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June 7, 2023

The Effect of Relaxing Local Housing Market Regulations on Federal Rental Assistance Programs

Abstract The majority of U.S. households that qualify for federal rental housing assistance do not receive it. In the absence of an entitlement to housing assistance, an underexplored cause of the shortfall is that higher rents in some areas driven by supply-constraining local regulations increase program costs, leaving fewer funds available to serve additional families….

By Kevin Corinth | Amelia Irvine

June 7, 2023

The Price We’ll Pay for Our AI Future: More Loneliness

Americans are trapped in a loneliness epidemic. Across the country, people are having fewer social interactions, spending more time alone, and reporting fewer close friends. These trends aren’t just a symptom of the COVID-19 pandemic — while the last few years may have accelerated the loneliness crisis, the shift toward a more solitary life has been happening…

By Daniel A. Cox

June 7, 2023

Don’t Give Away the Farm Bill

Republicans have one more chance to roll back out-of-control welfare spending this year. The farm bill—must-pass legislation that authorizes food stamps and other agriculture programs—will be voted on by December. GOP lawmakers should focus on reining in President Biden’s unprecedented and expensive food-stamp hike. The American Rescue Plan’s temporary 15% increase in food-stamp benefits was…

By Leslie Ford

June 7, 2023

How ‘Negativity Bias’ Skews the Conversation About Artificial Intelligence

Just as I was preparing an article titled “Calm Down About Artificial Intelligence”—one in a series—Marc Andreesen has preempted me with an 18-page blog post inventorying the main threads in the “AI doom-loop” and why these concerns are either wrong or substantially overblown. In fairness, Andreesen is open to the criticism that he is engaging in…

By Brent Orrell

June 7, 2023

The Price We’ll Pay For Our AI Future: More Loneliness

Americans are trapped in a loneliness epidemic. Across the country, people are having fewer social interactions, spending more time alone, and reporting fewer close friends. These trends aren’t just a symptom of the COVID-19 pandemic — while the last few years may have accelerated the loneliness crisis, the shift toward a more solitary life has been happening…

By Daniel Cox

June 2, 2023

America’s Baby Bust Is Back on Track

America’s birthrate has been falling steadily since the Great Recession 15 years ago, and the brief uptick of 2021 proved to be a statistical blip, as new birth data show a small drop in births in 2022. Speculation of a COVID baby boom hasn’t panned out. Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and…

By Timothy P. Carney

June 2, 2023

America’s Failing Child-Protection System

In her recent Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver describes the situation of a young boy whose father dies before he is born. His mother struggles with addiction, but Demon manages to get by somehow—mostly with the help of his next-door neighbors. His situation goes south quickly, though, around the age of 10, when his…

By Naomi Schaefer Riley

June 1, 2023

Will Chat Tech Help the Neuro-Divergent Find Their Place in Society?

The lament that digital technologies and social media are contributing to an epidemic of loneliness and conflict is ubiquitous. Whether these technologies caused or exacerbated these challenges is hard to unpack. My view is America’s sociability crisis was already advanced before Facebook, Twitter and other technology companies figured out how to monetize loneliness by providing…

By Brent Orrell

May 31, 2023

Choice Reconsidered

Discussions of school choice frequently fall into familiar morality plays: Either you’re for empowering parents or supporting public education. The resulting debate manages to miss much of what matters. It ignores that all kinds of choices are hard-wired into American public education. It skips past the fact that the affluent already choose schools when purchasing homes, so…

By Frederick M. Hess

May 31, 2023

Ending the Small Checks Scam

It’s no secret that strengthening work requirements for key welfare benefits has been a flashpoint in the debt limit negotiations. House Republicans, led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), insisted on including stronger work requirements in any agreement that raises the debt limit. Meanwhile President Joe Biden vacillated. At first, he noted his past support for work requirements and seemed open…

By Matt Weidinger