At the heart of the debate over renewing No Child Left Behind, the nation’s education reform act which is overdue for reauthorization, is the question: what is the role of the federal government in K-12 education? Though the law was initiated and signed by a Republican president, presidential candidates like Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, who once supported it, now talk about getting the federal government out of education. Democratic reformers, meanwhile, insist that the federal government has a role in telling states how to identify, punish and fix low-performing schools — despite little evidence that Washington has been good at any of these tasks.  Over the last decade, AEI Education has been exploring these concerns.

Many public workers are overpaid relative to their private sector counterparts, especially in large, unionized states such as Wisconsin, Ohio and California. This may sound like a controversial claim, but it shouldn't. A consensus is building about the need for reform.

Center-right leader Angela Merkel is missing an opportunity. She should take a cue from her left-of-center predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, particularly on labor market reforms.

The Greek tragedy is far from over as the debate over whether to accept debt-forgiveness conditions upended the government in Athens. Furthermore, other debt-laden European nations risk going under.

Growth is slowing, but the politicians at fault haven't heeded calls for serious reform.

Although many of President Obama's opponents have smeared him as a radical and a "socialist," he is actually a moderate operating in the center of American politics.

American public opinion has shifted in a conservative direction since Barack Obama's election, showing that big government is unpopular and the president's powers of persuasion are weaker than expected.