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January 29, 2025
Key Points Executive Summary State governments have significantly exacerbated the phenomenon of degree inflation, where jobs increasingly require college degrees that were not previously necessary. State hiring practices and stringent occupational licensing laws perpetuate this trend. These policies restrict access to various professions, create labor shortages, and reduce the return to a college education for…
January 24, 2025
Key Points Read the PDF. Executive Summary Although national test scores provide clear evidence on student achievement across time, they do not illuminate what is driving gains or losses. Nonetheless, careful examination of test scores can corroborate some explanations for changes in student achievement and discount others. This report examines recent trends in US student…
January 24, 2025
Key Points Read the PDF. Executive Summary Although national test scores provide clear evidence on student achievement across time, they do not illuminate what is driving gains or losses. Nonetheless, careful examination of test scores can corroborate some explanations for changes in student achievement and discount others. This report examines recent trends in US student…
December 17, 2024
December 17, 2024
Key Points Read the full pdf. Introduction Accreditation is a major barrier to higher education reform. In a bid to reduce the agencies’ power over state universities, Florida and North Carolina have passed laws requiring public colleges to periodically change accreditors.1 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spoke for many policy-savvy conservative leaders when he declared that you…
December 10, 2024
Abstract We review evidence on the effectiveness of the minimum wage versus in-work benefit policies in reducing poverty in OECD countries. The most credible evidence suggests that raising the minimum wage is an ineffective policy tool for reducing poverty. On net, minimum wage increases tend to redistribute rather than reduce poverty. In contrast, government subsidies…
December 2, 2024
Key Points Executive Summary Higher education suffers from barriers to entry. Though the ranks of students at traditional colleges have grown by 29 percent over the past three decades, the number of active institutions has declined. Four in five students today attend an institution that was founded before 1970, and virtually none attend a school…
November 21, 2024
Summary Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) promise to improve productivity significantly, but there are many questions about how AI could affect jobs and workers. Recent technical innovations have driven the rapid development of generative AI systems, which produce text, images, or other content based on user requests – advances which have the potential to complement…
November 20, 2024
Graduate student lending is out of control. Students are effectively borrowing without limit to pay for graduate and professional schools, many of which offer little or no return on their investment. The status quo is untenable for both students, who bear the risk of taking on unaffordable debts amid uncertainty about the future of forgiveness…
October 30, 2024
The 2024 American Opportunity Index measures how well America’s largest companies drive economic mobility and positive career outcomes for their employees—actions that also can help fuel business performance. It is based on independent data and is the only measure of employer quality to evaluate what really happens to workers at America’s largest employers over time….