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December 27, 2024

DOGE Can Drive Reforms in America’s Broken Safety Net Programs

America’s broken safety net system has over 80 programs, costs $1.6 trillion annually, and perpetually underperforms. It’s inefficient, costly, and perversely functions like a snare net that traps people in…

December 3, 2024

Avoiding an Unemployment Loan Bailout

Taxpayers in most states may have dodged a billion-dollar bullet on election day. That is, if the outcome had been different, liberal lawmakers would have been uniquely positioned to bail…

November 7, 2024

Key Data on Federal Benefits Paid to Illegal Immigrant Households

Soaring illegal immigration during the Biden-Harris administration was a major campaign theme, with a pre-election Harvard poll finding Americans considered immigration the second-most important issue—right behind inflation and ahead of the economy….

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…

March 4, 2024

Exploring America’s Social Safety Net And The Political Fights Around It

View the full video here. Our new series, “America’s Safety Net,” is focused on the complex web of programs meant to help Americans in need. Over the coming weeks, we’ll…

March 4, 2024

Social conservatives who care about marriage should think twice about a “per-child” refundable Child Tax Credit

The United States Senate is currently debating H.R. 7024, a House-passed bill that would modify the Child Tax Credit (CTC) in several ways. One of the most consequential changes would…

October 31, 2023

Lawmakers Continue Trying to Revive Pandemic-Style Benefits

In 2008, Rahm Emanuel, chief of staff to President-elect Barack Obama, famously issued Rahm’s rule: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that…

July 28, 2023

It Really Is More Expensive to Give Everyone $1 Than to Give Some People $1

In a piece from last year, Matt Bruenig of the People’s Policy Project argues (in the title of the piece) “Universal Benefits Cost Less Than Means-Tested Benefits.” He lays out his central…