This post was written by LEV intern Laura Hagen today, her last day with us. Auf Wiedersehen Fraulein und Danke.
The fiscal numbers at the end of July painted a very bleak picture of the ever-fragile recovery – consumer confidence is falling, growth is slowing, and jobs are still hard to come by. (If you feel like indulging your inner-Eeyore, read the NY times article)
So, what was the first piece of advice offered by Federal Reserve Chairman (and the most influential economist in the US) Ben Bernake during a recent speech to state-level policy makers? Fund early learning!
After reporting a fragile economic outlook and fiscal challenges to state governments, Bernake gave the advice that any economics major has heard over and over: “growth requires investment…for sustained economic development, investment in people – in their knowledge and skills-is even more important.”
So how does this relate to early learning? I’ll let Bernake tell the story…
“I am confident that, in light of this experience, your efforts to improve education and workforce skills will continue. As you do that, please keep in mind that formal K-12 and post-secondary education, as important as they are, do not alone build better workforces. Research increasingly has shown the importance for both individuals and the economy as a whole of both early childhood education as well as efforts to promote the lifelong acquisition of skills. The payoffs of early childhood programs can be especially high. For instance, investment in preschool programs for disadvantaged children has been shown to increase high school graduation rates. Because high school graduates have higher earnings, pay more taxes, and are less likely to need to use public health programs, such investments can pay off even from the narrow perspective of state budgets; of course, the returns to the overall economy and to the individuals themselves are much greater.” (emphasis added)
Full text of Bernake’s speech, given on August 2nd at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference of the Council of State Governments, Charleston, South Carolina.
