The restaurant industry is hurting. Between February and April of last year, more than 6 million food service workers lost their jobs.1 As of December, more than 110,000 restaurants had closed permanently or long-term.2 The industry has some big chains, but most restaurants are quintessentially small businesses. More than 9 in 10 restaurants have fewer…
Publications
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This policy brief highlights recent developments in the federal response to the hunger crisis resulting from the Covid pandemic and recession. It discusses the valuable policies contained in President Biden’s recent executive orders and the proposed American Rescue Plan legislation, and also identifies additional policies to address hunger, including reducing concentration in the…
The Biden administration has a unique and largely undiscussed opportunity. Prior to Covid-19, 5 percent of the U.S. workforce primarily worked from home. During the pandemic, this share rose as high as 50 percent; as of November, 36 percent of federal workers were still working remotely. With vaccines already beginning to roll out, this temporary…
On Tuesday, February 2nd our Deputy Director Curtis Valentine moderated an engaging conversation on the rights of all parents to choose where their children attend school entitled “Parent Choice…is it a Civil Right?" The all-star panel of experts in civil rights and education included George Parker (formerly with Washington Teacher’s Union), Lakisha Young (The Oakland REACH), Shavar Jeffries (Democrats for Education Reform), and T.…
Authors: Caleb Watney, Lindsay Milliken, and Doug Rand Entrepreneurship is the engine of long-term economic growth and dynamism. For the United States in particular, foreign-born entrepreneurs have made up an extraordinary share of our most successful companies and technological achievements. To encourage the vitally important flow of immigrant entrepreneurs, and to accommodate the growing need for…
Four Ways the Pharma Sector is Performing Well, Four Big Problems, and Three Straightforward Solutions In this paper we summarize the state of today’s pharma sector with four ways it is performing well and four big problems. Then we propose three key policy proposals that the Biden Administration can use to address the problems: A…
Note: In this brief, I use the term education debt, rather than student debt, since most affected borrowers are no longer students, and this category of debt affects a wide swath of society, not just students. After his inauguration on January 20, one of President Joe Biden’s first official acts was signing an executive order…
President-Elect Biden ran on a commitment to be a President for all Americans, not just those who voted for him. To make good on that promise, he and his team will need to find opportunities for common ground and constructive compromise as they build their agenda for the first 100 days. One issue they would…
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As of November 2020, employment in Maryland was down more than 4 percent compared to a year earlier. Small businesses are suffering. Nevertheless, the state's revenues for the 2021 fiscal year are coming in better than expected in spring 2020, buoyed by federal stimulus and continued employment of white collar workers. Under the…
In gas-producing counties in Pennsylvania, Joe Biden gained enough votes over Hillary Clinton alone to wrest the state from Donald Trump. He improved on Clinton’s margin in these counties by three points (Biden -15 / Clinton -18), counties that represent 40% of the state. In our pre-election polling in these Pennsylvania extraction counties, even as…