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Oren Cass discusses the Cost-of-Thriving Index and the affordability of middle-class life in America at the American Enterprise Institute.

Protecting the American Market from Subversion by the CCP

At the heart of conservative economics is the idea that a nation can and should choose the shape of its markets in pursuit of the substantive outcomes it values. Whereas Read more…

The breakdown in American capitalism over the past half-century is most apparent in its failure to deliver widespread prosperity for the American people. Success requires more than just rising material Read more…

Everyone recognizes the importance of work for a individual health and life satisfaction, strong families and communities, and more. And macroeconomists know the importance of a productive labor force for Read more…

In the years since President Ronald Reagan left office, conservative policymakers have had some success speaking to Americans as believers, as families, and as American citizens. But in the economic Read more…

American labor unions have become predominantly political organizations, representing only 6% of the private-sector workforce but spending nearly $2 billion during the 2020 election cycle. And while union members hold Read more…

Conservatives serious about protecting American workers must consider the hazards faced by workers seeking to exercise their legal right to organize in the workplace. Employers are legally prohibited from penalizing Read more…

A well-functioning capitalist system relies upon workers and employers both possessing sufficient power in the labor market to defend their interests and come to mutually acceptable arrangements. This is not Read more…

Americans take for granted that employers and government programs in some combination will provide the basic supports and benefits needed by workers in a modern labor market. But this system Read more…

American workers place enormous value on cooperative relationships with management. Poor employee-management relations harm job satisfaction even more than unpredictable scheduling or low wages. Worker voice can benefit businesses, too, Read more…

One great impediment to education reform is a false notion about the American Dream—and really, about democracy itself. For many Americans, college epitomizes the promise of democratic citizenship. The narrative Read more…

The “college-for-all” educational model sees education as a conveyor belt that moves young people from elementary to middle to high school to a college degree and—finally—to a job. “High school Read more…

Few areas of American life have experienced more conflict of late than K–12 education. Frustration with district schools’ preference for remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has played a role, Read more…

Policymakers committed to championing “college-for-all” have given student debt an unhealthily “sacred” status. Because they believed a college education was the key to prosperity, they provided open-ended subsidies for students Read more…

America’s “college-for-all” model has produced a perverse financing system for higher education. Policymakers see a college education as the key to opportunity, subsidizing student attendance with loans—no matter the cost. Read more…

Employers increasingly require degrees for jobs that did not previously need them. This “degree inflation” is driven not by major changes in the skills these jobs require, but by changes Read more…