The Latest
Down Syndrome and Social Capital: Assessing the Costs of Selective Abortion
World Down Syndrome Day is an important opportunity to reflect on the lives and contributions of an often overlooked group of Americans. Misconceptions about people with Down syndrome lead to a disproportionate number of diagnosed children being aborted.
Building a Happy Home: Marriage Education as a Tool to Strengthen Families
Marriage can connect adults in more secure, long-term relationships, while acting as a foundation for stable home life. The best type of marriages are healthy ones, and healthy marriages are linked with positive outcomes for adults, including higher life satisfaction, greater economic well-being, an...
Examining the Relationship Between Higher Education and Family Formation
As educational attainment continues rising, the presumed price of admission to the middle class increasingly seems to require a college degree. In the United States, more young adults than ever attend college, and more young adults than ever rely on student loans.
A Time to Build: Unleashing the Construction Industry to Support American Families
The construction industry in the United States plays a critical role for workers, consumers, and savers. It is a robust source of well-paying jobs, especially for workers who otherwise might struggle for opportunity.
Social Capital Project Proposals Offer Alternative to Biden's American Families Plan
The Joint Economic Committee’s Social Capital Project has documented trends and proposed policy solutions to address many of the same cultural and economic forces that animate the Families Plan.
Accountability for Bad Apples: Police Reforms to Restore Faith in Institutions
The widely publicized deaths of Floyd, Taylor, and several other Black Americans over the past few years have weakened trust, sparked outrage, and led to widespread demands for increased police accountability across the nation.
Expanding Child Care Choices: Reforming the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to Improve Family Affordability
The issue of child care touches a bundle of related issues that reflect how we value family life and work. All parents face different trade-offs in making decisions that intersect with this Project’s goals of making it more affordable to raise a family, connecting people to work, and investing in yo...
What’s Next for Schools: Balancing the Costs of School Closures Against COVID-19 Health Risks
The COVID-19 pandemic altered the lives of every family in America and particularly affected American families with school-aged children. In March 2020, every school district in the country closed and transitioned to remote learning, and this posed new challenges for parents, teachers, and students....
Stable Monetary Policy to Connect More Americans to Work
A well-chosen and consistent monetary policy anchor will not solve every problem—and certainly not ones directly related to public health—but it can facilitate the execution of financial and business contracts and shore up the social contract by lowering uncertainty about the future.
A Place to Call Home: Improving Foster Care and Adoption Policy to Give More Children a Stable Family
The need for foster and adoptive families is great. In 2018, more than 400,000 children were in foster care, and 18,000 youth left foster care without a permanent home.
