Agenda for the Nation

by Aaron, Henry; Lindsay, James M.; Nivola, Pietro S.

• ISBN13: 9780815701279
• ISBN10: 0815701276
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-07-29
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

More powerful and affluent today than ever, the United States has promising opportunities to influence the course of history. Yet these prospects are shadowed by significant perils and burdens. In this visionary book, leading scholars from the Brookings Institution and other prominent research organizations and universities analyze the major domestic and foreign policy problems facing the nation over the next five to ten years.The challenges on the domestic front are formidable: assuring fair but affordable access to health care, shoring up retirement income for an aging population, encouraging long-term economic growth, easing the growing pains of an increasingly diverse society, and reconciling energy policies with environmental concerns.In international affairs the central task is to use America's unprecedented power wisely and to protect a homeland that has been revealed as surprisingly vulnerable. Yet efforts must also focus on improving the economic fortunes of poorer countries, expanding trade, and reforming the rules that regulate the flows of capital across national borders.Is the United States government capable of rising to these vast and varied challenges? The concluding chapters of this book offer cautious optimism. While it is often criticized, the American political system is fundamentally resilient and flexible. Ambitious in scope, Agenda for the Nation provides thoughtful, constructive answers to questions of how the U.S. government can effectively serve its citizens and meet its global responsibilities in a world of opportunity and uncertainty.

Author Biography

Henry J. Aaron is senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he also holds the Bruce and Virginia MacLaury Chair in Economics James M. Lindsay is deputy director and senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies Pietro S. Nivola is a senior fellow in Governance Studies

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Strobe Talbott
1 An Agenda for the Nation	1	(16)
Henry J. Aaron, James M. Lindsay, and Pietro S. Nivola
2 Sustaining U.S. Economic Growth	17	(44)
J. Bradford DeLong, Claudia Goldin, and Lawrence F. Katz
3 American Inequality and Its Consequences	61	(48)
Gary Burtless and Christopher Jencks
4 Budget Blues: The Fiscal Outlook and Options for Reform	109	(36)
Alan J. Auerbach, William G. Gale, Peter R. Orszag, and Samara R. Potter
5 Health and Medical Care	145	(38)
Victor R. Fuchs and Alan M. Garber
6 Private Pensions: Issues and Options	183	(34)
William G. Gale and Peter R. Orszag
7 Changing Faces: Immigrants and Diversity in the Twenty-First Century	217	(44)
James M. Lindsay and Audrey Singer
8 Energy and Environmental Policy	261	(26)
Howard Gruenspecht and Paul R. Portney
9 Power and Cooperation: An American Foreign Policy for the Age of Global Politics	287	(42)
Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay
10 A Global Economic Agenda for the United States	329	(44)
Lael Bramard and Robert Litan
11 Military Policy: Getting the Best Bang for the Bucks	373	(30)
Michael O'Hanlon
12 The New Terrorism	403	(28)
Steven Simon
13 Rights, Liberties, and Security	431	(54)
Stuart Taylor
14 Can the Government Be Serious?	485	(42)
Pietro S. Nivola
15 Reflections on the Political Context	527	(24)
James Q. Wilson
Contributors	551	(2)
Index	553