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Friday November 20, 2009

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Income Distribution

VIDEO

Save to My PortfolioIs the American Dream a Myth?

Ron Haskins and Isabel V. Sawhill, October 19, 2009

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.

Children & Families, Income Distribution, Social Norms, Social Issues, U.S. Economic Growth

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioWhat Role Can Health Care Reform Play in Restoring Middle Class Prosperity?

Isabel V. Sawhill, September 30, 2009, The Brookings Insitution

What Role Can Health Care Reform Play in Restoring Middle Class Prosperity?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. Read More

U.S. Economy, Health Care, Income Distribution

BOOK

Save to My PortfolioCreating an Opportunity Society

Ron Haskins and Isabel V. Sawhill, September 15, 2009

Creating an Opportunity Society examines economic opportunity in the United States and explores how to create more of it, particularly for those on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. Read More

Economic Mobility, Children & Families, Education, Federal Budget, Marriage and Family Formation

PAST EVENT

Save to My PortfolioPoverty and Income in 2008: A Look at the New Census Data and What the Numbers Mean

Thursday, September 10, 2009
2:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Washington, DC

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. Read More

U.S. Poverty, Income Distribution, Children & Families, Unemployment

PAST EVENT

Save to My PortfolioThe Changing Fortunes of the U.S. Workforce: What's Driving Income Inequality

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
Washington, DC

Reuters/Eric ThayerOn 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. Read More

Income Distribution, Inequality, Labor, Labor Markets, Technology

PAST EVENT

Save to My PortfolioStuck in the Middle: Is Fiscal Policy Failing the Middle Class?

Friday, May 15, 2009
10:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Washington, DC

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. Read More

Fiscal Policy, Economic Development, Income Distribution, Developing Countries, Development

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioGetting Current: Recent Demographic Trends in Metropolitan America

William H. Frey, Alan Berube, Audrey Singer and Jill H. Wilson, March 23, 2009, The Brookings Institution

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. Read More

Demographics, Cities, Education, Aging, Immigration

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioGetting More from Low-Income Housing Assistance

Edgar O. Olsen, September 23, 2008, Hamilton Project Discussion Paper

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. Read More

Housing, U.S. Poverty, Mortgage Market, Income Distribution

PAST EVENT

Save to My PortfolioPoverty and Income in 2007: A Look at the New Census Data and What the Numbers Mean

Tuesday, August 26, 2008
2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Washington, DC

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. Read More

Children & Families, Cost of Living, Income Distribution, U.S. Poverty

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioHealth Care Consumption and the Relative Well-Being of the Aged

Gary Burtless, August 19, 2008, The Brookings Institution

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. Read More

Health Care, Income Distribution, Aging

VIDEO

Save to My PortfolioLow-Income Families and Communities

Alan Berube, August 12, 2008

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.

Concentrated Poverty, Working Poor, Earned Income Tax Credit, U.S. Poverty, Inequality

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioReversal of Fortune: A New Look at Concentrated Poverty in the 2000s

Elizabeth Kneebone and Alan Berube, August 08, 2008, The Brookings Institution

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. Read More

Concentrated Poverty, Working Poor, Earned Income Tax Credit, U.S. Poverty, Inequality

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioDistributional Effects of the 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts

William G. Gale, Douglas W. Elmendorf, Jason Furman and Benjamin H. Harris , June 30, 2008, The Brookings Institution

 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. Read More

Tax Cuts, Taxes, Income Distribution, U.S. Economy

PAST EVENT

Save to My PortfolioBrazil As An Economic Superpower? Understanding Brazil’s Changing Role In The Global Economy

Monday, April 28, 2008
12:00 PM to 12:00
Washington, DC

Reuters/Paulo WhitakerOn 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. Read More

Brazil, Energy Security, Trade, Latin America, Global Economics

PAST EVENT

Save to My PortfolioOur Unequal Democracy? The Political Causes and Consequences of America’s Growing Income Gap

Monday, April 28, 2008
10:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Washington, DC

