There Are Many Reasons to Cheer Up About the State of the Middle Class
April 11, 2026 | Scott Winship
This piece originally appeared at National Review Online and is reprinted here with permission. Statistics show that...
Perspectives on Opportunity – OLD
Welcome to the Perspectives on Opportunity Series
AEI’s Perspectives on Opportunity is a policy report series published by the Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility (COSM). Contributions to this series include empirical and theoretical analysis of issues related to opportunity in the United States and evidence-based policy proposals to expand opportunity, promote upward mobility, and strengthen social capital. COSM Deputy Director Kevin Corinth is the editor of Perspectives on Opportunity.
2024 Contributions
by Angela Rachidi and Craig Gundersen
Why Did Food Insecurity Increase from 2019 to 2022 in the United States?
March 12, 2024
Food insecurity in the United States rose in 2022, not because of changes to the safety net, but because of increasing food prices.
By Brent Orrell | David Veldran
The Age of Uncertainty—and Opportunity: Work in the Age of AI
February 29, 2024
Research on AI’s impacts on the labor market and the future of work has betrayed great uncertainty. We need to equip workers to adapt to change.
By Brent Orrell | David Veldran
The Value of a Bachelor's Degree
January 29, 2024
Despite declining public confidence in higher education, the bachelor’s degree continues to have great economic and noneconomic value; it’s time to reframe the discussion around it.
By Matt Weidinger
Small-Dollar Demonstration Projects Can’t Hide That A National Guaranteed Income Program Would Cost Trillions
January 12, 2024
While some have declared that short-term guaranteed income demonstrations (patterned on universal basic income schemes) are working almost universally, such cheerleading misses a major drawback: the enormous costs that would arise if such programs operated at a national level, as proponents intend.
Dynamics of Families After a Nonmarital Birth
January 8, 2024
Even after a nonmarital birth, reaching milestones in the success sequence corresponds with dramatically lower poverty rates.
2023 Contributions
By Howard Husock
Blue-State Benefits: How Federal Grants Fail to Consider Population Shift
October 12, 2023
In this report, Howard Husock examines funding for the largest federal grant programs for 2020–22, focusing on grants-in-aid that do not fully adjust for population change.
By Scott Winship | Jeremy Horpedahl
THE COST OF THRIVING HAS FALLEN: CORRECTING AND REJECTING THE AMERICAN COMPASS COST-OF-THRIVING INDEX
July 26, 2023
Conventional analyses indicate an increase in male earnings of 19 percent, without accounting for taxes, and an increase of 34 percent after taxes. For the broader group including all full-time workers, the after-tax increase was 53 percent.
By Angela Rachidi | Thomas O’Rourke
Promoting Mobility Through SNAP: Toward Better Health and Employment Outcomes
May 01, 2023
SNAP reforms should focus on not only reducing hunger but also improving employment and nutrition.
Latest Updates
Missing Boy Jacob Pritchett Is a Reminder of Why We Can’t Leave Disabled Kids with Ill-Equipped Parents
March 29, 2026 | Naomi Schaefer Riley
It has been a year since anyone saw Jacob Pritchett. The 11-year-old boy, who is autistic...
Refocusing the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation on Achieving Deep Cost Reductions
March 26, 2026 | James C. Capretta
Spending on Medicare and Medicaid is pushing the federal budget to the breaking point, but, in...
The More Things Change, Medicaid Edition
March 25, 2026 | James C. Capretta
“Clinics” with suspect professional credentials running up bills for publicly-insured low-income patients. Outlandish claim volumes...