tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post974248962543296556..comments2023-10-25T02:52:26.716-07:00Comments on Tzimiskes: Some Stray Thoughts on the BudgetTzimiskeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002441291627298737noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post-1168645636893380032011-04-18T14:32:01.417-07:002011-04-18T14:32:01.417-07:00Doug,
I may have come out against the idea strong...Doug,<br /><br />I may have come out against the idea stronger than I should have, and stronger than would represent my own beliefs. I believe rather strongly in comparative politics as a way to guide our decision making, the states as labs is basically the same thing, though there are a few issues where national level policy appears to be the only workable policy (say, for immigration or gun sales, though with guns things like concealed carry work fine at the state level). Those few issues aside, I think the idea can work.<br /><br />To more accurately state what I was trying to get at, I feel like the states as labs is getting used as an excuse to block the findings of existing lab experiments when the results are inconvenient and to instead send the issues back to the lab hoping the results will be different this time. When the states as labs indicate the same things that foreign countries as labs seem to indicate (like universal healthcare saves money or cap and trade works) than it seems to be a good argument that the concept has been proven and is ready for full scale production. This isn't what states as labs would look like if the metaphor was being used to describe what actually happens, instead the model seems to be states as think tanks where the idea keeps getting sent back until the results are convenient for the pol requesting the experiment.Tzimiskeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13002441291627298737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post-64137131464246242752011-04-16T08:57:09.674-07:002011-04-16T08:57:09.674-07:00Tzi, I'm afraid I like the idea of states as l...Tzi, I'm afraid I like the idea of states as laboratories. In the past it has occasionally worked as promised. In the 90s there was a fair bit of experimentation, and it isn't necessarily evidence against the process that few Programs went national. In a laboratory, most experiments are expected to fail. But California's stab at cap and trade got ahead of D.C. and inspired other states. Likewise, Massachusett's healthcare law and same-sex marriage. And, embarrassingly, Arizona's immigration law which inspired both Georgia's similar law and Utah's proposed immigration law which works in the other direction. If Arizonans suffer for their law or Californians do, that will be important data in federal policy.<br /><br />Another thought: DC's such a mess, state sovereignty offers a way of maintaining innovation and progress in government when Washington is especially Washingtonish.Doug The Unahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04753071669562594194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post-73852839100992151642011-04-15T18:58:49.603-07:002011-04-15T18:58:49.603-07:00Blue Cross Blue Shield sponsored many of the studi...Blue Cross Blue Shield sponsored many of the studies behind Massachusetts health care reform.<br /><br />I think BCBS (or similar) could be liaisons between each state and federal.k. riggs gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11807633349311664382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post-991933166984422852011-04-15T17:58:08.539-07:002011-04-15T17:58:08.539-07:00Karen,
I'll try to get around to that Medicai...Karen,<br /><br />I'll try to get around to that Medicaid stuff this weekend. I started reading it at work since it got forwarded to me in an e-mail, and stopped about 50 or so pages in when I realized that it was too far off from my job duties to justify finishing reading there. At home I bogged down around 100 pages into it. It's some dry stuff.<br /><br />I kinda like the idea of the states as labs too, but the whole idea of a lab is that things are being tested expensively on a small scale for later scaling up to a more effective and efficient large scale. It seems to me that mostly arguments are for keeping things in the lab with the important bit, the scaling up for full production, pushed to the side as an annoying afterthought.Tzimiskeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13002441291627298737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post-33657956511086359572011-04-15T07:26:41.244-07:002011-04-15T07:26:41.244-07:00Tzi., Then it's time to get around to those po...Tzi., Then it's time to get around to those posts about New York Medicaid Reform. I like the idea of states as laboratories, too.k. riggs gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11807633349311664382noreply@blogger.com