All Research
Book
Doing Right by Kids: Leveraging Social Capital and Innovation to Increase Opportunity
…in American K–12 Education,” MICHAEL Q. MCSHANE Chapter 3: “Educational Pathways to Economic Opportunity,” BETH AKERS AND PRESTON COOPER Chapter 4: “Reviving Marriage to Promote Upward Mobility,” BRAD WILCOX AND…
Article
America is Still Working
Sometimes it seems like Americans can’t decide whether we work too much or too little. We hear that because of rising inequality and a lack of good jobs, workers must…
Working Paper
Critiquing Bastian (2022, 2023, 2024, and forthcoming): On Child Tax Credit Reform and the Sensitivity of Single Mothers to Work Incentives
…Act (ARPA) made it available to non-workers on the same basis as workers. Attempts to make this reform permanent foundered, in part, due to opposition from policymakers who worried that…
Commentary
Options for Improving the Child Tax Credit Provisions in H.R. 7024, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024
…policy reforms better suited to the current fiscal environment. We recognize policymakers’ urge to expand benefits for families that have weathered recent high inflation. Nevertheless, if lawmakers intend to pass…
Blog
Child Tax Credit Bill Would Increase Marriage Penalties for Working Single Mothers
…in which taxes fall or transfers rise as a result of marriage. Policymakers have expressed growing concern over marriage penalties, in light of declining marriage rates and the growing prevalence…
Op-Ed
It Takes Two
…understanding the lived experiences of American children and how policymakers can support their learning, health, and well-being. Should policymakers invest in programs designed to nudge parents to marry or stay…
Commentary
Putting This Year’s Poverty Numbers in Context
…subsidies also contributed more to child poverty reduction in 2022 than 2021. As discussed extensively at Tuesday’s AEI event, policymakers and the public are in dire need of a poverty…
Op-Ed
Reforming the EITC to Reduce Single Parenthood and Ease Work-Family Balance
…should torment policymakers today. One way that policy can potentially reverse this trend is by addressing the ways that our safety net has weakened marital childbearing and childrearing. But we…
Report
Better Data Means Better Policy
…earnings and income estimates that will be more accurate and, as such, a better tool for policymakers. It’s bigger news than it might seem. If nominal income rises by 5…
Report
The Mainline Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Social Capitalism
Download the Dataset When Alexis de Tocqueville penned his seminal Democracy in America lauding the strength of American communities, institutions, and associations, he noted the unique status of religion. Religion,…
Book
A Safety Net for the Future: Overcoming the Root Causes of Poverty
…1996 welfare reform reduced poverty dramatically by putting millions of poor Americans on a path to self-sufficiency, but policymakers have since increased the number of Americans receiving unconditional transfers. Policymakers…