Brookings Today, 11/25/14

A roundup of some of the content published today by Brookings.

• Deadlock in Iranian nuclear talks. Suzanne Maloney writes that the “pressure of a self-imposed deadline … proved insufficient to overcome the considerable differences between Iran and the six world powers in negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.” Also, Robert Einhorn moderated a panel discussion on the talks’ future.
• The stimulus was a smashing success. Gary Burtless reviews the data on the government’s tax and benefit response in the wake of the Great Recession.
• Innovation supports lower- and middle-class families. Scott Andes and Mark Muro look at expenditure data for American families, finding that prices on many goods and services have outpaced median income.
• Chuck Hagel’s tenure at Defense. Michael O’Hanlon says Hagel “risks being scapegoated” for White House foreign policy mistakes, and also looks ahead to his possible replacement.
• Social mobility in the holiday season. Edward Rodrique and Richard Reeves offer five reasons to be cheerful about social mobility.
• Government payrolls. Louise Sheiner and Emily Parker examine the data on federal, state, and local government employment, noting that total government employment is more than 2 percent lower than in mid-2008, and 7 percent below the pre-recession trend.