Perspectives on Opportunity

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.

Blue-State Benefits: How Federal Grants Fail to Consider Population Shift

The federal government annually awards hundreds of billions of dollars in grants to states. In this report, I examine funding for the largest federal grant programs for 2020–22, focusing on grants-in-aid that do not fully adjust for population change. For states losing population, I calculate “avoided reductions,” the difference between the grants a state received in 2022 and what it would have received had grant funding been reduced proportionate to population loss. I find that the sums of avoided reductions differ greatly among states, with California, Illinois, and New York spared the most.

October 12, 2023 | By Howard Husock

The Cost of Thriving Has Fallen: Correcting and Rejecting the American Compass Cost-of-Thriving Index

Our improvements to Cass’s estimates indicate the cost of thriving rose by 10 weeks rather than 22. After accounting for the better quality of the goods and services he tracks, the increase was four weeks. The cost of thriving declines when we account for falling federal taxes or include all full-time workers. The after-tax cost of thriving for this broader group fell by 7.5 weeks. These improvements aside, we reject the COTI approach as inadequate for assessing changes in living standards.

June 22, 2023 | By Scott Winship and Jeremy Horpedahl

Promoting Mobility Through SNAP: Toward Better Health and Employment Outcomes

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is among the nation’s largest safety-net programs, helping low-income households afford food, improve nutrition, and support employment. As program expenditures continue to grow, assessing SNAP from the perspective of employment and health outcomes is crucial. We analyze administrative and survey data to document trends in employment and health outcomes for adult SNAP recipients from 1996 to 2019.

May 1, 2023 | By Angela Rachidi and Thomas O'Rourke

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 the middle class is healthier and more secure than ever before. This week, Michael Brendan Dougherty wrote that he doesn’t think he’s “ever been so depressed” as when he read my recent report with Steve Rose, “The Middle Class is...

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 and nonverbal, was reported missing in October. But, as far as anyone can tell, he was last seen through his window on April 2, 2025, by a property manager at his NYCHA apartment in Brownsville, Brooklyn....

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 aftermath of the cuts enacted in the 2025 reconciliation bill, Congress might have difficulty producing another round of necessary savings in the near term. To make continued progress on health care spending restraint while...

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 for questionable services, including unneeded tests and consultations. Harmful and abusive treatment of patients in some cases. And then the understandable outrage in Washington, DC that no one at the state level seems to notice...