PolicyGuy

Tuesday, January 27, 2004


Free Loans in Michigan?
It's expected that the governor will ask the legislature to develop a no-interest loan program for college students. Well, some college students. This news report suggests that the students must be in "technical" fields. It's all part of a plan to promote "cool cities" by keeping youth in the state.

Unfortunately, this suggestion rolls several policy mistakes into a single package. First, the benefits of a college degree accrue more towards the graduate than to society--suggesting that subsidizing more time in college is a bad thing. Second, it is a sort of industrial policy for higher education financing--get this bonus, but only if you study in an approved field. Finally, it continues a social policy that focuses on "being hip" rather than making the state more attractive to people as a whole.

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"Justice Louis D. Brandeis'?s metaphor of the states as "laboratories" for policy experiments ... had almost nothing to do with federalism and everything to do with his commitment to scientific socialism. .... To this day, it continues to inhibit a truly experimental, federalist politics." -- Michael S. Greve

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