November 19, 2024
Abstract We provide an in-depth case study of land use reforms in Seattle to highlight how redevelopment of aging single-family housing to townhomes can lead to a significant increase in market-rate housing that promotes affordability. The key is to allow market forces to use by-right zoning to drive small-scale development, when also supported by clear…
November 17, 2024
On Nov. 5, Denver’s voters rejected Affordable Denver, a half-cent sales tax increase for subsidized housing. The tax hike would have burdened working families while failing to address the root causes of unaffordable housing. But the vote’s outcome opens the door for a better solution — not only in Denver but also in other Colorado…
November 15, 2024
In his 2021 campaign for Senate, JD Vance, now vice-president-elect, minced no words in expressing his disdain for two of America’s largest private, philanthropic institutions: the Ford Foundation and the Gates Foundations. Both are, he said, “fundamentally cancers on American society but they pretend to be charities, so they benefit from preferential tax treatment.” Their endowments, he continued,…
November 10, 2024
The decision of Washington Post owner/Amazon founder Jeff Bezos not to allow the paper’s editorial board to endorse a presidential candidate has stirred disappointment cum outrage among the paper’s readers — some 250,000 have gone so far as to cancel their subscriptions. Bezos, with the deepest of pockets, was once viewed as the Post’s savior — now he’s the devil in…
November 7, 2024
Abstract Particularly since the 1990s, federal statistical agencies have worked to improve the ability ofvarious price indexes to measure changes in the cost of living. However, in recent years, somehave sent mixed signals to researchers about the relative merits of different measures. As aresult, academic and policy researchers routinely use theoretically and empirically inferior priceindexes…
November 5, 2024
Why are U.S. housing prices so high? Edward L. Glaeser, the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University, is an expert in housing and urban economics. His work highlights the relationship between housing supply, urban growth, and economic prosperity, offering insights for policymakers to create more sustainable and equitable urban environments through…
November 4, 2024
Nationalist/populist conservatives, including the Republican nominee, claim that US economic history supports their views of trade protectionism. Donald Trump says “tariff” is “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” and that America “in the 1890s was probably the wealthiest it ever was” because of its tariff system. First, per capita GDP is, conservatively, seven times higher…
October 30, 2024
New research from the Project on Workforce and the National Governors Association highlights how governors are leveraging new industrial policy opportunities to strengthen workforce development and meet labor market needs. As the federal government allocates trillions of dollars toward new industrial policies, states face a significant challenge: they will only succeed in realizing the economic…
October 30, 2024
The 2024 American Opportunity Index measures how well America’s largest companies drive economic mobility and positive career outcomes for their employees—actions that also can help fuel business performance. It is based on independent data and is the only measure of employer quality to evaluate what really happens to workers at America’s largest employers over time….
October 22, 2024
Abstract We examine how the well-being of those with few resources changed, amidst economic disruption and large, transitory government transfers. We find that in the years leading up to the pandemic and in 2020, the patterns for income and consumption poverty were very similar. In 2021 and 2022, however, changes in income and consumption poverty…