All Research
Blog
The Misleading Narrative About the ‘Hollowing Out’ of the Middle Class
…Steven and I think there’s some merit to that measure, but it sort of hides changes in absolute living standards because it’s mixed in with changes in inequality. And we…
Blog
Rethinking Predatory Student Lending
…to borrowers. And falling short of that standard can lead to legal penalties including discharge of the loan. The second type is far harder to pin down because “fair” lending…
Commentary
Lessons from the 1996 Welfare Reform Law Approaching Its 30th Anniversary
…SPM is anchored to 2012 living standards and adjusted using the Consumer Price Index. Income data are not adjusted for underreporting. For key groups, post-reform results were even more encouraging….
Article
There’s a Lot of Talk About “Career Readiness.” Have We Thought It Through?
…huge win. Of course, it turned out that a substantial chunk of that “success” was a product of credit recovery, lowered standards, and grade inflation. Today’s sky-high completion rates sit…
Op-Ed
Keep Antivax Politics Out of Foster Parent Licensing
…or substance use issues, as well as any history of drug or alcohol abuse or treatment. The 2026 standards dispense with any professional medical evaluation and replace this standard with…
Op-Ed
Microfinance Failures
…lending standards, then borrowers will have difficulties in repaying loans, and many will be forced into default or bankruptcy. That is a common pattern in loan programs that lack solid credit…
Op-Ed
Americans Still Believe in Work. The AI Crowd Hasn’t Gotten the Memo
…supported expecting able-bodied welfare recipients to participate in work or training in exchange for benefits. That broad support stands in stark contrast to recent proposals from both peripheries of the…
Op-Ed
Safety Before Kinship
…change in licensing standards for foster homes will fix that. But Adams has gone around the country talking about prioritizing kinship and even citing questionable research on how kinship-care arrangements encourage permanency…
Op-Ed
Are Big Families the Solution to Declining Fertility?
…aren’t ready for kids don’t have to have them. Those who already have kids choose to have more!” Hess and Morland note that in Kazakhstan, the fictional home of Borat, the total fertility rate…
Op-Ed
Daddy Issues: Review of “Dad Brain: The New Science of Fatherhood and How It Shapes Men’s Lives”
…caring end up in separate occupational baskets.” Saxbe suggests our current society is in an in-between stage. Breadwinning is a shared responsibility, “but we have inherited long-standing, specialized gender roles…
Op-Ed
The Long, Slow Death of Social Democracy
…democracies during this period produced strong economic growth, low unemployment, rapidly rising living standards, and government action to provide protection and security for the average citizen. Reflecting these positive developments,…
Op-Ed
The Shrinking Middle Class and Booming Upper-Middle Class: The Plot Thickens
…for the middle class rose faster than did incomes lower down. We argued that defining the middle class this way obscures substantial increases in living standards across the income distribution….