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September 10, 2024
America is Still Working
…likely reduced men’s wages. With more men single and childless, and for longer, they face less pressure to be breadwinners. That may affect the weight they put on maximizing their…
June 18, 2024
Economic Opportunity and Social Mobility
…Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. The evidence is ambiguous as to whether America’s absolute mobility looks worse than or the same as that of Denmark and the…
May 14, 2024
Understanding Trends in Worker Pay over the Past 50 years
…declined. Along with reduced fertility and greater economic opportunities for women, the decline in marriage led men to prioritize values other than maximizing their pay. The painful transition for men…
March 28, 2024
An Early Look at the Child Tax Credit Changes in the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024
…providing corporate tax relief, the legislation would change the CTC in four ways. First, the maximum CTC benefit would be indexed to inflation. Second, the maximum refundable credit would increase…
February 27, 2024
Options for Improving the Child Tax Credit Provisions in H.R. 7024, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024
…H.R. 7024, we recommend several improvements to its CTC provisions, including provisions to retain and provisions to drop. Provisions to Retain Increase the Maximum CTC to Account for the Rising…
January 19, 2024
The Work Incentive and Employment Effects of Eliminating the Child Tax Credit’s Annual Income Requirement
…Tax Credit’s annual income requirement by allowing individuals to calculate their eligibility using their current or prior year’s income, whichever year maximizes the family’s benefit. We show that for the…
December 11, 2023
Has Inequality Made Americans Poorer than Bulgarians, Russians, and Filipinos?
…and with 2 to 6 percent in Slovenia, Austria, Italy, Iceland, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Denmark, and Switzerland. In fact, of the full list of 29 countries with data in the…
November 14, 2023
Did Child Poverty Really Increase Last Year?
In 2021, Democrats succeeded in temporarily expanding the child tax credit (CTC) as part of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan. Previously, the maximum CTC of $2,000 per child was available only…
June 22, 2023
The Cost of Thriving Has Fallen: Correcting and Rejecting the American Compass Cost-of-Thriving Index
Abstract The Cost-of-Thriving Index (COTI), developed by American Compass Executive Director Oren Cass, asks whether families can afford a middle-class lifestyle. It compares the costs of five goods and services…