Publications
The Hamilton Project produces and commissions policy proposals and analyses to promote broad-based economic growth by embracing a significant role for well-designed government policies and public investment.
Papers
Changes in the safety net over recent decades and their impact
This paper examines the U.S. safety net's evolution, effectiveness, and critiques.
Economic Security & Inequality
Social Insurance
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Papers
A primer on SNAP work requirements
Economic Security & Inequality
Employment & Wages
Social Insurance
Posts
Work permit applications suggest prior immigration is still pushing up labor supply—for now
Employment & Wages
Immigration
Posts
Higher new Census population estimates will affect the employment report
Employment & Wages
Immigration
Explore All Publications
Employment and wage gains lifted household incomes in late 2018
Despite the focus on monthly job reports and unemployment rates, which offer important signals about the state of the economy, it is growth in real household i…
Workers could lose SNAP benefits under Trump’s proposed rule
Following the announcement of a plan to reform SNAP rules, Fellow Lauren Bauer offers analysis suggesting that strict enforcement of work requirements will san…
Labor market considerations for a national job guarantee
In this framing paper, Ryan Nunn, Jimmy O'Donnell, and Jay Shambaugh evaluate the potential labor market impacts of several employment support policies, wi…
Americans aren’t moving to economic opportunity
In their new analysis, Jay Shambaugh, Ryan Nunn, and Jana Parsons explore the national trend of declining worker mobility and migration, particularly the lack …
Health conditions keep many SNAP participants out of the labor force
As federal and state policymakers continue to seek solutions to bring more Americans into the workforce, such as imposing and expanding work requirements on mi…
Work requirements and safety net programs
This paper characterizes the types of individuals who would face work requirements in SNAP and Medicaid, describes what their work experiences are over a two-y…
If real wages aren’t rising, how is household income going up?
How are real incomes rising even as real wages are flat? Ryan Nunn and Jay Shambaugh take a closer look at outcomes over the past few years, and factors that p…
Place-based policies for shared economic growth
For a century, the progress our nation made toward realizing broadly shared economic growth gave our economy much of its unparalleled strength. However, for th…
