AEI's Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility

🆕 New Website 🆕 Check out the new @AEICosm website for up-to-date research aimed at promoting the 🇺🇸American Dream and reducing economic and social poverty⬇️

Join @AEICosm scholars @kevincorinth @AngelaRachidi @weidinger_matt & me on September 9 for our annual panel reacting to the new Census Bureau income and poverty stats (link in next) Should be lots in the 2024 estimates to discuss & lots to speculate about for 2025!

Protecting our liberal democratic experiment requires that Americans set aside their partisan or policy differences. But we need a script around which to unite—a story of the common purpose we share. Read @WoodardColin in COSM Commentary: cosm.aei.org/yes-theres-sti…

With loneliness on the rise, @shamike2009 describes how libraries are quietly doing the work of rebuilding trust and strengthening the civic fabric of their communities. Read his full piece for The Social Breakdown: cosm.aei.org/libraries-are-…

Read @kevincorinth 's latest for COSM Commentary on why modernizing the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit offers a better path forward: cosm.aei.org/a-baby-bonus-i…

In order to reverse declining fertility in the United States, the Trump administration is considering giving a $5,000 baby bonus to any mother who gives birth. However, a better policy would be to increase the cap on child care expenses that can be deducted from the CDCTC.

Read Matt Weidinger and Angela Rachidi's latest in COSM Commentary on how changing the federal/state financing structure and implementing block grants for SNAP and/or Medicaid are ways for Congress to achieve real savings in reconciliation cosm.aei.org/in-case-of-eme…

Here's the link: cosm.aei.org/is-there-reall… That polling question apparently indicating that just 2 percent of Americans (or workers?) work in a factory doesn't say that at all. In fact, most manufacturing workers were not asked the question!

AEI's @StanVeuger: If they had done their calculations correctly, we would have ended up with a set of tariffs that would have barely exceeded 10%.

I have a new piece out for @CivitasOutlook this morning. It’s my attempt, frankly, to get the Senate to freak out about deficits and to get the House to rethink Medicaid cuts BECAUSE OF deficits.

If SNAP's caseload had varied based on the unemployment rate and population growth alone, the program would currently serve between 3 and 6 percent of Americans, rather than the 13 percent of Americans the program now serves. cosm.aei.org/how-large-woul…

SNAP is viewed as an automatic stabilizer, meaning that caseloads and expenditures increase during economic downturns and decrease when the economy recovers. Yet new research indicates that SNAP's growth in recent decades has remained elevated through economic expansions.

In case you missed it, @AEICosm had a great event on Medicaid reforms in the context of the tax and budget debate, starring @brian_blase @JessicaBRiedl @Avik and @AEI's Jim Capretta and moderated by This Guy. Link in the next tweet....

Tomorrow at 11:15am ET, you can attend or watch online a panel on "Keeping Medicaid Sustainable While Prioritizing the Vulnerable" with @swinshi, @brian_blase @Avik, Jim Capretta, and me - hosted by @AEI. Register here: aei.org/events/keeping…

HUD recently ended a Biden-era program that tied federal assistance to intrusive local zoning changes. It should go further by linking federal aid to the end of rent regulation. Read Howard Husock's latest: cosm.aei.org/trump-should-p…

Fancy video of the telegenic @kevincorinth talking about poverty measurement. Must-See Non-TV. youtube.com/watch?v=Wy-LBN…

Read @kevincorinth 's latest for @AEIdeas about how the administration appears to be more focused on waging a trade war than winning the war against drugs aei.org/opportunity-so…

What's more, Canada is the source of less than 0.2 percent of the problem, meaning any action they take to reduce the flow of fentanyl will have almost no affect on reducing overdose deaths.

The Trump Administration cites stemming the flow of fentanyl as the main reason for imposing tariffs on Mexico and Canada. But fentanyl deaths are already plummeting, with drug overdose deaths from fentanyl falling 51% between May 2023 and August 2024.

Looking forward to this upcoming @AEICosm event on March 24: "Keeping Medicaid Sustainable while Prioritizing the Vulnerable." I'll moderate the stellar lineup of @Avik, @brian_blase, @JessicaBRiedl, and Jim Capretta.

With talk of Medicaid work requirements growing, read Scott Wetzler and Anthony Coles on NYC’s experience assessing TANF recipients for work readiness and helping them achieve independence. cosm.aei.org/a-model-for-ef…