Sometimes government works

When it comes to conversations about government spending, two subjects tend to get conflated. The first is an ideological debate about whether or not the government is in general any good at doing things. The second regards the actual effectiveness of specific things the government does. And the second conversation is far more concrete, productive, and important, which is why it drives me crazy when the first one prevents people from engaging the second.

Ron Haskins's new book is pretty wonky, but the articles he's written to promote it are quite readable. The Brookings policy expert and former GOP staffer praises federal efforts, begun by the Bush administration and ramped up under Obama, to ensure that social policy is shaped by evidence of what works. Here's Haskins in the Times:

I am committed to the principle that the government should fund only social welfare programs that work. That’s why it’s imperative that the new Congress reject efforts by some Republicans to cut the Obama administration’s evidence-based programs. Especially in a time of austerity, policy makers must know which programs work, and which don’t.