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May 23, 2024
Biden’s Unending Student Loan Forgiveness Run
On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced $7.7 billion in student debt cancellation for about 161,000 borrowers, equating to about $48,000 per borrower. Compared to what has already been spent on loan forgiveness since the pandemic began, that’s an enormous drop in a gargantuan bucket. AEI’s Student Debt Forgiveness Tracker, which I run, tracks all student loan revenue from…
April 9, 2024
The Child Tax Credit: My Long-Read Q&A with Kevin Corinth
The Child Tax Credit is a tax benefit available to many American families for the purpose of reducing their federal income tax liability. It’s specifically designed to help offset the cost of raising children. The CTC of today, however, differs starkly from its pre-pandemic structure. Many economists, including Kevin Corinth, think that the post-pandemic changes were a step…
April 5, 2024
What’s Wrong with the US Economy? Anything?
Economists were expecting 200,000 net new jobs added in March. Instead it was 50 percent more. Unexpected strength, but maybe not so unexpected, really, for an economy that continues to deliver surprise after surprise. It’s been a great run lately for economic optimists: real wage gains, faster labor productivity, and gobs of jobs. A tight summary…
January 29, 2024
Per-Child Benefit in Wyden-Smith Child Tax Credit Bill Would Discourage Full-Time Work for Families with Multiple Children
The Wyden-Smith proposed tax legislation would make four changes to the Child Tax Credit (CTC). First, it would increase the cap on the refundable portion of the CTC, eventually to the same amount as the maximum non-refundable CTC. Second, it would begin indexing the maximum non-refundable CTC with inflation. Third, it would apply a one-year lookback for…
October 5, 2023
Do 60 Percent Of American Workers Have Insecure Jobs?
American Compass has a new survey out in which it finds, among other results, that “only 40 percent of workers have secure jobs.” This is the latest attempt by the outfit to portray the American economy as in dire need of “rebuilding.” The report summarizing the findings is titled, “Labor Market Not Yet Working for…
September 19, 2023
Senator Tim Scott’s New Plan to Cut Taxes
Senator and Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott (R-SC) released a new economic plan this week. The plan addresses issues such as the national debt, federal spending, trade, and the economy. The plan includes several significant tax policies. His plan focuses on cutting taxes for both individuals and businesses and argues that this would grow the economy. The…
September 13, 2023
American Dreamers
In January, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) launched the American Dream Initiative (ADI), a new, multifaceted policy and practice effort to build on and extend the nation’s legacy of liberty, opportunity, and economic progress for generations to come. Through ADI, AEI scholars are investing time and energy in policy analysis and development to expand access to the…
September 5, 2023
Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Address the Trade Deficit
Last month, the Washington Post reported that former president Donald Trump plans to enact a 10 percent tariff on all imports if reelected. After facing sharp criticism, Trump defended his proposal in a letter to the Wall Street Journal. He argued that the trade deficit is a “loss” for the US economy and that his tariffs would be the “best way” to…
August 31, 2023
The Future of Work: Augmented, not Automated
In my first AEI report, “STEM Without Fruit,” I argued the case for the pre-eminence of noncognitive skills in a world of rapidly advancing technology. As part of that report, I cited evidence drawn from employer surveys, as well as wage and labor-share data, showing that across the economy the highest demand from employers and highest wage returns…
August 22, 2023
Is Paid Leave a Pro-Growth Policy?
Some pro-growth public policies seem super obvious, like attracting more high-skill immigrants or reducing the federal paperwork needed to build clean energy facilities and infrastructure. Paid leave, whether mandated by Washington or funded by new taxes on rich people and large companies, might seem like another obviously good thing. Rarely do I ever hear about…