Buying the Intuition, but Not Its Application

by Frederick M. Hess  •  Aug 7, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Cross-posted from The Enterprise Blog

http://www.frederickhess.org/2009/08/buying-the-intuition-but-not-its-application

James Heckman's interesting argument in THE AMERICAN today about the importance of early childhood education is eminently reasonable, and one that makes much sense in the abstract. Indeed, I think one would be foolhardy to want to quarrel with Heckman when it comes to such numbers. The problem is that we don't live in the abstract. We live in a real world, and Heckman's piece illustrates the perils of brilliant economists extrapolating research findings to the actual world in a linear fashion, and without much attention to how notional inputs will be utilized in practice.

Heckman's column makes the error of treating the systems and entities that will be spending this money as a mere afterthought. Indeed, he seems to relegate the role of institutions, culture, politics, and organizations to the background, implying that ensuring these new dollars deliver on their promise is merely a question of of "execution"—rather than the key to determining whether broad schemes for social betterment come to fruition.

The trick is that thoughtful analyses like Heckman's have been used over time to make the case for continually pouring new resources into inefficient providers and systems, blunting the pressure to rethink service delivery or pursue new efficiencies.

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