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Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:24:00 GMT
Despite its status as one of the world’s leading economies, the United States is faced with high poverty rates and less economic opportunity than many other affluent countries. Senior Fellows Isabel Sawhill and Ron Haskins, argue that it will take a combination of personal responsibility along with smarter and better-targeted government policies to make the American Dream a reality for children and families now stuck at the bottom.
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Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Isabel Sawhill examines the effect of the proposed health care reform legislation on the middle class. She concludes that the reform will be a false victory if all it does is expand coverage and increase choice, without substantially affecting what our health care dollars buy.
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Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:30:00 GMT
Event Information:
- September 10, 2009, 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM
On September 10, the day the U.S. Census Bureau releases its new report on poverty and family income for 2008, the Brookings Center on Children and Families held its seventh annual briefing to discuss the new figures and their implications for families and policymakers.
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Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- June 23, 2009, 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
On June 23, the Center on Children and Families at Brookings hosted an event that examines a new report by McKinsey Global Institute on changing employment and income that informs the debate on what has driven the dispersion in incomes across industries and occupations.
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Fri, 15 May 2009 10:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- May 15, 2009, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM
The economic well-being of the middle class can be crucial to the success of economic policies in both developed and developing countries. Yet many public policies are not aimed at the middle class. On May 15, Brookings hosted a discussion on the need to assess how fiscal policy affects the middle class around the world.
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Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Changing demographics—where people live, educational attainment, aging of boomers, diversity in population growth, poverty rates—raises key policy and program issues for the new government in Washington. In view of that, the Metropolitan Policy Program has compiled and detailed important trends that are shaping the nation’s engines of economic growth and opportunity.
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Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT
In this paper, Edgar Olsen argues that the two most serious structural shortcomings of the current system of low-income housing assistance are (1) its excessive reliance on unit-based assistance and (2) its failure to provide housing assistance to all of the poorest eligible families who ask for help.
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Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- August 26, 2008, 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
On August 26, the day the Census poverty report was released, the Brookings Center on Children and Families held its sixth annual briefing to discuss the new figures and their implications for families and policy-makers.
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Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Gary Burtlesshas examines the distribution of health consumption and financing in a single recent year. It compares the implications of two sets of estimates of effects of the current health care system on the distribution of income across persons and across age groups.
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Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:14:38 GMT
In a new report, Alan Berube and Elizabeth Kneebone explain that following a dramatic decline in concentrated poverty in the 1990s, the number of low-income workers and families living in high-working-poverty neighborhoods rose by a striking 41% in the first half of this decade. Alan Berube says that help for high working-poverty communities will come from stronger national and regional economic growth—plus targeted efforts to protect neighborhoods of choice and connection.
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Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT
After dramatic declines in concentrated poverty in the 1990s, the number of low-income workers and families living in high-working-poverty neighborhoods rose by a striking 41% in the first half of this decade, according to a new report from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. The report's authors draw on data from the IRS to measure the change in rates of “concentrated working poverty” nationally and in many of the largest metropolitan areas across the country.
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Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT
William Gale, Doug Elmendorf, Jason Furman and Benjamin Harris reexamine the distributional effects of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, incorporating the financing of the tax changes, and the implications of behavioral responses for economic growth, incomes, and well-being factors. Compared with the standard analysis, this “dynamic distributional analysis” shows that the benefits of these tax cuts were much smaller, on average, and much more skewed toward people with higher incomes.
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Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:48:53 GMT
Noted economist Rebecca M. Blank is joining the Brookings Institution as the Robert V. Kerr senior fellow, Brookings president Strobe Talbott announced today. Blank is a former member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors and former dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.
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Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- April 28, 2008, 12:00 PM to 12:00
On April 28, the Global Economy and Development Program hosted a conference to explore four of Brazil’s key economic-policy challenges. Whatever the role Brazil chooses to play in the global economy will matter for the United States and other countries in the region.
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Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- April 28, 2008, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM
In Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age (Princeton University Press and Russell Sage, 2008), political scientist Larry Bartels argues that economic inequality in America is partly a product of our democracy, dominated by partisan ideologies and the interests of the wealthy. William Galston moderated a discussion with Bartels, Thomas Mann and Elisabeth Jacobs.
