RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Elizabeth Kneebone, October 21, 2009, National Community Tax Coalition
At the National Community Tax Coalition’s inaugural Day of Action on Capitol Hill, Elizabeth Kneebone discussed how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 increased support for low-income working families. Read More
BOOK
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
VIDEO
Bruce Katz, July 09, 2009
Public housing has long been criticized as a breeding ground for concentrated poverty, under-achieving schools and for its lack of access to services. Bruce Katz says that President Obama's Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, an expansion of HOPE VI, will revitalize poor communities while enhancing opportunities for residents and the business community.
PAST EVENT
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
Washington, DC
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. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Ron Haskins and James Kemple, May 14, 2009, The Future of Children
In this policy brief, a companion to the volume of The Future of Children devoted to high school reforms, Ron Haskins and James Kemple examine the steps high schools should take to help low-income students prepare for and succeed in college. Specifically, they argue, high schools should boost students’ subject matter knowledge and study skills and counsel students on how to select colleges and obtain financial aid. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
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
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
William G. Gale, January 30, 2009, NPR's All Things Considered
In 2006, the 400 richest Americans had an average income of $263 million, a 23 percent jump over the previous year, the Internal Revenue Service says. That same year, the very wealthy paid, on average, an effective tax rate of 17 percent — the lowest in 15 years. NPR's All Things Considered host Robert Siegel discusses the issue with Bill Gale. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Djavad Salehi-Isfahani , January 29, 2009, The Middle East Institute
Thirty years after the Iranian revolution proclaimed social justice as a principle tenet, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani analyzes trends in inequality, poverty, and access to education and health services. While strides have been made, the record of the Ahmadinejad administration, up for re-election, is mixed. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Jason E. Bordoff, January 23, 2009, TPM Cafe
Jason Bordoff argues that U.S. economic performance should be measured by how well economic growth raises the living standards of all Americans. He says that with the right policies and long-term investments we can achieve more broadly-shared prosperity. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Alan Berube and Elizabeth Kneebone, October 24, 2008, The Brookings Institution
The Federal Reserve System and its 12 member banks partnered with the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program to produce a new, in-depth look at concentrated poverty in America. The two-year study profiles 16 high-poverty communities across the United States, investigating the historical and contemporary factors associated with their high levels of economic distress. Read More
VIDEO
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.
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
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
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Ron Haskins, August 08, 2008, Pathways Magazine
The bipartisan economic stimulus package was a straightforward application of Keynesian fiscal policy: Spend your way out of recession. However, some might wonder if it’s possible to design a stimulus package that could also reduce inequality. In this paper, Ron Haskins explains why targeted stimulus may reduce poverty in the short run but cannot substitute for investments that will reduce inequality in the long run. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Alan Berube, David Park and Elizabeth Kneebone, June 05, 2008, The Brookings Institution
Slowed economic growth and rising prices for necessities like food, transportation, and child care threaten to exacerbate the challenges already facing America's low-income workers and their families. The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) could do more to help close the growing gap between stagnant wages and rising prices. "Metro Raise" demonstrates how an expanded and modernized EITC would benefit families and communities in the nation's major metropolitan areas. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Stephen D. Holt, June 05, 2008, The Brookings Institution
Many low-income working families would benefit from a streamlined ability to access the proceeds of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) throughout the year as they pay for ongoing expenses like housing, child care, and transportation. The federal government should consider adopting a model for direct periodic payment of the EITC, as most other countries with in-work tax credits provide. Read More