Fewer Americans are making more than their parents did—especially if they...
By Richard V. Reeves, Katherine Guyot One of the most striking social science findings of recent years is that only half of today’s 30-year-olds earn more than their parents. Raj Chetty and his...
View ArticleA little respect: Can we restore relational equality?
By Richard V. Reeves Equality can be thought of in three different ways: Basic equality, granted to all in the form of political or legal rights; material equality, measured principally in terms of...
View ArticleThe respect deficit
By Richard V. Reeves At the end of 2017, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority launched a new ad campaign. The Authority wasn’t selling anything. It was asking, on behalf of its bus...
View ArticleThe rise of the middle class safety net
By Richard V. Reeves, Christopher PulliamWelfare reform is in the air again. Congressional Republicans are pushing for greater work incentives to be attached to the receipt of certain benefits,...
View ArticleThere are many definitions of “middle class”—here’s ours
By Richard V. Reeves, Katherine GuyotThis summer, the Future of the Middle Class Initiative at Brookings published a paper and interactive on the near-innumerable ways experts have defined the middle...
View ArticlePeople in the middle of the middle are richer than those in the middle, says...
By Richard V. Reeves, Christopher PulliamAs if on cue, just a day after we published our definition of the middle class, Pew issued their latest report on the changing state and shape of the U.S....
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A closer look at the race gaps highlighted in Obama's Howard University...
The final months of Obama’s historic terms of office as America’s first black president are taking place against the backdrop of an ugly Republican nominating race, and to the sound of ugly language...
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The glass barrier to the upper middle class is hardening
America is becoming a more class-stratified society, contrary to the nation’s self-image as a socially dynamic meritocracy. In particular, the barriers are hardening between the upper middle class and...
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Bipartisanship in action: Evidence and contraception
Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill were just awarded the 2016 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize by the American Academy of Political and Social Science. The honor is presented to “a leading policymaker,...
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In defense of immigrants: Here's why America needs them now more than ever
At the very heart of the American idea is the notion that, unlike in other places, we can start from nothing and through hard work have everything. That nothing we can imagine is beyond our reach....
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"Should we live together first?" Yes, say Democrats. No, say Republicans...
There is a marriage gap in America. This is not just a gap in choices and actions, but in norms and attitudes. Each generation is more liberal, on average, when it comes to issues like premarital...
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After second verdict in Freddie Gray case, Baltimore's economic challenges...
Baltimore police officer Edward Nero, one of six being tried separately in relation to the arrest and death of Freddie Gray, has been acquitted on all counts. The outcome for officer Nero was widely...
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Here's what America would be like without immigrants
“There is room for everybody in America,” wrote French-American author Hector St. John de Crèvecœur in 1782’s Letters from an American Farmer. Like most of the founding generation, Crèvecœur believed...
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Colorado's poor now get to visit the dentist
“A society of equals is a society in which disadvantages do not cluster,” say Jonathan Wolff and Avner de-Shalit in their book Disadvantage. Low income matters greatly in itself, of course. But it...
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Fewer field trips mean some students miss more than a day at the museum
As every good teacher knows, education is not just about academics. It is about broadening horizons and discovering passions. (The root of education is the Latin e ducere, meaning “to draw out.”) From...
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Modeling equal opportunity
The Horatio Alger ideal of upward mobility has a strong grip on the American imagination (Reeves 2014). But recent years have seen growing concern about the distance between the rhetoric of...
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Give fathers more than one day: The case for paternity leave
Feminism needs fathers. Unless and until men and women share the responsibilities of parenting equally, gender parity in the labor market will remain out of reach. As Isabel Sawhill and I argued in...
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Transfer season: Lowering the barrier between community college and four-year...
Community colleges are a vital part of America’s opportunity structure, not least because they often provide a way into higher education for adults from less advantaged backgrounds. Each year there...
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Brexit: British identity politics, immigration and David Cameron’s undoing
Like many Brits, I’m reeling. Everyone knew that the "Brexit" referendum was going to be close. But deep down I think many of us assumed that the vote would be to remain in the European Union. David...
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Memo to the boss: Follow the BBC’s lead and measure class diversity, too
The BBC is doing something I think is awesome but many of my American friends think is awful: gathering information of the social class background of their recruits. The move is part of an aggressive...
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