Brookings: Topics - Inequality

Center on Children and Families

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:22:25 GMT

The Center on Children and Families studies policies on the well-being of America's children and their parents, especially children in less-advantaged families, and seeks a more effective means of addressing poverty, inequality and lack of opportunity in the United States.

Global Economy and Development

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:49:38 GMT

Wolfensohn Center for Development

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:14:01 GMT

The Wolfensohn Center for Development, in partnership with others, seeks effective solutions to key development challenges in order to create a more prosperous and stable world. The Center’s three main projects focus on Aid Effectiveness, Early Child Development, and Middle East Youth.

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Economic Recovery and the Earned Income Tax Credit

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

At the National Community Tax Coalition’s inaugural Day of Action on Capitol Hill, Elizabeth Kneebone discussed how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 increased support for low-income working families.

Urban Revitalization and Opportunity

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:58:55 GMT

Public housing has long been criticized as a breeding ground for concentrated poverty, under-achieving schools and for its lack of access to services. Bruce Katz says that President Obama's Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, an expansion of HOPE VI, will revitalize poor communities while enhancing opportunities for residents and the business community.

The Changing Fortunes of the U.S. Workforce: What's Driving Income Inequality

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Event Information:

June 23, 2009, 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM

On June 23, the Center on Children and Families at Brookings hosted an event that examines a new report by McKinsey Global Institute on changing employment and income that informs the debate on what has driven the dispersion in incomes across industries and occupations.

A New Goal for America’s High Schools: College Preparation for All

Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In this policy brief, a companion to the volume of The Future of Children devoted to high school reforms, Ron Haskins and James Kemple examine the steps high schools should take to help low-income students prepare for and succeed in college. Specifically, they argue, high schools should boost students’ subject matter knowledge and study skills and counsel students on how to select colleges and obtain financial aid.

Getting Current: Recent Demographic Trends in Metropolitan America

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Changing demographics—where people live, educational attainment, aging of boomers, diversity in population growth, poverty rates—raises key policy and program issues for the new government in Washington. In view of that, the Metropolitan Policy Program has compiled and detailed important trends that are shaping the nation’s engines of economic growth and opportunity.

In '06, Rich Earned More, Paid Less Tax

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In 2006, the 400 richest Americans had an average income of $263 million, a 23 percent jump over the previous year, the Internal Revenue Service says. That same year, the very wealthy paid, on average, an effective tax rate of 17 percent — the lowest in 15 years. NPR's All Things Considered host Robert Siegel discusses the issue with Bill Gale.

Iran: Poverty and Inequality Since the Revolution

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Thirty years after the Iranian revolution proclaimed social justice as a principle tenet, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani analyzes trends in inequality, poverty, and access to education and health services. While strides have been made, the record of the Ahmadinejad administration, up for re-election, is mixed.

Lifting Our Economy

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Jason Bordoff argues that U.S. economic performance should be measured by how well economic growth raises the living standards of all Americans. He says that with the right policies and long-term investments we can achieve more broadly-shared prosperity.

The Enduring Challenge of Concentrated Poverty in America

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Federal Reserve System and its 12 member banks partnered with the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program to produce a new, in-depth look at concentrated poverty in America. The two-year study profiles 16 high-poverty communities across the United States, investigating the historical and contemporary factors associated with their high levels of economic distress.

Low-Income Families and Communities

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:14:38 GMT

In a new report, Alan Berube and Elizabeth Kneebone explain that following a dramatic decline in concentrated poverty in the 1990s, the number of low-income workers and families living in high-working-poverty neighborhoods rose by a striking 41% in the first half of this decade. Alan Berube says that help for high working-poverty communities will come from stronger national and regional economic growth—plus targeted efforts to protect neighborhoods of choice and connection.

Reversal of Fortune: A New Look at Concentrated Poverty in the 2000s

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

After dramatic declines in concentrated poverty in the 1990s, the number of low-income workers and families living in high-working-poverty neighborhoods rose by a striking 41% in the first half of this decade, according to a new report from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. The report's authors draw on data from the IRS to measure the change in rates of “concentrated working poverty” nationally and in many of the largest metropolitan areas across the country.

Economic Stimulus Act: Hard to Kill Two Birds with One Stone

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The bipartisan economic stimulus package was a straightforward application of Keynesian fiscal policy: Spend your way out of recession. However, some might wonder if it’s possible to design a stimulus package that could also reduce inequality. In this paper, Ron Haskins explains why targeted stimulus may reduce poverty in the short run but cannot substitute for investments that will reduce inequality in the long run.

Rebecca M. Blank Named Robert S. Kerr Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at Brookings

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:48:53 GMT

Noted economist Rebecca M. Blank is joining the Brookings Institution as the Robert V. Kerr senior fellow, Brookings president Strobe Talbott announced today. Blank is a former member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors and former dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

Periodic Payment of the Earned Income Tax Credit

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Many low-income working families would benefit from a streamlined ability to access the proceeds of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) throughout the year as they pay for ongoing expenses like housing, child care, and transportation. The federal government should consider adopting a model for direct periodic payment of the EITC, as most other countries with in-work tax credits provide.