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Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- April 23, 2008, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
During the nation’s infancy, Alexis de Tocqueville meticulously studied America’s democratic experiment and defined the contours of American exceptionalism. Nearly 200 years later, scholars James Q. Wilson and Peter Schuck reconsider what defines the United States and its role in our rapidly changing world in Understanding America: The Anatomy of an Exceptional Nation (Public Affairs, 2008). William Galston moderated a discussion with Wilson, Schuck and Brookings scholars Don Kettl and Ron Haskins.
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Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT
In this report, Elizbeth Kneebone examines the changing distribution of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) recipients across large cites and suburbs, smaller metro areas, and rural communities throughout the country. While taxpayers in large cities and rural areas were the most likely to claim the EITC in 2005, more than one-third of EITC filers lived in the suburbs of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas.
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Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:00:00 GMT
This book focuses on three key criteria for fostering broadly shared economic growth: enhancing economic security, building a highly skilled work force, and reforming the tax system.
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Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Is America still the land of opportunity and mobility? How much opportunity to get ahead actually exists in America? Brookings scholars Julia Isaacs, Isabel Sawhill and Ron Haskins provide new evidence and summarize research on both the extent of intergenerational mobility in the United States and the factors that influence it.
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Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:44:37 GMT
Economic inequality across American households has been growing for a number of years. Isabel Sawhill, co-director of the Center on Children and Families and co-author of Getting Ahead or Losing Ground: Economic Mobility in America examines how upwardly mobile we really are.
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Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) reveals that household income has become noticeably more volatile during the past thirty years. Senior Fellow Doug Elmendorf with Karen Dynan and Daniel Sichel from the Federal Reserve Board estimate that the standard deviation of percent changes in household income rose one-fourth between the early 1970s and early 2000s.
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Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT
In testimony before the D.C. City Council Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs, Alice M. Rivlin presents recommendations for reducing poverty in the District. She gives examples of education and training programs that could be funded in the FY2009 budget and reviews longer-term workforce development strategies.
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Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Expert Gregg Easterbrook and Harvard Law School's Elizabeth Warren discuss the squeeze on the American middle class.
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Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT
A sharp rise in income inequality in the United States has created large gaps between the haves and the have-nots. Based on new Brookings research, most of today’s adults are better off than their own parents were when they were growing up. The converse: one third remains worse off. Many middle-class families are only one earner away from poverty. Isabel Sawhill and Julia Isaacs argue that America could and should do better, through better access to education, including early childhood education.
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Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Julia Isaacs discussed her new report which found that two out of three Americans are making more money today than their parents did in the '60s, but for African-American men, that statistic is much lower.
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Fri, 21 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT
A new report examines the link between income inequality and new housing construction in various metropolitan areas. Using data from the Census and Neighborhood Change Database on 215 metropolitan areas, the analysis compares trends between economically distressed metropolitan areas (those that experienced little or no population or economic growth) and non-distressed metropolitan areas.
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Thu, 06 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Hamilton Project Director Jason Furman testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on fair and equitable tax policy for America's working families.
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Tue, 28 Aug 2007 14:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- August 28, 2007, 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
On August 28, the Brookings Conter on Children and Families held a briefing to discuss a new Census poverty report. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg offered a response to the report as the event's featured speaker.
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Fri, 03 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Interview with Ron Haskins (08/03/07)
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Sun, 24 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT
What do western Louisville and the Appalachian region have in common besides being two of the poorest areas in Kentucky? Not much one would think. And, yet, they each are also among the most expensive places to live in the state.
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Fri, 08 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Opinion by Isabel V. Sawhill (06/08/07)
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Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Using data from the PSID, we find that household income has become noticeably more volatile during the past thirty years. We estimate that the standard deviation of percent changes in household income rose one-fourth between the early 1970s and early 2000s.
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Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT
The progressive tax system, and the nation's fiscal system more broadly, have historically played an important role in expanding opportunities for all Americans while reducing inequality. But the same dynamic forces of technological change, financial innovation, and globalization that have contributed to rising income inequality also present new challenges for progressive taxation.
