When people in New York City were asked, some years back, how clean the city streets were and how clean their own streets were, the answers were fascinating. Turns out that most folks thought the city was a cesspool of filthy hypodermic-laden streets....

All fifty states have set up websites that report on the way they’ve implemented the stimulus bill. Anyone who visits more than a handful of these sites will be immediately struck at the remarkable variety in quality. Some have clearly taken a great deal...

After years of looking at performance measurement in a whole variety of fields, we've come up with two basic principles that we think apply in most cases: 1) You can't have enough performance measurement and evaluation. 2) Too many performance measures...

There’s a pot of cash and the states can come and get it – if they follow the desired performance standards. . . . In the case of Race to the Top, “the very sweet carrot,” as  Posner puts it, has created real momentum for reform at the state level. Around...