The March Current Population Survey (CPS) is the primary data source for estimation oflevels and trends in labor earnings and income inequality in the USA. Time-inconsistencyproblems related to top coding in theses data have led many researchers to use the ratio ofthe 90th and 10th percentiles...

German and United States data from the Luxembourg Income Study are used to compare the relative economic well-being of Germans and Americans in the 1980s. In our analysis we use both official equivalence scales and consumption-based country-specific equivalence scales developed for Germany and...

The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated government mandated shutdowns caused a historic shock to the U.S. economy and a disproportionate job loss concentrated among the working class. While an unprecedented social safety net policy response successfully offset earnings loses among lower-wage...

We evaluate progress in President's Johnson's War on Poverty. We do so relative to the scientifically arbitrary but policy relevant 20 percent baseline poverty rate he established for 1963. No existing poverty measure fully captures poverty reductions based on the standard that President Johnson...

Policy Research Institutes in the United States play an important role in the creation of evidence for evidence-based policymaking. This is the case with respect to their advocacy for the gathering and broad dissemination of "Big Data" and in the publication of policy analysis in the academic...