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November 7, 2024

Introducing the “More Accurate Consumer Price Index”

Abstract Particularly since the 1990s, federal statistical agencies have worked to improve the ability of various price indexes to measure changes in the cost of living. However, in recent years,…

October 22, 2024

Poverty, Hardship, and Government Transfers

Abstract We examine how the well-being of those with few resources changed, amidst economic disruption and large, transitory government transfers. We find that in the years leading up to the…

August 28, 2024

Race, Ethnicity, and Measurement Error

Abstract Large literatures have analyzed racial and ethnic disparities in economic outcomes and access to the safety net. For such analyses that rely on survey data, it is crucial that…

May 16, 2024

Critiquing Bastian (2022, 2023, 2024, and forthcoming):On Child Tax Credit Reform and the Sensitivity of Single Mothers to Work Incentives

Abstract In 2021, Congress passed and President Biden signed a major, but temporary, reform to the Child Tax Credit (CTC). Among other reforms to the credit, the American Rescue Plan…

April 17, 2024

Homelessness and the Persistence of Deprivation: Income, Employment, and Safety Net Participation

Abstract Homelessness is arguably the most extreme hardship associated with poverty in the United States, yet people experiencing homelessness are excluded from official poverty statistics and much of the extreme…

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 than the previous one, using a post-tax, post-transfer income measure constructed annually from 1963-2022 based…

November 9, 2023

Child Support Policy: Areas of Emerging Agreement and Ongoing Debate

This paper will be delivered at the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management 2023 Fall Research Conference. Abstract The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) system has a broad scope and provides…

October 30, 2023

Does Wage Theft Vary by Demographic Group? Evidence from Minimum Wage Increases

Using Current Population Survey data, we assess whether and to what extent the burden of wage theft — wage payments below the statutory minimum wage — falls disproportionately on various…

April 17, 2023

Data Tools 6: The Geography of Traditional Families in America

The sixth in a series from Charles Murray. “Every generation, civilization is invaded by barbarians—we call them ‘children.’” These words, often attributed to Hannah Arendt, express a truth that societies…