April 25, 2023
A Debate on Fatherhood
Richard Reeves and Ian Rowe debate the question, “Does strengthening fatherhood depend upon renewing marriage in America?” In his recent book, Of Boys and Men, Brookings Senior Fellow Richard Reeves argues that the institution of fatherhood must be revitalized in order to promote successful outcomes for boys and men, even if it means separating the…
April 20, 2023
Religion’s Refusal to Die
Event Summary On April 20–21, AEI and the Lefrak Forum cohosted a wide-ranging conference addressing religion’s persisting relevance in modernity’s public and private spheres of life. The conference commenced on the evening of April 20, with a conversation between Yeshiva University’s Meir Soloveichik and University of Notre Dame’s Patrick Deneen, who debated the extent to…
April 18, 2023
Introduction to The Social Breakdown
“Social capital” is an esoteric and often loosely defined concept, yet it captures a deep-seated intuition and shared sensibility among virtually all Americans: Our relationships have value, and what we do together matters. Social capital derives from our participation in—and belonging to—society’s “middle layers.” These middle layers are the myriad institutions, associations, and communities between…
April 17, 2023
Data Tools 6: The Geography of Traditional Families in America
The sixth in a series from Charles Murray. “Every generation, civilization is invaded by barbarians—we call them ‘children.’” These words, often attributed to Hannah Arendt, express a truth that societies have known since societies began: Children must be socialized. Two other truths that societies have instinctively known for millennia are that the birth parents must…
April 6, 2023
Stop the AI Pause
Last week, the Future of Life Institute released an open letter that included some computer science luminaries calling to freeze deployment and research on artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for six months. One prominent AI ethicist insisted that the letter did not go far enough and proposed that the world’s governments prepare for “airstrikes” against rogue developers and data processing…
April 4, 2023
Why Foster Children Are Sleeping in Offices and What We Can Do About It
Key Points Read the PDF. Introduction Across the country, child welfare systems are struggling to find placements for children and youth in foster care—especially those who are older and have higher levels of need. While bed shortages have long plagued child welfare systems, a confluence of issues has caused the problem to metastasize into a crisis. These issues include…
April 1, 2023
Minimum Wages and Poverty: New Evidence from Dynamic Difference-in-Differences Estimates
Advocates of minimum wage increases have long touted their potential to reduce poverty. This study assesses this claim. Using data spanning nearly four decades from the March Current Population Survey, and a dynamic difference-in-differences approach, we find that a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage is associated with a (statistically insignificant) 0.17 percent increase…
March 31, 2023
AI and the Future of Work: Preparing the Workforce for an AI-Driven Economy
AI is best positioned to augment the workforce, not replace it. The U.S. Chamber’s Commission on Artificial Intelligence Competition, Inclusion, and Innovation report outlines recommendations for preparing the workforce for the continued integration of AI tools across our economy. To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the “end of work” have been greatly exaggerated – more…
March 27, 2023
Here Are the Kinds of Jobs Chat AI Is Likeliest to Affect
A new analysis estimates that a fifth of all U.S. jobs are in the category most vulnerable to disruption. Researchers at OpenAI—the company behind ChatGPT—and the University of Pennsylvania came out last week with a first look at the potential labor market impact of chat technology. If these initial “guesstimates” hold up, we might be looking at…
March 24, 2023
How Religious Faith and a Sense of Agency Corresponds with Mental Health
“Sisterhood is powerful.” That was an early slogan of feminism, but it’s hard to imagine it being used to describe young women today. In fact, as a number of scholars have recently noticed, the mental health crisis being experienced by many teen and young adult women may have something to do with how little power…