Jason Furman: belief

Transcript context

…What do you think are the best place-based policies for America’s lagging regions? Or do you maybe not even believe in place-based policies? I was about to say, I’m not sure I can think of any place-based policies that I’m particularly enthusiastic about. I don’t mind algorithmic place-based policies. “This place has a bigger, deeper recession, so it gets a larger federal allocation of Medicaid, or it gets longer unemployment insurance benefits.” There’s that type of place-based that’s based on a formula about state unemployment rates or state incomes. That, I think, can make sense. The regional development — “We’re going to go into this area, create this new cluster, create this new industry” — I think that’s littered with a history of failures. I don’t even know that we know what we’re doing when it comes to place-based policy. Even if academics knew what they were doing when it came to place-based policy, when the political system implemented it, I don’t think there’s any area of policy where Congress is less interested in expert input than the area of which locations in the country should get resources. How about region-specific visas? You let people move into the US. You give them a path toward a green card. They’re supposed to start off in Maine or West Virginia or Idaho. They won’t all stay there, but maybe half of them would for five years. Should we do that?…

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