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October 11, 2024
It’s time to face up to our social poverty problem
…on the incomes and employment of individuals, families, groups and regions — and can therefore say a lot about changes in income, inequality and material living standards. In contrast, we…
October 10, 2024
Do Liberal Arts Colleges Pay Off? What the Data Say
…peers at other schools by $215,000. For nursing majors the gap is $146,000; for mathematics and statistics majors it is $101,000. It’s possible that the well-rounded undergraduate education at liberal…
October 9, 2024
Two Cheers for California’s Ban on Legacy Admissions
…more likely to be admitted to mom or dad’s alma mater than a non-legacy applicant with comparable test scores. The idea that a student should get a leg up because…
October 9, 2024
Kamala Harris’s Main Priority Is Expanding Welfare, Not Strengthening the Middle Class
Last week’s vice-presidential debate was chock-full of references to the middle class and plans to improve conditions for the middle class. That’s also a common refrain to the stump speech…
October 3, 2024
Stop the insanity. Our national debt now tops $35 trillion…
America’s political leaders have a spending problem. They know entitlement programs feature benefit promises far exceeding their tax base, but have done nothing to make them sound. Meanwhile, both parties demand…
September 23, 2024
The Last Bipartisan Policy
…puts a greater premium on real, meaningful learning, but also on less-tangible measures, like motivation and teachability, that matter in job performance. Removing degree requirements isn’t about competing with traditional…
September 23, 2024
Toward a Potential Grand Bargain for the Nation
…Democracy commissioned subject matter experts—progressives, centrists, and conservatives—to develop a “Grand Bargain” encompassing all six issues. The policy debate typically puts these problems into silos, and within each silo, powerful…
September 20, 2024
Don’t Believe the Doomsayers. The American Dream Is Still In Reach for Young People
…gaps remain. While a person’s race matters increasingly less, there are community level characteristics whose absence or presence more directly drive individual prospects of upward or downward mobility. Indeed, this…
September 11, 2024
Doing Right by Kids: A Book Event
…inequality, and the need to promote economically diverse neighborhoods through housing reform. The second panel discussed family policy and the safety net. AEI’s Brad Wilcox argued that marriage matters today…
September 10, 2024
America is Still Working
…using IPUMS microdata. (See Steven Ruggles, Sarah Flood, Matthew Sobek, Daniel Backman, Annie Chen, Grace Cooper, Stephanie Richards, Renae Rodgers, and Megan Schouweiler. IPUMS USA: Version 15.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN:…