Economically, we don’t really have much of a clue about how to do many of these things. Politically, there are powerful interests that like these areas of policy just as they are, and they work to keep them “hard problems.”