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Tue, 29 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Article by Ron Haskins (05/29/07)
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Thu, 10 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Testimony by Gary Burtless (05/10/2007)
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Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Gary Burtless shows how income inequality has changed in rich countries and considers how much of the change can be explained by closer economic integration between rich and poor countries.
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Sun, 18 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Opinion by Gregg Easterbrook, Los Angeles Times (3/18/07)
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Thu, 15 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Speech by Jeffrey R. Kling (03/15/07)
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Tue, 13 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Testimony by Gary Burtless and Timothy Smeeding (02/13/07)
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Sun, 03 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT
Opinion by Peter Orszag (12/3/2006)
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Wed, 20 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT
Testimony by Gary Burtless presented on September 20, 2006
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Fri, 15 Sep 2006 13:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- September 15, 2006, 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
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Fri, 01 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT
Stagnating incomes for the middle class together with rising income inequality have raised questions about whether the United States remains the land of opportunity celebrated in the nation's history and public philosophy. This brief reviews the evidence on intergenerational mobility and the role of education in enabling less advantaged children to move up the economic ladder.
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Fri, 01 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT
Paper by Bordoff, Deich, and Orszag (September 2006)
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Tue, 29 Aug 2006 14:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- August 29, 2006, 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
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Mon, 07 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT
Increasing in the minimum wage has to be paired with a national campaign to lower the higher prices being paid by the poor today.
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Wed, 26 Jul 2006 09:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- July 26, 2006, 9:00 AM to 10:45 AM
Following the preview of a new PBS doucmentary, "Waging a Living," Brookings hosted a panel discussion with leading experts and program directors to address the obstacles facing low-income workers and steps that can be taken by employers and federal, state and local policy-makers to provide better lives for their families.
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Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT
Americans' long-held belief that education and hard work advances each generation's outlook has provided a powerful incentive for industrious activity, spurring the unprecedented economic growth that the United States has enjoyed for more than two centuries. Yet the fundamental principle that all citizens should have an opportunity to succeed is at risk today because the nation is neither paying its way nor investing adequately in its future. The Hamilton Project at Brookings advances innovative policy ideas for improving our nation's economic policy.
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Mon, 05 Dec 2005 10:30:00 GMT
Event Information:
- December 05, 2005, 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM
Research suggests that having a car is a worthwhile investment for better outcomes among low-income families. At this meeting, researchers and program operators reviewed the research evidence, and discussed the policy implications and recent federal legislative proposals to improve access to car ownership opportunities for the working poor.
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Mon, 28 Nov 2005 00:00:00 GMT
Research evidence suggests that having a car is a worthwhile investment in better outcomes for low-income families. Recent reports quantify the additional money required to own and operate personal vehicles, as compared to the lower cost of traveling on public transit. However, this method of accounting fails to consider the fact that poor workers without a car may not be able to search for or accept a better-paying job because public transit doesn't go there, causing these workers to lose lost income or benefits as a result. This report outlines opportunity costs experienced by transit-dependent poor households, and concludes that when all costs are considered along with benefits of private vehicles, it makes sense to press for more assistance and policies that reduce car ownership costs for poor workers.
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Sat, 01 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT
Though a strong economic performer in recent years, the Twin Cities region faces underlying disparities of race, class, and place that threaten to undermine that strength just as its pool of highly-educated baby boomers approaches retirement.
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Thu, 11 Aug 2005 00:00:00 GMT
In a global economy characterized by some as being awash in saving, Americans stand out for their devotion to consumption. The rate of private saving in the United States has declined precipitously over the past two decades. While the corporate component has surged during the current economic expansion, the household saving rate has continued to fall. Household saving has fallen from ten percent of disposable income in the first half of the 1980s to less than two percent in the first half of the current decade. This development should strike us as all the more surprising given the large number of baby-boomers who are in their peak saving years. Despite considerable empirical research, the source of the saving decline remains controversial; primarily because it's one-time nature makes the question of the causes difficult to resolve on the basis of macroeconomic correlations.
