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 Kevin Corinth and Scott Winship
AN EARLY LOOK AT THE CHILD TAX CREDIT CHANGES IN THE TAX RELIEF FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES AND WORKERS ACT OF 2024
March 28, 2024
The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 would increase CTC payments for families with lower earnings, apply a one-year “lookback” provision to the refundable credit’s earnings test, and begin increasing the maximum benefit with inflation. More research is needed to inform how behavioral responses to these changed incentives would ultimately shape the legislation’s effects on employment, marriage, and family well-being.
By Angela Rachidi and Thomas O'Rourke
Economic Characteristics of the Food Insecure
March 26, 2024
Despite recent concerns about rising levels of food insecurity, about a quarter of food insecure households have incomes that place them in the top three quintiles of the income distribution and food insecure households spend about as much as food secure households on food.
by Leslie Ford
Evaluating Guaranteed Income Projects
March 19, 2024
Local lawmakers are currently piloting their desired next nationwide expansion of the welfare state. Dozens of guaranteed income pilots are running across the country at the local and state level, sometimes funded by COVID-19 relief funds, to encourage federal policymakers to implement cash grants without work requirements, restrictions, or conditions.
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.
