Category: poverty

The US Senate wonders about tax policy for the American Dream: How can income transfers be designed to benefit all children in need?

~ MilesCorak ~ 3 Comments

The tax system is increasingly used to transfer cash benefits to families with children, but the United States accepts the trade-offs in program design very differently than other countries and gives children much less support.

In response to my July 10th testimony to the Senate Committee on Finance hearing on “Helping Young People Achieve the American Dream” I received some homework, a series of questions asking me for a good deal more detail. You can review all of the questions on my November 11th post. Child poverty is central to discussions of social mobility, and it is natural to wonder how tax policy can be designed to support the incomes of the least advantaged.

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The US Senate wonders about tax policy for the American Dream: Do parents act in the best interests of their children?

~ MilesCorak ~ 7 Comments

How should programs intended to support children in low-income families be designed if parents don’t always act in the best interests of their children?

This question, among others, was posed to me in response to my July 10th testimony to the Senate Committee on Finance hearing on “Helping Young People Achieve the American Dream.”  You can review all of the questions on my November 11th post.

In one way or another they address the fundamental drivers of the extent to which children grow up to be adults having the same socio-economic status as their parents. Family background matters for life chances because of three related forces: inequalities originating in the labour market, the capacity of families to invest in the skills and aptitudes of their children, and the degree to which public policy levels the playing field.

What parents do matters a good deal, and a question posed by the Committee Chairperson, Senator Max Baucus, recognizes this, and wonders about the implications for the design of public policy.

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The US Senate wonders about tax policy for the American Dream: Senator Baucus asks if things are getting worse

~ MilesCorak ~ 2 Comments

Is the American Dream harder to achieve now than a generation ago?

In response to my July 10th testimony to the Senate Committee on Finance hearing on “Helping Young People Achieve the American Dream” I received some homework, a series of questions asking me for a good deal more detail. You can review all of the questions on my November 11th post, but this one posed by the Committee Chairman, Senator Max Baucus of Montana, is particularly relevant.

Compared to many other countries the United States is both more unequal, and more of this inequality is passed on to the next generation.

Knowing where Americans stand compared to other countries is interesting because it helps us to begin to understand the underlying causes, and hence how public policy might influence outcomes.

But for the same reasons it is just as interesting, if not more so, to compare the United States not just to other countries, but to itself in a previous time.

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The US Senate wonders about tax policy for the American Dream: Senator Hatch asks about the validity of the statistics

~ MilesCorak ~ 10 Comments

Senator Orrin Hatch has a sharp eye.

In response to my July 10th testimony to the Senate Committee on Finance hearing on “Helping Young People Achieve the American Dream” I received some homework, a series of questions asking me for a good deal more detail.

Senator Hatch, who is a US Senator for Utah, asks a thoughtful question about measurement issues. I will offer my answers to all the questions in a series of blog posts over the coming days. You can review the questions at my November 11th post. But I would like to begin with the first question Senator Hatch asks because it gives us the opportunity to clarify what the statistics mean. This is a good place to start.

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The US Senate wonders about tax policy for the American Dream: here is the homework they gave me

~ MilesCorak ~ 12 Comments

On a hot evening in July I flew back home to Ottawa from Washington DC after having testified before The United States Senate Committee on Finance. But that was not the end of it. A few days later an email arrived with a list of questions. The Senators gave me homework!

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Statistics Canada cuts long data short: another longitudinal survey is cancelled

~ MilesCorak ~ 28 Comments

The Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics died this morning.

The notice was given quietly by Statistics Canada: “This is the last release of longitudinal data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics. Effective with next year’s release of 2011 data, only cross-sectional estimates will be available.”

A short, simple, and slightly obtuse, statement of a profound change for the user community and Canadians in general.

When I recently described the loss of a similar survey to a co-author over the telephone, she paused and said with sadness, “Ahhh…,” as if a friend had died.

There is no doubt that Statistics Canada also recognizes the value of this survey, and others like it. But there are important challenges in managing the information derived from so-called “longitudinal surveys”, and Canadians might be wondering whether or not they are being sold short.

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