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Mon, 16 May 2005 00:00:00 GMT
Article by William G. Gale, Tax Break (5/16/05)
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Tue, 01 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMT
Paper by William G. Gale, J. Mark Iwry, and Peter R. Orszag (March 2005)
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Tue, 02 Nov 2004 00:00:00 GMT
Article by Margy Waller, Philadelphia Daily News (11/2/04)
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Mon, 27 Sep 2004 00:00:00 GMT
Article by William G. Gale and Peter R. Orszag, Tax Notes (9/27/04)
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Mon, 13 Sep 2004 00:00:00 GMT
Article by William G. Gale and Peter R. Orszag, Tax Notes (9/13/04)
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Mon, 06 Sep 2004 00:00:00 GMT
Article by Alan J. Auerbach, William G. Gale, and Peter R. Orszag, Tax Notes (9/6/04)
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Wed, 01 Sep 2004 00:00:00 GMT
Article by William G. Gale, Encyclopedia of Taxation (September 2004)
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Sun, 01 Aug 2004 00:00:00 GMT
This new analysis of census data concludes that middle-class households did not abandon American cities over the past 20 years, although most locations increasingly lack the nation's full income diversity.
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Fri, 16 Jul 2004 00:00:00 GMT
Speech by Peter R. Orszag, City Club of Cleveland (7/16/04)
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Mon, 01 Sep 2003 00:00:00 GMT
Article by Isabel V. Sawhill, The Public Interest (Fall 2003)
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Mon, 01 Sep 2003 00:00:00 GMT
Article by Gary Burtless, Canadian Public Policy (2003)
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Wed, 06 Aug 2003 00:00:00 GMT
Opinion by Carol Graham and Andrew Oswald (8/6/03)
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Mon, 23 Jun 2003 00:00:00 GMT
Opinion by Carol Graham and Peyton Young, Boston Globe (6/23/03)
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Sun, 23 Feb 2003 00:00:00 GMT
This address by Bruce Katz to the National Governors Association Committee on Human Resources argues that that governors can leverage the benefits of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit for urban and rural areas alike.
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Wed, 01 May 2002 00:00:00 GMT
Article by Nancy Birdsall, Nonresident Senior Fellow, the Brookings Institution, in Foreign Policy, May/June 2002
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Mon, 22 Apr 2002 00:00:00 GMT
Paper by Gary Burtless, Senior Fellow, the Brookings Institution, April 22, 2002
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Wed, 01 Aug 2001 00:00:00 GMT
CSED working paper, Brookings Institution, Economic Studies
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Tue, 01 May 2001 00:00:00 GMT
Paper by Isabel Sawhill, Senior Fellow, and Adam Thomas, Senior Research Analyst, The Brookings Institution, May 2001
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Wed, 01 Mar 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by Alice Rivlin (Spring 2000)
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Wed, 01 Dec 1999 00:00:00 GMT
Blueprint
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Wed, 01 Dec 1999 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by Gary Burtless (Winter 1999)
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Mon, 01 Nov 1999 00:00:00 GMT
Asset Accumulation Among Low-Income Households"" paper by stacie carney and william gale, november 30, 1999. economic studies: brookings institution.
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Wed, 01 Sep 1999 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by Sheldon Danziger and Deborah Reed (Fall 1999)
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Wed, 01 Sep 1999 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by Gary Burtless (Fall 1999)
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Wed, 01 Sep 1999 00:00:00 GMT
Stylized Earnings for Birth Cohorts 1931-60: Barry Bosworth and Gary Burtless Paper, December 1999
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Thu, 01 Jul 1999 00:00:00 GMT
CSED: Effects of Growing Wage Disparities
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Mon, 01 Mar 1999 00:00:00 GMT
Article by Isabel V. Sawhill, Senior Fellow, Economic Studies
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Fri, 05 Feb 1999 00:00:00 GMT
A 150-to-1 Ratio Is Far Too Lopsided for Comfort
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Fri, 05 Jun 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Opinion by Henry Aaron, The Brookings Institution
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Fri, 01 May 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Book by Isabel V. Sawhill and Daniel P. McMurrer, The Urban Institute, 1998
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Mon, 01 Sep 1997 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by David Kuo (Fall 1997)
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Fri, 01 Mar 1996 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review, Spring 1996