COSM’s commentary page is home to timely analysis of pressing topics.
A recent column by John Burn-Murdoch in the Financial Times presents statistics side-by-side showing that “the wealthiest Americans are the richest people in the developed world, but America’s poorest are also the most likely to go hungry.” The chart buttressing the latter part of that conclusion shows that in over…
December 11, 2023 | By Scott Winship
Earlier this year, a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report recommended elevating the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) to the “nation’s headline poverty statistic,” and noted that the Office of Management and Budget could christen the SPM as the new official poverty measure. This action would require no Congressional input. The…
October 11, 2023 | By Kevin Corinth
American Compass has a new survey out in which it finds, among other results, that “only 40 percent of workers have secure jobs.” This is the latest attempt by the outfit to portray the American economy as in dire need of “rebuilding.” The report summarizing the findings is titled, “Labor…
October 5, 2023 | By Scott Winship
In this post I discuss the policy implications of declaring the Supplemental Poverty Measure the new official measure, an action that could be taken unilaterally by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget without any input from Congress. First, I report how eligibility for major means-tested programs would…
October 5, 2023 | By Kevin Corinth
For all that Utah is doing well, a concerning trend has surfaced amongst boys and men in the state.
September 27, 2023 | By W. Bradford Wilcox and Michael Pugh
On Tuesday, the Census Bureau released its latest income and poverty estimates covering calendar year 2022, including two assessments of poverty in America. One, called the Official Poverty Measure (OPM), focuses on earnings and cash-like government benefits, such as Social Security, unemployment, and welfare checks. A second, known as the…
September 15, 2023 | By Matt Weidinger and Scott Winship
The shock of the COVID-19 pandemic created urgent demand for “high frequency” national statistics. Prior to the pandemic, many economic indicators were available only on an annual basis (or even less frequently). One important exception was the unemployment rate, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates every month. The unemployment…
September 6, 2023 | By Scott Winship and Thomas O'Rourke
Since its origin in the 1970s, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has been the premier federal program promoting and rewarding work by low-income adults. As displayed below, taxpayers have devoted rapidly growing resources to the EITC since the 1980s. Overall, between 1975 and 2022, the EITC cost taxpayers a…
August 3, 2023 | By Matt Weidinger
Introduction While one of the main purposes of the U.S. safety net is to help individuals vulnerable to poverty provide for their basic needs and avoid hardship, there exists an important additional purpose: for individuals and families to escape dependence and achieve self-sufficiency. Unfortunately, most safety net programs do not…
July 17, 2023 | By Leslie Ford
September 2, 2026 | Angela Rachidi
Payment errors in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) have received considerable attention in recent months. While much of the debate has revolved around the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s (OBBBA) new requirements surrounding SNAP payment errors and the impact on states, many have overlooked the people most affected...
September 2, 2026 | Scott Winship
This is an edited version of Scott’s recent testimony before the Work & Welfare Subcommittee of the House Ways & Means Committee. In early 1995, the forerunner to this subcommittee began drafting legislation that would lead, 18 months later, to the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)....
September 1, 2026 | Scott Winship
Chairman LaHood, Ranking Member Davis, and members of the Subcommittee on Work and Welfare, thank you for holding this hearing on the 30th anniversary of the 1996 welfare reform law and for the opportunity to submit this written testimony. In early 1995, the forerunner to this subcommittee began drafting legislation...
September 1, 2026 | Matt Weidinger
It’s a depressingly familiar story: taxpayers lost a massive amount of money to waste, fraud, and abuse during the pandemic. On unemployment benefit checks alone, official government estimates suggest almost $200 billion in “improper payments,” which doesn’t include losses under the most abused federal program. Counting those losses, private sector experts estimate $400 billion in misspending,...