Welcome to Our Research Archive
Search and filter by content type, issue area, author, and keyword
May 20, 2025
The share of Medicaid recipients in compliance with the House bill’s community engagement requirement
Last week, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce approved several changes to Medicaid as part of the reconciliation bill. One major change is the imposition of community engagement requirements for non-disabled working age adults without dependent children. This change would take effect in January 2029, although some House members have argued for moving up…
January 21, 2025
President Trump’s USDA Should Fix Food Stamp Work Requirement Waivers
As President Donald Trump begins his second term, he and his administration will be exploring ways to improve government efficiency and economic outcomes for low-income Americans. One such policy—a 2019 regulation governing states’ use of waivers to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s (SNAP) work requirement—does just that. Although the regulation was never implemented after being…
September 19, 2024
Government benefit programs already do a lot to help low income families
Politicians, policy analysts, and advocates have proposed increasing the generosity of the Child Tax Credit (CTC), as a means of providing more resources to low-income families with children. Before deciding whether to expand the CTC and by how much, policymakers should be aware of existing tax and transfer policies that already provide a substantial amount…
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 increase the rate at which the refundable portion of the credit phases in, from the current 15% rate applied to all families to 15% times…
February 27, 2024
Options for Improving the Child Tax Credit Provisions in H.R. 7024, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024
H.R. 7024, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024, passed the House on January 31, 2024 and now faces an uncertain fate in the Senate. The bill is intended to offer something for both Republicans and Democrats—business tax cuts and an expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC). But this bargain—which…
January 31, 2024
The Wyden-Smith Child Tax Credit and Work: Responding to Critics
The Wyden-Smith tax bill under consideration in the House has rekindled a debate about the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and work incentives. We, along with our colleagues, Angela Rachidi and Matt Weidinger, recently released an analysis of the incentives built into one overlooked feature of the CTC reforms proposed in the bill—the so-called “look-back” provision….
January 30, 2024
How Sensitive Are Single Mothers’ Work Decisions to a Change in Incentives? Correcting Misperceptions of the Evidence
Let’s start with a table. (With apologies to our mobile audience…) Evidence on Extensive Margin Employment Elasticities for Single Mothers Reported Revised Consistent w/ 0.75? Notes Reviews or Based on Reviews Corinth et al. (2021, rev 2022) 0.75 — p. 22; based on midpoint of McClelland and Mok (2012), p. 5 (below); unpublished…
October 5, 2023
Changing the Official Poverty Measure Would Help Rich States and Hurt Poor States
In this post I discuss the policy implications of declaring the Supplemental Poverty Measure the new official measure, an action that could be taken unilaterally by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget without any input from Congress. First, I report how eligibility for major means-tested programs would substantially rise in higher income…