Metro Raise: Boosting the Earned Income Tax Credit to Help Metropolitan Workers and Families

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Slowed economic growth and rising prices for necessities like food, transportation, and child care threaten to exacerbate the challenges already facing America's low-income workers and their families. The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) could do more to help close the growing gap between stagnant wages and rising prices. "Metro Raise" demonstrates how an expanded and modernized EITC would benefit families and communities in the nation's major metropolitan areas.

Our Unequal Democracy? The Political Causes and Consequences of America’s Growing Income Gap

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:00:00 GMT

Event Information:

April 28, 2008, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM

In Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age (Princeton University Press and Russell Sage, 2008), political scientist Larry Bartels argues that economic inequality in America is partly a product of our democracy, dominated by partisan ideologies and the interests of the wealthy. William Galston moderated a discussion with Bartels, Thomas Mann and Elisabeth Jacobs.

Planning for Quality Schools: Meeting the Needs of District Families

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The District of Columbia is struggling to attract and retain families with children. Most newcomers are singles and childless couples. The total number of school-age children has declined slightly. Many of the city’s schools suffer from long-standing physical, management and academic problems. The availability of quality public schools, near affordable family-friendly housing, will help determine the city’s success.

Reexamining American Exceptionalism

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:00:00 GMT

Event Information:

April 23, 2008, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

During the nation’s infancy, Alexis de Tocqueville meticulously studied America’s democratic experiment and defined the contours of American exceptionalism. Nearly 200 years later, scholars James Q. Wilson and Peter Schuck reconsider what defines the United States and its role in our rapidly changing world in Understanding America: The Anatomy of an Exceptional Nation (Public Affairs, 2008). William Galston moderated a discussion with Wilson, Schuck and Brookings scholars Don Kettl and Ron Haskins.

Economic Mobility

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:44:37 GMT

Economic inequality across American households has been growing for a number of years. Isabel Sawhill, co-director of the Center on Children and Families and co-author of Getting Ahead or Losing Ground: Economic Mobility in America examines how upwardly mobile we really are.

Getting Ahead or Losing Ground: Economic Mobility in America

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Is America still the land of opportunity and mobility? How much opportunity to get ahead actually exists in America? Brookings scholars Julia Isaacs, Isabel Sawhill and Ron Haskins provide new evidence and summarize research on both the extent of intergenerational mobility in the United States and the factors that influence it.

How the Federal Government Can Improve School Financing Systems

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

In a CCF working paper, Eloise Pasachoff argues that the federal government has an important role to ensure equal educational opportunity for all.

Investing in Early Education: Paths to Improving Children's Success

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

While the nation has been struggling to eliminate the education gap, Ron Haskins testifies on ways to improve all preschool education received by poor children.

Attacking Poverty and Inequality

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 10:14:50 GMT

In the late 1990s, Congress and President Clinton collaborated on bi-partisan legislation that led to a substantial decline in child poverty in the United States – especially in African-American communities. Ron Haskins explains that the next president should reinvigorate the fight against poverty through increasing benefits while requiring more personal responsibility.

Employment-Based Tax Credits for Low-Skilled Workers

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

To address a few problems with low-income families, John Karl Scholz proposes a two-part policy designed to increase the return to work. He argues that increasing the return to work for childless low-skilled workers will lower unemployment rates and will improve other social benefits.

The Frayed American Dream

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

A sharp rise in income inequality in the United States has created large gaps between the haves and the have-nots. Based on new Brookings research, most of today’s adults are better off than their own parents were when they were growing up. The converse: one third remains worse off. Many middle-class families are only one earner away from poverty. Isabel Sawhill and Julia Isaacs argue that America could and should do better, through better access to education, including early childhood education.

The Intergenerational Balancing Act: Where Children Fit in an Aging Society

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

In the first annual Kristin Anderson Moore lecture for Child Trends, Isabel Sawhill discusses how future generations will have to deal with the challenges of globalization and low savings rates, and emphasizes the need for higher education and fiscal responsibility.

India Policy Forum 2006-07 : Volume 3

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:00:00 GMT

India Policy Forum is an annual publication with the objective of presenting high-quality empirical research on the major economic policy issues that confront contemporary India.

Fair and Equitable Tax Policy

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Hamilton Project Director Jason Furman testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on fair and equitable tax policy for America's working families.

Immigration: Wages, Education and Mobility

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Report by Ron Haskins (July 2007)

In Kentucky, Being Poor is Costly

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT

What do western Louisville and the Appalachian region have in common besides being two of the poorest areas in Kentucky? Not much one would think. And, yet, they each are also among the most expensive places to live in the state.

