On Wednesday, February 23, the Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics, and Public Policy was pleased to honor Peter Orszag, former director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Barak Obama, with its first Good Governance Award at the 2011 ConocoPhillips White House Lecture. Dr. Orszag arrived at the Bush School early in the day to tour the Bush Presidential Library, followed by an informal lunch with students and faculty where he discussed health care reform and offered advice for students interested in working for federal agencies. After lunch, Dr. Orszag visited with and fielded questions from two Bush School classes, Prof. Gina Reinhardt’s Political Economy of International Development and Dr. Deborah Kerr’s Performance Management, before transitioning to the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center for the lecture and award presentation in the evening.
Bush School Dean Ryan Crocker opened the event with welcoming remarks, before ceding the podium to Dr. Jim Griffin, Director of the Mosbacher Institute, who conferred upon Dr. Orszag the 2011 Good Governance Award. Dr. Orszag then addressed the audience about the topic of US fiscal policy. The fundamental problem facing the US economy over the next five to ten years, according to Dr. Orszag, is the impossibility of reducing the country’s fiscal deficit through spending cuts alone; rather, the government will need to raise taxes to curb the ballooning deficit. Dr. Orszag pointed out the prominent and growing role of health care costs from Medicare and Medicaid in US spending and expressed his concern about political polarization in Washington that prevents policymakers from tackling these and other long-term spending issues.
Following Dr. Orszag’s lecture, Bush School Associate Professor Lori Taylor moderated a panel consisting of Dr. Orszag, Professor Dennis Jansen of the Texas A&M University Department of Economics, and Professor George Zodrow of Rice University and editor of the National Tax Journal. The panel focused generally on revenue-raising options for the US government. Prof. Zodrow explained various alternative tax options, while Prof. Jansen emphasized spending cuts, which he explained must include entitlement programs in addition to discretionary spending. At the conclusion of the event, guests exited the auditorium for a reception in the Presidential Dining Room.
