Message from the Editor

Both lead stories in this issue promote long-term investment strategies. The cover story outlines the wisdom of bearing the up-front costs for publicly funded high-quality early childhood intervention programs so that society can reap the plentiful returns, even if they take years to accumulate. The story on energy security argues for a vastly diversified national energy investment portfolio to help reduce economic vulnerability to energy supply shocks over the next several decades.

Our centerpiece illustrates the point with respect to early childhood interventions: The programs can pay off for decades to come. The payoffs have been demonstrated for a range of program types — home visiting, parent education, and early childhood education — and for those that serve disadvantaged children as well as for those that serve everyone. Even the short-term evaluations have often shown positive net returns. Meanwhile, the long-term evaluations have shown that the investments have continued to pay dividends over the lifetimes of the participants.

Our story on energy security conveys the point in starker terms, befitting of this particular challenge: There is no quick fix. The best short-term way to increase America’s energy security is to increase America’s energy efficiency. But for the long haul, efficiency is insufficient. Only a mixture of energy investment options with different time horizons stretching out over the next 25 to 50 years can help the United States keep pace with its growing energy demands and reduce the risks inherent in its currently limited energy investment portfolio.

Neither of these stories offers a tremendous amount of fodder for short-term political gain. But both stories offer hearty portions of guidance for long-term public policy improvements.

—John Godges