Achieving Progressive Tax Reform in an Increasingly Global Economy

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The progressive tax system, and the nation's fiscal system more broadly, have historically played an important role in expanding opportunities for all Americans while reducing inequality. But the same dynamic forces of technological change, financial innovation, and globalization that have contributed to rising income inequality also present new challenges for progressive taxation.

Broken Contract

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Paper by Jason Bordoff (Summer 2007)

The Millennium Challenge Corporation's Gender Policy

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Caroline Moser, Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, spoke as a panelist at the Millennium Challenge Corporation's meeting on gender policy

Black Americans Reduce the Racial IQ Gap: Evidence from Standardization Samples

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Article by William T. Dickens and James R. Flynn, Psychological Science (October 2006)

The Future of Children: Fall 2006 : Opportunity in America

Sun, 03 Sep 2006 12:00:00 GMT

This semiannual journal provides research and analysis to promote effective policies and programs for children. In this volume, the nation's leading scholars on social mobility focus on the extent to which children’s chances of success depend on the circumstances into which they are born.

A Growth-Enhancing Approach to Economic Security

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Paper by Bordoff, Deich, and Orszag (September 2006)

Poor Should Get More for Their Money

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Increasing in the minimum wage has to be paired with a national campaign to lower the higher prices being paid by the poor today.

Measuring Social Disparities: A Modified Approach to the Index of Child Well-Being (CWI) for Race-Ethnic, Immigrant-Generation, and Socioeconomic Groups with New Results for Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics

Wed, 10 May 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Paper by Donald Hernandez

Redefining Working Family Policy: State Innovation in the Ownership Society

Wed, 07 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMT

In this presentation at the National Conference on State Legislatures Fall 2005 Forum, Matt Fellowes presented how low-income families are fairing in an ownership society. He also discussed the different types of state innovations that benefit low-income working families, their promises and perils.

Texans Are Missing Out on Food Stamp Benefits

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Opinion

New Tax Credit Research Offers Information for City Leaders

Mon, 06 Jun 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Continued support for low-income taxpayer outreach and volunteer tax preparation can spread important messages about the alternatives to high-price, low-value commercial tax products.

Pennsylvania Can't Afford 2 Economies

Fri, 08 Apr 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Pennsylvania has two economies: one for families with middle and high incomes, and another for its low-wage families.

Affirmative Action: Don't Mend It or End It - Bend It

Sun, 01 Dec 2002 00:00:00 GMT

Brookings Review article by Peter H. Schuck (Winter 2002)

The Three Faith Factors

Sun, 01 Sep 2002 00:00:00 GMT

John Dilulio examines three types of religious influence in relation to relevant research on urban crime and delinquency. This social trinity of "spiritual capital" can help low-income urban children, youth, and families. As a result, he argues, we should include federal research on spiritual capital and how it can help to prevent teenage pregnancies, reduce public health problems, combat illiteracy, among many other vital social goals.

Remarks on Environmental Justice

Fri, 11 Jan 2002 00:00:00 GMT

Testimony by Christopher H. Foreman, Jr., to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, January 11, 2002

Heritability Estimates Versus Large Environmental Effects: The IQ Paradox Resolved

Sun, 01 Apr 2001 00:00:00 GMT

Darwin's Origin of Species sparked the modern debate about genes versus environment in explaining differences between human individuals and groups. Ever since, the pendulum of scientific opinion has swung back and forth with consensus always out of reach. William Dickens proposes a model that could solve the paradox: people who have an advantage for a particular trait will become matched with superior environments for that trait; and that genes can derive a great advantage from this because genetic differences are persistent.

Facing Up to Racial Disparity: Daunting Realities Hinder the Drive For Equality

Wed, 01 Mar 2000 00:00:00 GMT

Brookings Review article by Christopher H. Foreman, Jr. (Spring 2000)

Urban Problems and Community Development

Tue, 02 Mar 1999 00:00:00 GMT

This book surveys what we currently know and what we need to know about community development's past, current, and potential contributions. The book addresses the history of urban development startegies, the politics of resource allocation, business

First Trombone

Mon, 01 Mar 1999 00:00:00 GMT

Brookings Review article by Taylor Branch (Spring 1999)

The Two Nations of Black America: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

Sun, 01 Mar 1998 00:00:00 GMT

Brookings Review article by Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Spring 1998)

Black America: The Road to Racial Uplift

Sun, 01 Mar 1998 00:00:00 GMT

Brookings Review article by Christopher H. Foreman, Jr. (Spring 1998)

Racial and Ethnic Preference

Fri, 01 Nov 1996 00:00:00 GMT

Policy Brief #9, by Thomas J. Kane and William T. Dickens (November 1996)

Broken Bottles: Alcohol, Disorder, and Crime

Fri, 01 Mar 1996 00:00:00 GMT

Brookings Review, Spring 1996