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August 1, 2023

Can AI Make People Want to Have Children?

Self-help gurus love to tell people to visualize their goals. Tony Robbins says, “Starting your day without visualizing your goal is like starting your day without breakfast.” In this space, it’s not just about figuring out where you’re going, but actually picturing your future self — how that person will feel, what that person might…

By Naomi Schaefer Riley

August 1, 2023

How the Middle Class Is Faring: My Long-Read Q&A with Jeremy Horpedahl

Does the typical American family today enjoy better living standards compared to 1985? We may have bigger TVs in our living rooms and smartphones in our pockets, but a recent report from Washington, DC, think tank the American Compass suggests the cost of a thriving, middle-class lifestyle has risen over the past generation. To discuss what that…

By James Pethokoukis

July 31, 2023

Biden’s Under-the-Radar Budget Bomb: A New Student Loan Repayment Plan

The Biden administration hasn’t been shy about spending money, and spending on higher education policy has been no exception. The most obvious channel for (attempted) spending was the illegal plan to cancel $10,000 to $20,000 in student debt for most borrowers that was halted by the Supreme Court. But there’s another plan in the works…

By Beth Akers

July 31, 2023

The Utah Model: Workforce Programs and Services Integration Tool Kit

Read the PDF. Executive Summary This tool kit provides an updated overview of Utah’s innovative approach to managing and allocating federal funds for workforce development and social assistance programs. Utah’s designation as a single state area under the Workforce Investment Act and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) has enhanced its ability to leverage federal…

By Mason M. Bishop

July 30, 2023

26 Miles of Scaffolding Blights NYC’s Public Housing, Some Up for 10 Years

No New York pedestrian would disagree with Eric Adam’s characterization of the city’s ubiquitous sidewalk sheds at stalled construction sites as “ugly little green boxes.”  But his targeting of private buildings owners with $10,000 a month fines for scaffolding that stays up for more than 90 days without building repairs proceeding also suggests selective prosecution. …

By Howard Husock

July 28, 2023

It Really Is More Expensive to Give Everyone $1 Than to Give Some People $1

In a piece from last year, Matt Bruenig of the People’s Policy Project argues (in the title of the piece) “Universal Benefits Cost Less Than Means-Tested Benefits.” He lays out his central claim in the following passage: Korpi and Palme accept the idea that, for a given welfare budget, targeted programs reduce inequality and poverty more than…

By Scott Winship

July 28, 2023

The Time Is Now for Workforce Innovation

Over the past two years, I have had the honor and privilege of steering AEI’s Workforce Future’s Initiative in collaboration with colleagues at The Brookings Institution and The Harvard Kennedy School’s Project on Workforce. Together, we’ve convened experts to evaluate evidence of workforce program success, discuss workforce policy, and identify priorities for new research on the future…

By Brent Orrell

July 27, 2023

Time to Do Something About the NILFs

The overall employment situation looks great in the United States—so why are so many men not working? The Wall Street Journal reports that work among prime-age Americans—those between 25 and 54 years of age—is at the highest rate in two decades, driven by rising wages and worker shortages. After years of decline in labor force participation, this is certainly welcome…

By Brent Orrell

July 27, 2023

Perspective: Can artificial intelligence teach us to be better workers?

So-called ‘soft skills’ are in short supply in the workforce and society at large. AI could help us get better A few weeks ago, McKinsey & Company published updated estimates on when key anticipated characteristics of artificial intelligence might arrive — including things like creativity, logical reasoning, and social/emotional reasoning, sensing and output. McKinsey’s timeline for increased capacity across a range of such capabilities…

By Brent Orrell

July 26, 2023

How Worker Benefits Turn into Welfare

The disparity between what the federal government collects in taxes and what it spends was never greater than during the pandemic, when annual deficits peaked at $3.1 trillion in 2020. Even today, when the president swears Bidenomics is “working everywhere,” annual deficits exceed $1.5 trillion, and are expected to only grow. One little-noticed driver of record deficits was…

By Matt Weidinger