COSM’s commentary page is home to timely analysis of pressing topics.
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
October 5, 2026 | Brent Orrell
AI in health care promises greater efficiency, but only if it balances the objective knowledge of the physician with the subjective wisdom of the patient.
October 4, 2026 | Angela Rachidi
Michigan has become an unlikely testing ground for debates over universal basic income programs. Since 2024, new mothers participating in Rx Kids can receive up to $7,500 in unconditional cash payments during pregnancy and throughout the first year after childbirth. Supporters of such programs should expect meaningful improvements in the...
October 2, 2026 | Arthur Gailes and Brad Wilcox
From right and left, we keep hearing how hard it is to afford a home. “A lot of young people are saying, ‘Housing is way too expensive,'” Vice President JD Vance has said. He blamed illegal immigration and a failure to build “enough new houses to begin with, even for...
October 1, 2026 | Kevin Corinth
Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders released an ad this week about “Brad,” a fictional character who “has turned relaxing into a full-time profession,” that is, snacking in front of the television and playing video games. In the ad, Governor Sanders suggests that it is unfair to ask hardworking taxpayers to...