A Forum Hosted by The American Conservative and The American Prospect
Special Report
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Why Economists Cling to Discredited Ideas
Free-market theory may be at odds with reality, but it fits the needs of the rich and the powerful.
Posted inAmerica and the World
Markets, States, and the Green Transition
To get renewable energy technologies into broad use, government needs to promote both supply and demand. Markets are too risk-averse.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Why Markets Can’t Price the Priceless
It takes government planning to promote the rational conservation and use of water.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Libertarian Delusion
The free-market fantasy stands discredited by events. The challenge now: redeeming effective and democratic government
Posted inEconomic Policy
Children of Color in the Persistent Downturn
At the peak of economic boom times in 2000, the U.S. child-poverty rate reached a historic low of 16.2 percent. Even then, UNICEF ranked the United States as having the second highest child-poverty rate out of 26 rich countries. The United States had a child-poverty rate twice Germany’s, five times Sweden’s, and nearly ten times […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
A Shredded Safety Net
“I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.” -Mitt Romney, February 1, 2012 In 1996, the year that Congress passed and Bill Clinton signed welfare reform, fulfilling his campaign pledge to “end welfare as we know it,” there were 14.5 million poor children in the United States; 8.5 million children […]
Posted inSpecial Report
Cascading Effects of Parental Stress
Economic hardship reverberates through the family in multiple ways that harm children.
Posted inCivil Rights in America
The Millennial Squeeze
It’s not Social Security deficits that are destroying the life chances of the young but a prolonged slump confounded by bad policies.