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
The safety net should work for working-age adults
Able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) receive minimal support from traditional safety net programs. Many struggle to work because of health conditions, disabilities, and precarity in the low-wage labor market.
Economic Security & Inequality
Social Insurance
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Papers
The austere US safety net for poor, non-elderly adults who are not raising children and do not receive disability benefits
Economic Security & Inequality
Social Insurance
Papers
Poverty and poverty reduction among non-elderly, nondisabled, childless adults in affluent countries: The United States in cross-national perspective
Economic Security & Inequality
Social Insurance
Economic Facts
Ten economic facts about rental housing
Housing & Infrastructure
Explore All Publications
Will Competition Be Another COVID-19 Casualty?
The economic crisis in the wake of the pandemic is changing the business landscape, exacerbating concerns about the state of competition in the U.S. economy. …
The Labor Market Experiences of Workers in Alternative Work Arrangements
In 2017, over 15 million workers (about 10 percent of the total U.S. workforce) were in alternative work arrangements. In this economic analysis, Ryan Nunn and…
Labor Force Nonparticipation: Trends, Causes, and Policy Solutions
In this strategy paper, The Hamilton Project explores the decline in U.S. LFPR as well as patterns by age, gender, race, and education. We then assess potentia…
How Stabilizing Has Fiscal Policy Been?
Louise Sheiner and Michael Ng investigate the cyclicality of fiscal policy over the past 40 years, finding that fiscal policy has been increasingly countercycl…
The Damage Done by Recessions and How to Respond
Automatic stabilizers are designed to expand during an economic downturn and contract during an expansion—providing timely and temporary fiscal stimulus. Boush…
Addressing Modern Debtors’ Prisons with Graduated Economic Sanctions that Depend on Ability to Pay
The use of monetary sanctions to punish crimes ranging from minor traffic or public order offenses to the most serious felonies is ubiquitous in the United Sta…
Nine Facts about State and Local Policy
Policy debates often focus only on major decisions made in Washington, DC. But for many Americans, the decisions made much closer to home have just as large, i…
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…
