November 1, 2024
Kamala Harris’s Policy Book Doesn’t Even Mention Immigration
The record surge in illegal immigration during the Biden-Harris administration, its consequences and costs, and what to do about it are all major issues in this year’s election. Recent polling suggests addressing immigration is voters’ second biggest priority, right after inflation and ahead of the economy. Yet Vice President Kamala Harris’s “policy book” doesn’t even mention immigration, much…
October 31, 2024
The Republican Marriage Advantage: Partisanship, Marriage, And Family Stability In The Trump Era
The Donald Trump era has scrambled the relationship between partisanship and many of the most important social axes of American life—class, gender, region, and now even race and ethnicity. Since 2016, for instance, the White working-class has moved strongly into the Republican camp, the rich have migrated towards the Democratic Party, young women have headed left, and, more…
October 30, 2024
The Geography of Fertility — Where are the Babies?
Blue states are better for families — at least that’s what many academics and journalists contend. In their book “Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture,” law professors Naomi Cahn and June Carbone argued that blue states have the liberal values and policies they believe make for strong and stable…
October 29, 2024
The Black Men’s Burden Harris Ignores
In an attempt to shore up support among black male voters, Kamala Harris proposed small-business loans and training programs aimed at steering them toward “high-paying jobs.” Whatever the virtues of her plans, they overlook a real-world situation facing millions of black men: the combination of a prison record and daunting child-support payments they had no way of…
October 25, 2024
How Workforce Education Can Boost Earnings and Fill Jobs
Republicans and Democrats alike agree about the importance of workforce training. They’re right: Despite a recent labor-market cooling, there are still 7.7 million unfilled jobs in the United States. Unfortunately, America’s workforce-education system is a patchwork of dubious efficacy. Workforce programs are underfunded, tangled in red tape, and often fail to achieve their goals. Fixing this is hard: There’s…
October 21, 2024
US Tariffs Will Not Bring Back Jobs from China
Although protectionism has become a rare point of bipartisan consensus in America, the public debate about it gets some basic facts wrong. Yes, trade is disruptive, but the US has been unwilling to take advantage of the opportunities generated by it and is instead trying in vain to recreate the jobs of the past. Washington,…
October 18, 2024
Harris and Trump Are Equally Silent on the Expanding US Debt
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris seem to agree that one of the nation’s most important challenges should remain unaddressed — a problem that has been slowly eroding the foundations of economic prosperity for decades. That problem? The national debt. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reports that federal debt held by the public averaged 48.3 per…
October 17, 2024
Harris’ Tax Plans Would Reduce Long-Term Prosperity. Trump’s Proposals Might Be Even Worse.
AEI Scholar and Director of Economic Policy Studies Michael R. Strain contributed to the Dispatch’s Symposium titled Economic Policy Experts: Doom, Thy Name Is Populism, as a group of experts outlined the many ways in which either potential administration’s populism could lead to poor policy and worse economic outcomes. Below is a section from Michael R. Strain contribution….
October 15, 2024
Lefty NYC Council Add-Ons to Mayor’s ‘City of Yes’ Would Worse Housing Crisis
Eric Adams’ chance for a lasting legacy hinges on his ambitious zoning and housing proposal dubbed “City of Yes” — poised to come before the City Council next week. But as some community groups seek to derail the plan, the hard-left council looks ready to undermine it — and convert it to the “City of Yes, But.” The key to Adams’…
October 15, 2024
Why Should the US Wish to Be More Like China?
In my new paper for the Aspen Economic Strategy Group, I argue: The protectionism, trade wars, and industrial policies of the Trump and Biden administrations have not succeeded at meeting their goals and likely will not succeed at meeting their goals. They have caused manufacturing employment to decline, not to increase. They have not reduced the…