Vouching for Farmers Markets

One of the obstacles to turning academic research into sensible policy is the combination of the inability of some policymakers to understand such research and the inability of some researchers to adequately translate their work into plain English. So, I'm going to try to highlight interesting new, policy-relevant research that has been summarized into plain English, or, in some instances, summarize such research myself.

To get things going, here's a nice, concise, if now dated, summary from the New York Times of a study that found that

"Vouchers that permit low-income women to shop at a local farmers’ market increase fruit and vegetable consumption in poor families..."

Not exactly a shocking finding, but there's more in the Times's brief explanation that's worth reading.

[HT: Shally Venugopal]

Withdrawing to Win

In yesterday's Boston Globe, my friend and former colleague Sean Duggan has concisely laid out a strategic case for beginning to withdraw American forces from Iraq.

AS THE DEBATE over supplemental funding for the war in Iraq plays out in Congress, a growing consensus on the need to adopt a policy of "strategic patience" has become accepted wisdom in the national debate. Proponents of this policy argue that solidifying recent security and political gains in Iraq is contingent upon the US military remaining in the country indefinitely. However, in order to truly capitalize on those gains, the United States must begin to withdraw its forces from Iraq.

Obama and Affirmative Action

I previously posted an entry on why I think Senator Obama would not repudiate race-based affirmative action in favor class-based affirmative (not that there is much good reason to pit these two ideas against each other). Turns out that, at least then, I was right. Of course, things could change.

[HT: Maire Daly]