Armed with better data, the theory goes, students and parents will vote with their wallets, putting pressure on low-performing colleges to improve while avoiding direct government intervention.  But these provisions are not working nearly as well as intended.

By removing unnecessary regulatory burdens that hinder companies from doing what they do best — creating jobs and meeting the needs of American consumers — the nation could create jobs and boost an otherwise lackluster economic recovery.

A January 2012 report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) shows that federal government employees receive substantially higher compensation than similarly skilled workers in the private sector. The report’s methodology and conclusions are broadly similar to previous studies from both The Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute.

What does 2012 hold, both in terms of policy and politics, for the developing relationship between public-sector workers and taxpayers? What does a proactive reform agenda for 2012 look like? Is a pro-reform platform a winning issue for reformers or their opponents? This event will address these and other questions in two panel discussions.

Nebraska's CB plans are innovative and could be a model for other states to follow as they try and bring their budgets and pensions under control. Yet there are other, more transparent and taxpayer-friendly ways Nebraska could construct the pension system.

At this AEI event, housing policy experts will discuss the condition of the housing market and evaluate policy proposals. Mark Fleming, chief economist at CoreLogic, will describe the current status and outlook of the US housing market. Christopher J. Mayer of Columbia University will present the refinance proposal that he and R. Glenn Hubbard of AEI and Columbia University first offered in 2009. AEI’s Phillip Swagel, assistant secretary for economics at the Treasury Department during the financial crisis, will assess the Hubbard/Mayer proposal and other policy options and Steve Liseman from CNBC will comment on the broader macroeconomic impact of these policies and expectations from Wall Street.

Federal workers receive both a wage premium and a benefits premium over similar private workers. State and local workers see a wage penalty, but the penalty is usually more than made up for in higher benefits.