Scott Winship Archives

March 25, 2026

Compiling My Work on Work Incentives

At the American Enterprise Institute Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility, which I run, we’re…

By Scott Winship

March 25, 2026

Opportunity Book: A New Tool for Connecting Policymakers with Innovative Ideas

Today the Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is…

By Scott Winship | Kevin Corinth

March 20, 2026

Re-Centering Family Structure in Opportunity Insights’ Work on Intergenerational Mobility: How Important Is Single Parenthood?

Over the past decade, Opportunity Insights (OI) has transformed the study of intergenerational mobility through innovative uses of administrative data, reshaping the public and scholarly understanding of the factors that affect children’s life prospects. One consistent finding in this literature is the strong association between family structure, especially single parenthood, and upward mobility, though it has received relatively little sustained attention.

By Scott Winship | Mariana Icaza Díaz

February 26, 2026

Young Men’s Earnings over the Long Run – An Update

Let me start with the chart: Median pre-tax earnings of men ages 25-29 rose 24…

By Scott Winship

January 6, 2026

The Middle Class Is Shrinking Because of a Booming Upper-Middle Class

Populists on both the political left and right routinely claim that the middle class has been hollowed out. These claims, to the extent they are based on evidence, rely on a relative definition of the middle class, such that if income doubles for every family, the middle class does not grow. Using an absolute definition of the middle class, we find that the “core” middle class has shrunk, but only because more families have become upper-middle class over time.

By Scott Winship | Stephen J. Rose