Our Unequal Democracy? The Political Causes and Consequences of America’s Growing Income GapIn 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. Read More

Inequality, U.S. Poverty, U.S. Politics, Income Distribution, U.S. Economy

Featured Experts

Isabel V. Sawhill

Isabel V. Sawhill

Senior Fellow, Economic Studies
The Cabot Family Chair

A nationally known budget expert, Isabel Sawhill focuses on domestic poverty and federal fiscal policy. She is also co-director of the Center on Children and Families at Brookings.
Read More

Gary Burtless

Gary Burtless

Senior Fellow, Economic Studies
The John C. and Nancy D. Whitehead Chair

Gary Burtless researches labor market policy, income distribution, population aging, social insurance, household saving, and the behavioral effects of taxes and government transfers. He was an economist with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Read More

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Spotlight

TopicEducation

The economic and political well-being of any society requires a well-educated citizenry. Brookings’s work extends beyond the K-12 bookends to include pre-school interventions, higher education and the challenges of education in developing countries.

ExpertTed Gayer

Ted Gayer is the co-director of the Economic Studies program and the Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He conducts research on a variety of economic issues, focusing particularly on public finance, environmental and energy economics, housing, and regulatory policy.

TopicHealth Care

Brookings is committed to producing innovative policy solutions to our nation’s most difficult challenges. The country may face no more important domestic policy challenge than the much-needed reform of our health care system. Through an institution-wide effort, Brookings delivers new ideas and offers policy solutions to improve health care both at home and globally.

Policy CenterCenter on Children and Families

The Center on Children and Families studies policies on the well-being of America's children and their parents and seeks a more effective means of addressing poverty, inequality and lack of opportunity in the United States.

ExpertVanda Felbab-Brown

Vanda Felbab-Brown focuses on the national security implications of illicit economies and strategies for managing them. She is an adjunct professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

ExpertSuzanne Maloney

Suzanne Maloney studies Iran, the political economy of the Persian Gulf and Middle East energy policy. A former U.S. State Department policy advisor, she has also counseled private companies on Middle East issues.

ProgramGovernance Studies

Governance Studies explores political institutions of the United States and other democracies to assess how they govern, how their practices compare and how citizens and public servants can advance sound governance.

Research ProjectLatin America Initiative

The Latin America Initiative provides high-quality, in-depth, and independent research across a range of economic and political issues, and offers policy recommendations aimed at U.S. and Latin American policymakers.

ExpertIsabel V. Sawhill

A nationally known budget expert, Isabel Sawhill focuses on domestic poverty and federal fiscal policy. She is also co-director of the Center on Children and Families at Brookings.

ExpertAmy Liu

Amy Liu is deputy director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. Her policy studies include economic competitiveness, metropolitan growth and development, governance reforms, urban reinvestment, and social equity.

Policy CenterEngelberg Center for Health Care Reform

The Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform provides practical solutions to achieve high-quality, innovative, affordable health care with particular emphasis on identifying opportunities on the national, state and local levels.

ExpertDomenico Lombardi

As president of the Oxford Institute for Economic Policy, Domenico Lombardi’s work at Brookings focuses on the international financial crisis and the reform of the IMF and the World Bank. He is an expert on G-20 and G8 Summits.

ExpertFederiga Bindi

Federiga Bindi is a leading expert on European political integration. She has a broad experience in government and held a number of posts in international organizations. Bindi currently serves as an advisor to the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Her research focuses on the EU, transatlantic relations; EU states foreign policies, global governance issues.

ExpertMark McClellan

Mark McClellan works on promoting high-quality, innovative and affordable health care. Once commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Dr. McClellan now directs the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform.

ExpertMwangi S. Kimenyi

Mwangi S. Kimenyi is a senior fellow with the Africa Growth Initiative. He focuses on Africa's development, including institutions for economic growth, the political economy, and private sector development.

Research ProjectBrookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement

The Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement monitors displacement problems worldwide, works with governments, regional bodies, international organizations and civil society to create more effective policies and institutional arrangements for Internally Displaed Persons.