Brookings Institution

Here's a higher education shocker: Thanks to tuition hikes at California's state universities on one hand, and Ivy League financial aid policies on the other, attending Harvard is actually the better deal for the Golden State's middle-class students. And that's not just a West Coast phenomenon.

Americans are unhappy. Consumer confidence is at lowest level in over 2 years, and the "misery index" is at a 28-year high. But there's a lot more to our distress than the numbers. The real source of our current unhappiness lies in a set of deeper emotional triggers -- triggers that we can change.

It's bad enough the stock market has been beating up on most of our 401(k)s lately. Now, legislators and big thinkers are debating a variety of proposals to reduce the tax benefits of saving in 401(k)-type plans. And the results could be bad for America's rich and poor alike.

When the economic gurus at the Fed move the levers of U.S. monetary policy, they do so with two often-conflicting goals in mind: promoting maximum employment and keeping prices stable. Many critics are now arguing that that Fed should focus solely on prices.

Donald Kohn, the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve who has worked at the institution for 40 years, will become a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution when he leaves the Fed next week. Kohn, 67, advised Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke throughout the financial crisis, and also served as a key...

With a broken iPhone 3G in my pocket, I was standing in line at Wendy's and spotted someone using his iPhone, just ahead of me in line. I showed him my iPhone's cracked screen and cautioned him to get a case for his. The guy, it turned out, works at an Apple (AAPL) Store Genius Bar. He sees...