长沙驴友微信群:Lessons the US can learn across the world

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Lessons the US can learn across the world

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To some degree, this self-congratulation is appropriate. America is exceptional, and we Americans have many reasons for pride: our ingenious Constitution and commitment to the freedoms it guarantees; our history of invention, innovation and enterprise; our melting-pot diversity and our military superiority, just to name a few.

But American exceptionalism is also an invitation to smugness when just the opposite is needed. The nation does not hold a monopoly on wise policies. Far from it, as evidenced by our shrinking manufacturing base, underperforming schools and dysfunctional health care system.

Rather than reveling in our greatness or turning up our noses at other countries, American leaders should be studying the best practices abroad and bringing them back home. Over the coming months, this page will offer a menu of appealing policy choices from other nations. Today we start with three appetizers:

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Education: Finland

In a 2009 international assessment of math proficiency, American students ranked 32nd, behind virtually all developed countries. In second place stood Finland, a country that also used to languish in mediocrity.

Finland, which like the U.S. funds its schools locally, does a lot of things that American leaders should consider. Among them, it starts its kids early, with state-run, high-quality day care beginning at six months. This ensures that children are ready to learn when they reach kindergarten and first grade.

Finnish schools frequently employ a second teacher in the classroom to focus on the struggling students. This allows those students to get specialized attention while remaining in the same class as their peers.

Most remarkably, Finland appears to have solved the problem of teacher burnout that plagues our system. In the USA, roughly half of all new teachers quit in their first five years. Too many of those remaining lose their passion for the profession but are almost impossible to fire.

Finland avoids this by getting the best teachers and giving them tools they need to thrive. It subsidizes the education of would-be teachers, helping to attract bright students who can begin their careers debt-free. It then puts them through a battery of tests, training seminars and internships to make sure that they are ready before they step into the classroom.
Once approved, Finnish teachers are given much greater leeway to teach, including the ability to select their own textbooks in many cases. They are highly respected in society, receiving the kind of acclaim that is common in the USA for military personnel, firefighters and police officers.

All of this has helped to make Finland a pilgrimage site of sorts for education leaders from around the world who hope to emulate its successes. The United States would do well to learn in its classroom.

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Manufacturing: Germany

Nearly a quarter of the German economy is manufacturing, compared with only about 14% in the United States. This has helped Germany maintain a vibrant middle class, with lower unemployment and greater income equality than in the United States. Some German labor polices (including giving unions seats on corporate boards) would be highly controversial here. But it does many things that could be more easily adapted.

Start with vocational education. Roughly two-thirds of the German workforce has received some kind of career training, often connected with an apprenticeship.

Germany also has successful programs, dating back to the late 19th century, of supporting university-affiliated manufacturing centers that work closely with private companies. In the USA, the federal government supports basic science, space exploration and medicine. But money for more practical applications often runs into a surprising amount of opposition from those who bemoan such "industrial policy."

Perhaps the most surprising part of Germany's economic success may be in its social safety net. Its disability insurance program is less extensive than the one run in this country through the Social Security Administration. Some 8.3 million working-age Americans collect disability benefits — a 17% increase since the beginning of the recession, suggesting that the program is serving as a long-term unemployment program for some Americans.

The German system is less generous to those who don't have a job while giving more incentive for those willing and able to work. For example, unemployed workers who take a job that doesn't pay very well can continue to receive part of their jobless benefits.

All this helps explain why Germany's job situation has improved for 24 straight months. Its unemployment rate is now 7%, well under the 9.1% here.

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Housing finance: Canada

Canada's housing and mortgage markets are much healthier than ours, with ownership rates of 68% (slightly above ours) and prices rising after only a brief dip in 2008.

And what has Canada done to create such stability? A better question might be: What has it not done? It has stayed away from the massive subsidization of housing debt that American real estate agents, home builders and mortgage bankers have sold to Congress and state legislatures as a painless route to the American dream.

Canada provides no tax deduction for mortgage interest, while American borrowers can deduct interest on mortgages up to $1 million, plus another $100,000 for home equity loans. The fact that Canada has comparable ownership rates demonstrates the true consequences of these tax breaks. They drive up prices (particularly in areas where housing is limited), and they encourage people to buy or build bigger homes than they could otherwise afford (particularly in areas where land is more abundant).

Canada also has no equivalent of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants that helped obscure the massive risks being taken in the housing finance industry and left taxpayers with a bill in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

As a result of Canada's approach, its housing market largely avoids the boom-and-bust cycles in the USA, and its mortgage market is more stable. Canadian lenders tend to be more conservative and hold on to the loans they make: About 29% of residential mortgages get bundled into securities for global investors to buy and sell, compared with 60% in America. And few subprime mortgages were placed, even in the heady days before the worldwide financial crisis hit in 2008.

Canadians are thankful that they did not emulate America's insane housing policies, particularly as they see their southern neighbor's economy held back by a moribund housing sector.

If America were a corporation, its leaders would ask why it was operating so inefficiently and getting beaten in so many areas. They would look overseas not with disdain but with a keen desire to incorporate the best ideas. They would find much to learn.

What may be most exceptional about America is its adaptability and competitiveness. And sometimes that means improving ideas taken from others. (From USA Today)

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