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October 3, 2024

Protectionism is Failing and Wrongheaded: An Evaluation of the Post-2017 Shift toward Trade Wars and Industrial Policy

Abstract The Trump–Pence and Biden–Harris administrations enthusiastically embraced protectionism. Each administration explicitly argued for a break from the bipartisan consensus of recent decades that has been generally supportive of free…

October 2, 2024

The effect of taxes and transfers on low-earning workers’ income.

Despite misperceptions that the United States is limping through late-stage capitalism, American workers are more highly compensated than ever before—even the lowest earners. The 20th percentile earner—worse-off than 80 percent…

October 2, 2024

Higher Education: Making Education Beyond High School Work for All

Executive Summary and Introduction: The federal government treats higher education as a surefire investment, but this isn’t always true. Many colleges leave their students worse off financially, contributing to the…

September 25, 2024

Disconnected: The Growing Class Divide in American Civic Life

Key Points College graduates report having greater access to community spaces than do Americans with a high school degree or less. More than one in five Americans have no access…

September 23, 2024

Toward a Potential Grand Bargain for the Nation

The views expressed in this report are those of the individual authors who collectively constitute the Grand Bargain Committee, co-chaired by Michael R. Strain and Isabel V. Sawhill. This report…

September 10, 2024

America is Still Working

Sometimes it seems like Americans can’t decide whether we work too much or too little. We hear that because of rising inequality and a lack of good jobs, workers must…

July 24, 2024

Housing and the American Worker

As the American Worker Project analysis shows, real wages have increased over time. Real wages are nominal wages corrected for changes in the price level, and a natural approach to understanding the…

July 23, 2024

How the 2017 Tax Law Made Itemized Charitable Giving a Luxury Good

Key Points This report examines the effect of itemized charitable giving, as tracked by the IRS, following the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. It finds…

June 13, 2024

The Family-to-Prison-or-College Pipeline: Married Fathers and Young Men’s Transition to Adulthood

A growing minority of young men are floundering. “Failure to launch” is a description that’s all too common. Consider working a stable job—a decent proxy for whether someone has their…

June 11, 2024

The Social Workplace: A Compendium

Key Points This report is a compendium of survey data and analysis developed as part of a multiyear project looking at the social dimension of work and the economic, psychological,…