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Lifting Barriers. Lifting Lives.
Increasing opportunities for social mobility and human flourishing is the defining challenge of our time. Through rigorous academic research, sound public policy solutions, and reviving the spirit of entrepreneurship, the Archbridge Institute works to empower individuals to achieve better, richer, and fuller lives by identifying and removing the barriers
that constrain their potential.
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Our Latest Research
The Archbridge Institute conducts multidisciplinary academic and policy research on artificial and natural barriers to social mobility and human flourishing, seeking to drive a consensus on these factors in the academic and policy community.
American Dream 2024 Snapshot: The Health and State of the American Dream
Click here to open the PDF in a new tab. Introduction
The American Dream continues to be alive and well in the hearts and minds of Americans. The national ethos of the American Dream is the country’s greatest unifying narrative, and it can propel progress and provide opportunities for all Americans.
State Occupational Licensing Index 2024
Click here to open the PDF in a new tab. Overview: Occupational licensing affects more than 20% of workers in the United States. The extent of occupational licensing greatly differs across states. From both a research and public policy standpoint, it is important to have a comprehensive measure of occupational licensure across states and occupations.
State Solutions to Empower Upward Mobility
Click here to open the PDF in a new tab. Prologue By Gonzalo Schwarz, President & CEO The Archbridge Institute is pleased to release “State Solutions to Empower Upward Mobility,” a compilation of essays featuring state-based policy reforms to increase economic...
American Originals
J.W. Marriott: From Herding Sheep to Hospitality Empire
Growing up on a hardscrabble sheep and sugar beet farm in Utah, John Willard “Bill” Marriott sought opportunities beyond his humble Mormon beginnings. In 1927, the twenty-six-year-old Marriott opened an A&W root beer stand in Washington, DC, working around the...
Sam Walton: How Curiosity and Humility Built the World’s Largest Company
The most important principles of retailing are quite simple: Know your customers and the role you play in their lives. Know your merchandise and its suppliers. Know your competitors. Respect each of those, plus your employees. Work hard to match the right customer to...
Magnanimous Merchant: Julius Rosenwald
In this American Originals series, we’ve recounted the life stories of men and women who created great inventions and enterprises. None of them had more energy and drive than the shy Julius Rosenwald, a Jewish menswear merchant from Springfield, Illinois. A high...
Happening Now
American Dream 2024 Snapshot: The Health and State of the American Dream
Click here to open the PDF in a new tab. Introduction
The American Dream continues to be alive and well in the hearts and minds of Americans. The national ethos of the American Dream is the country’s greatest unifying narrative, and it can propel progress and provide opportunities for all Americans.
Beyond Policy: Reimagining Family in the American Psyche
This article was originally published in Leadership and Happiness Laboratory. Americans are having fewer children than needed to sustain the nation’s population. As our country ages and a smaller working-age population struggles to support a larger elderly cohort, we...
To Help the Poor, We Must Remove Barriers to Social Mobility and Improve Tax Climates
This article was originally published in the Southern California News Group. In conversations about income mobility—a staple of the 2024 election—there is no consensus about the main barriers to mobility. There is a persistent confusion among academics and...
9 in 10 American Workers are Thriving Despite the Dominant Narrative of Widespread Misery at Work
This article was originally published in Fortune Magazine. In an age when public discourse prioritizes sensationalism and cynical viewpoints about America over measured analysis and factual accuracy, a recently released survey of U.S. workers offers a data-driven...
The Economics of Human Flourishing
This article was originally published in Profectus Magazine. The economics profession has become extremely specialized. Economists might think we’re making the father of economics, Adam Smith, proud by fostering a further “division of labor” as the field...
The Archbridge Institute is a non-partisan, independent, 501(c)(3) public policy think tank. Our mission is to lift barriers to human flourishing.
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