Urban Institute experts weigh in on current social and economic policy issues.
Personal savings need a boost Leonard E. Burman Posted: November 10, 2009
The Washington Times. America's days of economic dominance are numbered because we don't save. The government is borrowing like crazy, and households aren't doing much better. The personal savings rate -- the share of after-tax income that people set aside for a rainy day -- has been falling like a stone since the early 1980s.
The First Line of Defense: Reducing Recidivism at the Local Level Amy L. Solomon Posted: November 05, 2009
The traditional approach to incarceration is to keep inmates locked up—away from society—to keep us safe. With little treatment and transition planning, most individuals are released with the same problems that got them locked up in the first place. In the past decade, we have realized that almost everyone who is incarcerated will eventually return home; this is especially true of the jail population. The big question: how do we incarcerate and release individuals in a way that makes them less likely to reoffend and more likely to work, support their families, pay taxes, and be productive members of society?
Regarding H.R. 3073, Homelessness Prevention Program Mary K. Cunningham Posted: October 13, 2009
Testimony from Mary Cunningham on H.R. 3073 for the United States House of Representatives, the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. H.R. 3073 would create a homelessness prevention program for low-income veterans.
The High Cost of Small Business Health Insurance: Limited Options, Limited Coverage Linda J. Blumberg Posted: October 20, 2009
Small employers and their workers face an assortment of barriers to obtaining health insurance coverage. These include high administrative costs, limited ability to spread health care risk, and a low-wage workforce. These issues have led to low rates of coverage offers by small employers and high rates of uninsurance among their workers. An insurance exchange, such as the one proposed in H.R. 3200, would spread health care risk and reduce administrative costs. The financial assistance provided to the low-income under the bill would benefit many small-firm workers. As such, the bill would significantly increase coverage among workers of small employers.
The Local Role of the United States Parole Commission (USPC) Jesse Jannetta Posted: September 22, 2009Testimony delivered to the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, hearing on "The Local Role of the United States Parole Commission (USPC): Increasing Public Safety, Reducing Recidivism, and Using Alternatives to Re-incarceration in the District of Columbia." The testimony summarizes work by UI synthesizing extant research and expert consensus regarding what constitutes effective parole supervision to reduce recidivism. Changes currently underway in the parole field and factors to consider in implementing the practices discussed are also presented.
Debunking the Government Takeover Myth Stan Dorn,
Stephen Zuckerman Posted: September 14, 2009Pending health reform legislation would leave our largely private medical care system intact, give the federal government no new authority to intervene in private health care decisions, and increase health care options for millions of Americans, two senior researchers make clear.
Testimony on Income and Poverty in the United States: 2008 Harry Holzer Posted: September 10, 2009
Between 2007 and 2008, real incomes fell and poverty rose in the United States, Institute Fellow Harry Holzer testified before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. Even if the recession ends this year, rising unemployment will mean that real income keeps falling while poverty increases for a few more years — and almost certainly by much more than occurred between 2007 and 2008. It will likely take several years beyond 2010 before real income and poverty fully recover from the effects of the downturn.
Poverty in the United States, 2008 Gregory Acs Posted: September 10, 2009
Today, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that the U.S. poverty rate reached 13.2 percent in 2008. Even this significant increase from the 12.5 percent rate in 2007 surely understates the share of Americans struggling to make ends meet today in September 2009.
Rising Poverty Threatens Neighborhood Vitality Margery Austin Turner Posted: September 10, 2009
High poverty rates, especially among African Americans and Latinos, threaten the well-being of neighborhoods as well as families. We can anticipate that the number of neighborhoods with dangerously high poverty rates is higher today than in 2000, representing a tragic reversal of the downward trend between 1990 and 2000. Historically, public policies played a central role in establishing and enforcing patterns of racial segregation, alongside discriminatory practices by the private sector and individuals. But no single causal process explains the persistence of residential segregation in America today. To ensure the well-being and sustainability of all neighborhoods, public policies must intervene to break the cycle.
Pyrrhic victory on health reform? Leonard E. Burman Posted: September 01, 2009Washington Times op-ed. Leonard Burman discusses the politics of the health care reform debate.
Latest Research
Browse by Topic:
