How much paid parental leave do Americans really want?
Paid leave for parents is likely to be an important issue on the campaign trail this year. Hillary Clinton, positioning herself as the candidate on the side of families, argues for all parents to be...
View ArticleAs Brexit fallout topples U.K. politicians, some lessons for the U.S.
British politics is starting to resemble a bowling alley. One after another, political figures are tumbling–including the leading lights of the Brexit campaign. They sowed the wind and now are reaping...
View ArticleSeven takeaways from Theresa May's ascension to U.K. prime minister
Editor's note: This piece originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire on July 11, 2016. Theresa May has since succeeded David Cameron as UK prime minister. Theresa May is poised...
View ArticleWhy rich parents are terrified their kids will fall into the "middle class"
Politicians and scholars often lament the persistence of poverty across generations. But affluence persists, too. In the U.S. especially, the top of the income distribution is just as “sticky”, in...
View ArticleHow a U.K. Labour party meltdown could play out in wake of Brexit vote
Britain’s Conservative Party just tore itself apart over the EU referendum; David Cameron was forced to resign as prime minister. Yet the party in meltdown is Labour. Polling out this past weekend...
View ArticleSocial mobility: A promise that could still be kept
As a rhetorical ideal, greater opportunity is hard to beat. Just about all candidates for high elected office declare their commitments to promoting opportunity – who, after all, could be against it?...
View ArticleThe inheritance of black poverty: It’s all about the men
By Scott Winship, Richard V. Reeves, Katherine GuyotBlack Americans born poor are much less likely to move up the income ladder than those in other racial groups, especially whites. Why? Many factors...
View ArticleThe costs, opportunities, and limitations of the expansion of 529 education...
By Nat Malkus, Richard V. Reeves, Nathan Joo Executive Summary The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act substantively changed 529 college savings plans. In an effort to promote school choice, the Act expanded the...
View ArticleEarth Day: it is about equity as well as the environment
By Eleanor Krause, Richard V. Reeves Growing gaps in family structure, educational investments, school readiness, test scores, and college entry and completion all make upward economic mobility a more...
View ArticleA dozen ways to be middle class
By Richard V. Reeves, Katherine Guyot, Eleanor Krause Who is the middle class? People with certain jobs or education credentials? Or a certain mindset? People who make a certain amount of money each...
View ArticleDefining the middle class: Cash, credentials, or culture?
By Richard V. Reeves, Katherine Guyot, Eleanor KrauseThe economist Robert Solow noted that “there is no shortage of talk about the middle class”—and that was 10 years ago. Concern about the fate of the...
View ArticleThe future of the middle class
An era of rapid change in the economy and how we work—from automation to the gig economy—is transforming the middle class. As the benefits of our changing economy become less and less evenly...
View ArticleHappy Mother’s Day! Here’s the bill.
By Eleanor Krause, Richard V. Reeves On Mother’s Day, we celebrate all that mothers do for their children. Quite right, too. Being a mom requires plenty of sacrifice. Mothers also pay a price in terms...
View ArticleA policy wish list for the middle class
By Richard V. Reeves, Katherine GuyotHow can we help the American middle class, and boost more people into its ranks? Answers abounded at last week’s event on the Future of the Middle Class, but as...
View ArticleHow to build a stronger middle class: With respect.
By Richard V. ReevesWe worry a lot about the middle class: but who are they? Are you middle class? What does it really mean to be middle class in America today? As a recovering Brit and a new American,...
View ArticleDream Hoarders
By Richard V. ReevesDream Hoarders sparked a national conversation on the dangerous separation between the upper middle class and everyone else. Now in paperback and newly updated for the age of Trump,...
View ArticleA 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...
View ArticleThe 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...
View ArticleBipartisanship 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,...
View ArticleIn 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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