Brookings Today, 11/3/14

A roundup of some of the content published today by Brookings.

• Outside spending increases the price for Senate elections. As we get closer to midterm elections, John Hudak and Grace Wallack look at the most expensive Senate races (in terms of independent expenditures) since 2010.
• What Congress and doctors have in common. Kavita Patel and co-authors discuss why physicians suffer from low public approval in relation to the health care system, and what doctors can do to improve the overall value of patient care. 
• Update to the U.S. Billionaire Political Power Index. Darrell West has updated his Billionaire Political Power Index to reflect recent election activism, campaign donations, and influence leading up to the midterms.
• Reforming Poland’s education system. Jenny Perlman Robinson speaks with Zbigniew Marciniak, former undersecretary of state for Poland, on the importance of social support in reforming Poland’s education system.
• What we can learn from Ritu Sharma’s Teach a Woman to Fish. George Ingram reviews Ritu Sharma’s recently published book, Teach a Women to Fish, which details her experiences working beside poor, women-led families in four developing countries. 
• What would the Turkish buffer zone mean for Syria’s displaced? Elizabeth Ferris discusses the potential for an internationally sanctioned buffer zone along the Turkish/Syrian border.
• The fiscal headwinds have finally subsided. The latest reading from the Hutchins Center Fiscal Impact Measure shows the economic downturn from tight federal and local governments may finally be over.
• Bandwidth and the “un-tragedy” of the commons. Blair Levin gave a speech on the value of abundant bandwidth and the real estate industry.
• EPA’s Clean Power Plan strikes an important balance. Former EPA Administrator and New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, writing for Planet Policy blog, says the EPA’s new proposal on emissions “deserves the nation’s attention and action.”

Charmaine Crutchfield contributed to this post.