RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Douglas J. Elliott, November 13, 2009, The Brookings Institution
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), which protects the pensions of 44 million workers, announced a $22 billion deficit for fiscal year ending September 2009. Douglas Elliott analyzes the three main reasons for the PBGC’s financial troubles, and cautions that there are serious structural problems within PBGC that cannot be blamed on the financial crisis. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Ron Haskins, November 05, 2009, Business Week
Can marriage decrease poverty? Higher marriage rates among the poor would benefit poor adults themselves, their children and the nation, says Ron Haskins. He argues that non-coercive programs that are delivered by community-based agencies can be effective. By helping couples who want to marry, the payoff to them, their children and society is potentially enormous. Read More
VIDEO
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.
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
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
William A. Galston, September 01, 2009, The Brookings Institution
We are likely to enter a period of new normality marked by lower household debt, higher personal savings, and less consumption as a share of GDP, writes William Galston. Despite these positive trends, we still need a new era of public restraint, not just private thrift. Once economic growth has become self-sustaining and the private sector’s need for capital returns to more normal levels, Congress and the administration will have to turn their attention to the difficult fiscal questions they have long evaded. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Audrey Singer, August 09, 2009, American Sociological Association
The last two decades have witnessed unprecedented growth of the foreign-born population in new destination areas across the United States. At a session of the American Sociological Association annual meeting in San Francisco, Audrey Singer tackled the issue of immigrant incorporation in new U.S. destinations: its form and pace, variations by place, and varying responses by localities. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Ron Haskins, July 31, 2009, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy
Ron Haskins discusses personal responsibility and the three areas of personal decision-making in which the nation’s youth and young adults most need to learn and practice personal responsibility: education, sexual behavior and marriage, and work. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Darrell M. West, July 27, 2009, Politico
Proponents have high hopes for health care reform, but legislation is unlikely to alter personal behavior. What is needed today, writes Darrell West, is serious thinking about how to get Americans to lead healthier lifestyles. If we want health care reform to reduce costs and improve good health, we need a public education campaign emphasizing exercise, balanced diets and healthier living. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
William A. Galston, July 17, 2009, The Brookings Institution
There is broad agreement that the nation needs to overhaul its immigration policies, but how to change national policy is shaping up to be a major debate. Sketching the policy outlook for immigration reform, William Galston divides the problem into the specific issues that new immigration legislation must confront: overall level of new legal permanent residents to be admitted; the role of family reunification; employment and skills; making the new law responsive to economic change; enforcement; coping with past policy failures, and integrating the new arrivals. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Gary Burtless, July 15, 2009, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs
As unemployment continues to climb, questions have arisen as to whether the stimulus package is working, how well it was designed and when it will have an impact. Gary Burtless examines its composition, finding that efforts at creating a social safety net and fiscal relief for the states were appropriately targeted and are working. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Audrey Singer, July 15, 2009, DC First Language Access Policy Forum
At a forum marking the five-year anniversary of the Language Access Act in the District of Columbia, Audrey Singer spoke about language needs and abilities in the nation's capital, including limited English proficient speakers and linguistically isolated households. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Jeffrey R. Kling, June 12, 2009, The Brookings Institution
As discussion advances on healthcare reform and expansion of coverage in the U.S., the health insurance enrollment process takes on heightened importance. Jeffrey Kling looks at the issues through the lens of behavioral economics – using both psychology and economics to understand individual decision-making. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Peter W. Singer, June 02, 2009, The Washington Examiner
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" forces soldiers to lie about or hide their sexual orientation to keep from being discharged. Peter Singer believes it is time for President Obama to fulfill his campaign pledge to end the policy so that patriotic and capable military members can focus on national security instead social politics. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Douglas J. Elliott, May 20, 2009, Center On Federal Financial Institutions
As Chrysler and GM face bankruptcy proceedings and restructuring, the Senate held a hearing on whether the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has the capacity to insure the pensions of nearly 44 million Americans who work or have worked at those firms. Douglas Elliott explores the particulars of the PBGC, the precarious situation that the automotive industry finds itself in, and offers 14 possible solutions to the problems that plague the government’s pension program. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Ron Haskins, Harry Holzer and Robert Lerman, May 12, 2009, The Pew Charitable Trusts
Many low-income students miss out on college because they don’t know how much it actually costs or how to get access to billions of dollars in financial aid, says Ron Haskins. That’s why improving the equality of educational opportunity—a traditional American value—is one key to promoting economic mobility for disadvantaged students. Read More