With talk of a “bull market” entering mainstream discourse, Americans should tread carefully. The U.S. economy may be showing signs of improvement, but it is still weaker post-pandemic than before it.
U.S. policymakers should focus on flourishing, not simply inequality, poverty, and disadvantage. This would entail a focus on physical and mental health, positive social relationships, freedom, meaning, agency, and an ability to live with respect and dignity to pursue goals and aspirations. Social mobility—the chance to better oneself and one’s children—is an important aspect of flourishing.
But most discussions of inequality and social mobility focus narrowly on welfare policies such as child tax credits, the earned income tax credits, or on redistributive measures such as taxation and housing vouchers. Three crucial topics are underrepresented in the recent discussions: families, opportunities, and the truth about these matters.
Continue reading at Newsweek.
James J. Heckman, PhD, is a senior fellow at the Archbridge Institute and director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development at the University of Chicago. He holds appointments at the University of Chicago’s Department of Economics and Harris School of Public Policy. In 2000, he received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his development of theory and methods used in the analysis of individual and household behavior. Dr. Heckman received his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University. He is currently co-editor of the Journal of Political Economy, and he has pushed over 300 articles and nine books.
Economics of Flourishing
With talk of a “bull market” entering mainstream discourse, Americans should tread carefully. The U.S. economy may be showing signs of improvement, but it is still weaker post-pandemic than before it.
U.S. policymakers should focus on flourishing, not simply inequality, poverty, and disadvantage. This would entail a focus on physical and mental health, positive social relationships, freedom, meaning, agency, and an ability to live with respect and dignity to pursue goals and aspirations. Social mobility—the chance to better oneself and one’s children—is an important aspect of flourishing.
But most discussions of inequality and social mobility focus narrowly on welfare policies such as child tax credits, the earned income tax credits, or on redistributive measures such as taxation and housing vouchers. Three crucial topics are underrepresented in the recent discussions: families, opportunities, and the truth about these matters.
Continue reading at Newsweek.
James Heckman
James J. Heckman, PhD, is a senior fellow at the Archbridge Institute and director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development at the University of Chicago. He holds appointments at the University of Chicago’s Department of Economics and Harris School of Public Policy. In 2000, he received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his development of theory and methods used in the analysis of individual and household behavior. Dr. Heckman received his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University. He is currently co-editor of the Journal of Political Economy, and he has pushed over 300 articles and nine books.
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