February 25, 2026
What Can We Learn from Guaranteed Basic Income Pilots in the United States? Evidence on Employment Effects
Abstract Between 2017 and 2025, at least 122 pilots across 33 states and the District…
February 2, 2026
Poverty and Dependency in the United States, 1939–2023
Abstract We compare trends in absolute poverty before (1939–1963) and after (1963–2023) the War on…
March 11, 2025
An Evaluation of Cost Saving Reforms of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
AbstractCongress is considering ways to reduce spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by…
January 24, 2025
The Targeting of Place-Based Policies: The New Markets Tax Credit Versus Opportunity Zones
Abstract For a place-based policy to succeed, it must target the right areas—typically those with…
December 30, 2024
Coverage, Counter-cyclicality and Targeting of Work Requirement Waivers in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program limits benefits for able-bodied adults without dependents unless they work at least 20 hours per week, but states have historically been able to waive this requirement in areas deemed to have weak labor markets. A new county-level dataset of waivers from 1997 to 2023 shows that waivers expanded substantially over time and were somewhat responsive to unemployment changes but were frequently granted in counties with relatively low unemployment. Simulations indicate that specific waiver rules—particularly the 20 percent unemployment rule and the ability to group counties—significantly increased waiver coverage and weakened targeting to areas with the weakest labor markets.
August 29, 2024
The Distribution of Social Capital across Individuals and its Relationship to Income
Abstract There have been several attempts to measure social capital—the value inhering in relationships—at an…
February 2, 2024
Has Intergenerational Progress Stalled? Income Growth over Five Generations of Americans
Abstract We find that each of the past four generations of Americans was better off…
January 19, 2024
The Work Incentive and Employment Effects of Eliminating the Child Tax Credit’s Annual Income Requirement
Proposed 2024 child tax credit reforms would let families calculate eligibility using either current-year or prior-year income, significantly weakening the credit’s annual work requirement. The analysis estimates that this change would encourage some nonworking parents to enter employment while causing more consistently employed parents to stop working in some years. On net, the policy is projected to reduce employment by an average of 153,000 parents per year while also creating incentives for year-to-year fluctuations in work and hours.
May 10, 2023
The Effects of Elevating the Supplemental Poverty Measure on Government Program Eligibility and Spending
Abstract Without Congressional action, the recently released National Academy of Sciences report, “An Updated Measure…