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January 13, 2026
Major Changes Coming to SNAP in 2026
…is the federal agency that oversees SNAP, has approved state requests for new policies designed to improve nutrition and will likely issue new regulations that tighten eligibility standards. Here…
January 6, 2026
The Middle Class Is Shrinking Because of a Booming Upper-Middle Class
…from 54 percent to 35 percent. Claims of a hollowed-out middle class wrongly reinterpret widespread (if unequal) gains across the income distribution as rising insecurity and declining living standards. The-Middle-Class-Is-Shrinking-Because-of-a-Booming-Upper-Middle-ClassDownload…
December 11, 2025
Trump Family Policy Fails to Deliver at the One-Year Mark
…benefits as a standalone benefit. Improving drug review times and providing guidance for employers are positive, if small, steps in increasing access to IVF without subsidizing treatment. However, health policy…
December 10, 2025
How Misreading Somali Poverty Led Minnesota into Its Largest Welfare Scandal
…see the same playbook from Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.) In light of the supposed racist backdrop to Somali poverty, state officials were hardly going to stanch the flow of federal dollars…
December 1, 2025
Apocalypse Not
…several of the other categories we’ll get to in that it is not simply an average expenditure amount but based on some standard of need (from the US Department of…
November 30, 2025
Our Economy Is Not Stagnant
…of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But the best evidence on earnings trends presents two insurmountable problems for populists who blame supposedly stagnant living standards on economic developments and policy choices over recent…
November 26, 2025
How Not to Redefine Poverty
…poverty line is supposed to reflect a constant standard of living, after adjusting for inflation over time. There are actually 48 official poverty lines, depending on how many people are…
November 20, 2025
When help holds families back
…States. Both studies used a random assignment research design – the gold standard in research methods – to measure the effects of unconditional cash handouts on various outcomes. Both studies suggest that…
November 13, 2025
Is the US Really an Outlier on Pregnancy Deaths, and Have Such Deaths Spiked?
…Deaths in U.S.” and that “Pregnancy-Related U.S. Death Rates Have Jumped in Recent Years.” The JAMA study found that the age-standardized rate of pregnancy-related mortality increased by 27.7% from 2018…
October 15, 2025
Don’t Choose Your Own Adventure: Understanding Middle-Class Earnings Trends
…45 percent compared to the 1973 standard. In terms of today’s dollars, these gains translate to about $33,600 for women and $23,200 for men who work year-round. Most of this…