Thirty-plus years ago I chose Montana rather than accept offers elsewhere. My Ph.D. committee was appalled. They claimed I would disappear into an academic wilderness. I would forgo opportunities to work with prominent scholars; I couldn’t inform national decision makers and opinion leaders; I’d be stranded outside the national environmental policy debate. My professors didn’t […]

Most folks care about their less fortunate neighbors. Americans have long formed voluntary associations and civic groups to address such problems. Habitat for Humanity and the Salvation Army are two successful examples. But since FDR’s New Deal and LBJ’s Great Society, which harnessed government to cure social problems, the federal government has claimed the dominant […]

For over two centuries economists have agreed that free trade is mutually beneficial. They argue countries should specialize in what they do best — and buy the rest. They explain why the usual alternatives, protectionism and trade barriers, ultimately destroy wealth or frustrate its creation. Princeton economist Paul Krugman, a high priest of the anyone-but-Bush […]

Public school funding challenges communities across the nation. My hometown of Bozeman, Montana, is no exception. Our community highly values education and understands good schools are a key ingredient for social and economic progress. Like many others, our school board is deciding how to trim its budget in reaction to reduced state funding. The school […]

I recently read a book by a biologist who doesn’t apply the evolutionary theory she no doubt knows well. Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America is her compelling picture of American workers (especially single moms) trying to make ends meet in minimum wage jobs. Our empathy with and sympathy for […]