Historical Note

1. Simon Johnson: A Colossal Failure of Governance
   

   When representatives of American power encounter officials in less rich countries, they are prone to suggest that any failure to reach the highest standards of living is due in part to weak political governance in general and the failure of effective oversight in particular. Current and former US Treasury officials frequently remark this or that government “lacks the political will” to exercise responsible economic policy or even replace a powerful official who has clearly become a problem.

   Unfortunately, two massive failures of governance at the level of the Senate also spring to mind: first, the strange case of Alan Greenspan, which stretched over nearly two decades; second, Ben Bernanke, reappointed today (Thursday).

2. David Glen: Business School Curricula Needs Liberal Arts

   This is part of a long-standing interest of mine regarding education and training. I would hasten to add that ethics ought to infuse a business leader’s education.

   Undergraduate business programs should be more deeply infused with the virtues of a traditional liberal-arts education, two scholars said here on Thursday at the annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

   Mr. Sullivan said that while business programs should embrace the liberal arts, it is equally true that liberal-arts programs have things to learn from business and other preprofessional fields.

3. Eric Michael Johnson How Can Haiti Be Sustainable
   

   There is a significant problem however. As I pointed out in my article, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund prevent the Haitian government from giving subsidies to their farmers. This has left the Haitian government with no option other than to use the inefficient method of punishment and taxation in order to prevent harm. As world leaders are currently assembled in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, it is important for them to reconsider some of the policies that have kept Haiti from using strategies that are in their long term interest. Conservation is essential for the island’s sustainability. By employing smart subsidies perhaps the Haitian people can begin to recover after several decades of short-sighted restrictions implemented by international bureaucrats.

4. Blue Shield: Statement on Haiti Earthquake

   Blue Shield is an international NGO that works to safeguard the world’s threatened cultural resources.

   While it appreciates that the immediate priority is to find the missing, and to help the injured and homeless, it places the expertise and network of its member organisations at the disposal of their Haitian colleagues to support their work in assessing the damage to the cultural heritage of their countries
   including libraries, archives, museums and monuments and sites, and subsequent recovery, restoration and repair measures.

5. Paul Krugman: March of the Peacocks
   

   So we’re paralyzed in the face of mass unemployment and out-of-control health care costs. Don’t blame Mr. Obama. There’s only so much one man can do, even if he sits in the White House. Blame our political culture instead, a culture that rewards hypocrisy and irresponsibility rather than serious efforts to solve America’s problems. And blame the filibuster, under which 41 senators can make the country ungovernable, if they choose — and they have so chosen.
   
   
   
   I’m sorry to say this, but the state of the union — not the speech, but the thing itself — isn’t looking very good.

   The sad truth, however, is that our political system doesn’t seem capable of doing what’s necessary.

Matthew Yglesias: Institutions Do Matter

Separated by a common tongue (and governing institutions)…

You can think what you want about American governing institutions, but I find it very frustrating when commentators don’t acknowledge that our institutions are both unusual (we have the only full presidential system in the developed world) and an important determinant of policy outcomes.

Continued

Globe and Mail: Americans show how to handle food distribution

American soldiers have been blamed for a lot of problems over the years, but give them credit today in Haiti. Two food drops in two different places showed how to do it well and how to do it poorly.

Brad DeLong: America’s Employment Dilemma

there is now a

Continued