Economics is at the heart of most important public policy issues. Confronting these critical issues requires that leaders and citizens at nearly every level of society understand the relevant economic context and content. Issues range from gas prices, health care, education to immigration.

TCI Programs: The Focus
Economics is all about dealing with unlimited needs of a society chasing limited resources. The Communications Institute economics programs examine current and recent developments in macroeconomic policy, with a strong focus on the application of the tools of macroeconomics to understanding the role of government fiscal policy and monetary policy.

The increasing internationalization of the world’s economies also brings issues of international trade and finance to the fore. Indeed, a major challenge of leaders today is to explain to the public the implications of the internationalization that is now felt throughout even the most “local” of markets and has been the focus of debates over limiting the outsourcing of manufacturing.

In the context of our increasingly globalized economy, TCI programs introduce participants to issues of inflation, unemployment, and the role of financial markets. Participants will become familiar with relevant analytic frameworks and institutions through which economic policy is conducted. Experts will present the latest economic data and discuss the key policy debates.

Programs
The Communications Institute is conducting a multi-faceted project focused on heightening understanding of economics for policymakers, journalists, and leaders from all sectors. With the partnership of the Thomas R. Brown Foundations, the Institute has conducted a major economics project in the state of Arizona to help the state cope with critical problems while developing a prototype for other programs.

The Issues
TCI economics project have included several research studies and many conferences and even executive educational level programs for state legislators and journalists. These programs have focused on state fiscal management, immigration, energy, and sustainable growth and land use.

Energy is a critically important issue around the world with immense economic and environmental ramifications. Energy is effectively the currency of the world. Energy impacts every aspect of daily life, from the purchase price of gasoline at the neighborhood station to the trading price of energy companies in the stock market. It is critical that responses to these issues are based upon analytical, objective facts and not emotionally laden press salvos that result in misguided public policy.

In the midst of continuing concern about energy dependence on the volatile Middle East, political leaders from both parties are calling for the increased use of renewable energy sources, and debate about global climate change has been a central factor in promoting subsidies for renewable. As oil prices continue to fluctuate, there is limited understanding about the actual economics of oil, and environmental controls and energy efficiency standards have become the focus of policy debates around the nation.

Partners:
The Communications Institute conducts educational programs and research designed to help policy makers, leaders, and media to make smart decisions about energy. The Institute has worked with leading academic and research institutions focused on energy including:

• California Energy Commission
• Caltech
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• Center on the Environment and Energy-Harvard University
• University of Southern California
• Penn State University
• Sandia National Laboratories
• RAND Corporation

The Programs
The institute has conducted educational programs and state based research studies around the nation. Energy programs have been held in the United States Capitol plus state capitols such as California and Arizona. They have featured many of the nation’s leading experts. Harvard’s Henry Lee, Director of the Center on the Environment and Energy, contends that the TCI energy programs are the best he has ever attended.

TCI has conducted two state based studies: Powering Arizona and will soon conclude Powering California with USC and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Health care has become one of the most pressing public policy issues in the nation. Health care costs in just the state of California amount to $150 billion in and account for 15 percent of its total output. Annual health insurance costs for a family of four now exceed $8,000. Nationally, millions of people are uninsured. Health care is a critical issue for families, businesses, and policy makers at all levels of government. Obviously, it is a very emotional and complicated issue.

The Solutions
Understanding such a complex issue and developing options to reform it require an analytical perspective beyond political rhetoric. The Communications Institute programs and research have focused on:

• What drives health care costs and health care premiums?
• Who has access to the health care system, and what are the consequences of lack of insurance?
• How can we improve the quality of health care?
• What are the realistic answers to these and other questions that will help Californians develop a better understanding of how the system operates, and what can be done to improve it (and at what cost).

The goal of TCI health care programs is to help improve decision-making in the area of health care. The project includes educational programs, publications, and on-line resources. TCI partnering institutions have included:

• School of Public Health, UC Berkeley
• School of Medicine, Stanford University
• RAND Corporation
• University of California Los Angeles
• University of Southern California.

“An avalanche of advances will be forthcoming in the sphere of science and technology is not a matter of surmise. The new types of energy released by the atom and controlled by the electron have already proved highly effective. The features of vital technical growths can be discerned in numberless embryos in the womb of science: our amazing network of research laboratories. But these features will be matched by even more significant developments in the political, social, and moral spheres. Indeed, the pressures of technical changes will themselves intensify problems of adjustment, forcing us to seek solutions in line with our ideals of a good society.”

–David Sarnoff, the founder of RCA and modern radio and television communications, wrote an article titled The Fabulous Future

David Sarnoff, the founder of RCA and modern radio and television communications, wrote these words 50 years ago. Sarnoff praised the positive impact of engineering and science. He also noted that unfounded “disparagement” of science and engineering was going to grow in this century. This challenge persists today.

The United States is the most technologically advanced society in history. Science and engineering is driving our modern global market economy faster than ever. New scientific discoveries enrich lives; provide people a more comprehensive perspective of their world and the universe. Modern science also allows man to delve more deeply into the environment in which we live to evaluate how these new discoveries can pose new risks to society. Advanced electron-microscopes and computer technology enable scientists to find substances in our food and environment that were invisible in previous decades that could be presumed to be a risk to human health and safety. All of these advances make us healthier, and one would hope, wiser.

The increased awareness and concerns about terrorism and natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina have significantly increased the time and financial resources being spent by the public and private sectors to reduce these risks.

David Sarnoff made the case of the need for society to thoughtfully approach the impact of science and engineering and society. A free society must deal with the benefits and problems of progress and change, and thoughtfully assess new challenges and threats. Decisions must be based upon fact, not emotion. In our democratic society, public understanding of risk issues will impact how elected officials deal with the challenges facing the country.

TCI Programs
The Institute has collaborated with the Wharton Business School, the University of Pennsylvania, USC, and the RAND Corporation on risk based programs including two major conferences in the United States Capitol. The Institute has worked with leading scholars at these institutions plus others at Carnegie Mellon University.