SEARCH: Social Policy and Education

A Proposal for an Enhanced Partially Refundable Child Tax Credit

This proposal was produced in collaboration with The Hamilton Project. The proposal will be presented by Wendy Edelberg at a Hamilton Project event on March 1st and can be viewed here. INTRODUCTION The economic case for expanded income assistance to low-income families with children in this country is exceptionally strong. We have ample evidence showing ...

IN BRIEF: The Wide Class Divide in Family Structure

BRIEFLY: Children in the US are far less likely to be raised in two-parent families today than they were in prior decades, a shift Aspen Economic Strategy Group (AESG) director Melissa Kearney explores in her new book, The Two-Parent Privilege. US children are now more likely than those in any other country to live in ...

Introduction: Building a More Resilient US Economy

The post-pandemic US economy features a strong labor market but also persistent inflation, rising levels of debt, and acute educational challenges. These issues are compounded by ongoing, systemic difficulties: domestic and global, economic and political. This policy volume considers these topics and others, with a thematic focus on building a more resilient US economy. The ...

The Economic Case for Smart Investing in America’s Youth

The United States spends a relatively small sum on children, both on a per capita basis and as a share of all spending. In 2019, the federal government spent an estimated $5,595 per child on programs benefiting children under 18, compared to $29,189 per elderly American on entitlement programs alone—a gap that remains wide even ...

TIME Magazine: High Debt Threatens the U.S. Economy

The difficulty U.S. Congress has had agreeing on spending for this year and avoiding a government shutdown is an indication of just how hard it will be to deal with our longer term debt crisis. Our rising debt burden is a problem we must confront in order to preserve our nation’s ability to address the ...

IN BRIEF: Pandemic-Era Student Learning Loss and the Policy Response

BRIEFLY The COVID-19 pandemic created not only a public health emergency but a youth education crisis as well. Decades of progress in math and reading among America’s students were wiped away in two years. The federal government passed three rounds of funding to help school districts mitigate the disruptions of the pandemic, but that aid ...

Aspen Economic Strategy Group Welcomes Five New Members

WASHINGTON, DC, JANUARY 22, 2024 – The Aspen Economic Strategy Group (AESG) today announced five new members have joined the sixty-five-member, bipartisan group of distinguished leaders and thinkers who share the goal of promoting evidence-based solutions to significant challenges confronting the American economy.  Established in 2017 and co-chaired by former U.S. Secretaries of the Treasury ...

The Widening Economic and Social Gaps Between Young Men and Women

Recent social and economic data has revealed a troubling trend: young men in the US are increasingly falling behind their female peers, a long-widening gap that has accelerated in the wake of COVID-19. Many young men have struggled to navigate the disruptions associated with the pandemic, resulting in stagnating labor force participation rates, declining college ...