Oren Cass
Oren Cass is the executive director of American Compass and author of The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America (2018). He is a contributing opinion writer for the Financial Times and his work also appears regularly in publications including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
From 2005 to 2015, Oren worked as a management consultant in Bain & Company’s Boston and Delhi offices. During this period, he also earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was elected vice president and treasurer of the Harvard Law Review and oversaw the journal’s budget and operations. While still in law school, Oren also became Domestic Policy Director for Governor Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, editing and producing the campaign’s “jobs book” and developing its domestic policy strategy, proposals, and research. He joined the Manhattan Institute as a senior fellow in 2015 and became a prolific scholar, publishing more than 15 reports for MI and editing its popular “Issues 2016” and “Issues 2020” series, testifying before seven congressional committees and speaking on dozens of college campuses. He founded American Compass at the start of 2020.
Republican Party Battles Over its Post-Trumpian Soul Share This
FINANCIAL TIMES—American Compass’s Oren Cass spotlights the ideological contest between libertarian Republicans and post-Trump conservatives for the future identity of the American political right.
The Elite Needs to Give Up Its G.D.P. Fetish Share This
THE NEW YORK TIMES—American Compass’s Oren Cass suggests that the professional class might learn from the pandemic that “material living standards” do not always translate into “quality of life.”
From the Primordial Supply-Side Soup Share This
Re: Trump’s Second-Term Opening (WSJ)
This morning’s commentary from the Wall Street Journal editorial board is of great scientific import, a fragile creature crushed into a perfectly preserved fossil by the forces of reality. Future researchers tracing the evolution of the American right-of-center from market fundamentalism to a viable economic conservatism will regard it as a vital transitional form—like a […]
How Trump Has Changed the Republicans Share This
WALL STREET JOURNAL—The Saturday Essay features American Compass’s efforts to construct a new conservative governing philosophy.
The Republican Party Has A Tough Choice To Make Share This
CNN—American Compass’s Oren Cass describes the “vital opportunity for the American right-of-center to develop a genuinely conservative economic platform that focuses on working families.”
A Major Question Still Remains for Biden’s Campaign Share This
CNN—American Compass’s Oren Cass reviews Joe Biden’s acceptance speech for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
How Corporate Actual Responsibility, Not Social Responsibility, Would Look Share This
WASHINGTON EXAMINER—American Compass’s Oren Cass outlines the arguments from an open letter sent to the Business Roundtable calling for corporate actual responsibility.
Left-Right Coalition Releases Open Letter to Business Roundtable on Corporate Actual Responsibility Share This
PRESS RELEASE—After a year of empty promises from CEOs, the groups propose a framework for substantive action.
Where Do Republicans Go From Here? Share This
THE NEW YORK TIMES—David Brooks features American Compass and executive director Oren Cass leading efforts to “push the G.O.P. in a post-Trump direction.”
Constraining the Corporation Share This
A well-functioning market in which businesses fulfill their obligations to workers, families, communities, and the nation depends upon legal, economic, and social constraints that have fallen away in recent decades.
AEI’s Michael Strain on Projects Like Ours Share This
Re: The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg
On the most recent episode of Jonah Goldberg’s podcast, The Remnant, AEI director of economic policy studies Michael Strain delivers a harsh assessment of projects like American Compass. According to Michael, “the arguments that they put forward just aren’t well developed,” “they aren’t supported by evidence, they aren’t convincing,” and “the work they’re doing just […]
Private Equity Captures Rather Than Creates Value Share This
NEWSWEEK—American Compass’s Oren Cass debates University of Chicago professor Todd Henderson over the question, “Does the private equity industry create substantial social value?”