Helping America's Low-Income Workers
Kevin A. Hassett, Steven J. Davis
March 30, 2006
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Online registration for this event is now closed. Walk-in registrations will be accepted.

The United States currently has a large number of policies designed to assist low-income workers. The primary mechanism is the U.S. tax code, with revenue losses to tax credits for low-income workers, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, amounting to tens of billions of dollars. Other mechanisms, such as welfare and minimum wage, are also relied upon.

This AEI conference will bring to together a group of experts to put the current policies on the table and discuss whether they are working effectively, whether they are properly formulated, and whether alternatives exist that would be preferable. The first panel will assess the state of current U.S. policies, evaluate their effectiveness, and discuss potential policy responses to identified shortcomings. The second panel will discuss Edmund Phelps’s recent proposal to subsidize the employment of low-income workers.

About the Author

 

Kevin A.
Hassett
  • Before joining AEI, Mr. Hassett was a senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and an associate professor of economics and finance at the Graduate School of Business of Columbia University, as well as a policy consultant to the Treasury Department during the George H. W. Bush and Clinton administrations. He served as an economic adviser to the George W. Bush 2004 presidential campaign and as Senator John McCain's chief economic adviser during the 2000 presidential primaries. He also served as a senior economic adviser to the McCain 2008 presidential campaign. Mr. Hassett is a columnist for National Review.

  • Phone: 202-862-7157
    Email: khassett@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Veronika Polakova
    Phone: 202-862-4880
    Email: veronika.polakova@aei.org
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Steven J.
Davis
  • Steven J. Davis studies the effect of taxes on work activity, the creation and loss of jobs, the employment impact of wage-setting rules, and other labor market issues. He is a professor of international business and economics at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He previously taught at Brown University and MIT and served as a consultant and researcher at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. As a visiting scholar at AEI, Mr. Davis studies how tax differences in states and countries lead to differences in employment, household work, and leisure time.

     
  • Phone: 773-702-7312
    Email: sdavis@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Chad Hill
    Phone: 202-862-5862
    Email: chad.hill@aei.org
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