Auto-enrollment into health insurance coverage is an attractive policy that can drive the U.S. health care system towards universal coverage. It appears in coverage expansion proposals put forward by 2020 presidential candidates, advocates, and scholars. These approaches are motivated by the fact that at any given time half of the uninsured are eligible for existing…

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 30 million Americans were uninsured, but half of this population is eligible for insurance coverage through Medicaid or for financial assistance to buy coverage on the health insurance marketplace. Auto-enrollment is a method by which individuals are placed automatically into the health insurance coverage they are qualified for, and it has…

Introduction A combination of escalating costs, an aging population, and rising chronic health-care conditions that account for 75% of the nation’s health-care costs paint a bleak picture of the current state of American health care.1 In 2018, national health expenditures grew to $3.6 trillion and accounted for 17.7% of GDP.2 Under current laws, national health…

On March 16, television producer and author Shonda Rhimes tweeted “Been homeschooling a 6-year old and 8-year old for one hour and 11 minutes. Teachers deserve to make a billion dollars a year. Or a week.” Six hundred thousand likes and 100,000 retweets later, it is safe to say her message resonated with the public.…

The United Nations recently reported that 166 countries closed schools and universities to limit the spread of the coronavirus. One and a half billion children and young people are affected, representing 87 percent of the enrolled population.  With few exceptions, schools are now closed countrywide across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, putting additional stress on…

Razia with her six children and a drug-addicted husband lives in one room in a three-room compound shared with 20 other people. Pre-COVID-19, all the residents were rarely present in the compound at the same time. However, now they all are inside the house queuing to use a single toilet, a makeshift bathing shed, and…

While COVID-19 is invisible to the eye, one very visible sign of the epidemic is people wearing face masks in public. After weeks of conflicting government guidelines on wearing masks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that people wear nonsurgical cloth face coverings when entering public spaces such as supermarkets and public…

Saturday, March 14, 2020 was a historic day for education in Mexico. Through an official statement, the Secretariat of Public Education (SEP) informed students and their families that schools would close to reinforce the existing measures of social distancing in response to COVID-19 and in accordance with World Health Organization recommendations. Mexico began to implement…

The world is adjusting to a new reality that was unimaginable three months ago. COVID-19 has altered every aspect of our lives, introducing abrupt changes to the way governments, businesses, and communities operate. A recent virtual summit of G-20 leaders underscored the changing times. The pandemic has impacted education systems around the world, forcing more…

In mid-April, UNESCO reported 192 countries had closed all schools and universities, affecting more than 90 percent of the world’s learners: almost 1.6 billion children and young people. While some governments are starting to order teachers and students back to work, education—one of the most important drivers in human capital investment—continues to be largely closed…

Jordan’s quick response to the COVID-19 outbreak has made many Jordanians, including myself, feel safe and proud. The prime minister and his cabinet’s response has been commended globally, as the epicenter in the country has been identified and contained. But at the same time, such accolades have been focused on the males, erasing the important…

In 1996, Harris Cooper of Duke University and his colleagues first reported on the effects of what came to be known as summer slide, or summer slump. Over the summer months, when children are not in school, those from under-resourced communities tend to lose roughly 30 percent of the gains they made in math during…

On March 15, 2020, the Kenyan government abruptly closed schools and colleges nationwide in response to COVID-19, disrupting nearly 17 million learners countrywide. The social and economic costs will not be borne evenly, however, with devastating consequences for marginalized learners. This is especially the case for girls in rural, marginalized communities like the Maasai, Samburu,…

يجتاح داء كوفيد 19 الذي يسبّبه فيروس كورونا المستجدّ منطقة الشرق الأوسط ويعيد تأجيج التوتّرات الدينية، مع تشدّد الحكومات أكثر فأكثر بممارسات مُطبّقة منذ زمن بحجّة محاربة الجائحة. ولا شكّ في أنّ هذه القيود، بما فيها إغلاق المقامات الشيعية في العراق وإيران وإلغاء الحجّ إلى مكّة في المملكة العربية السعودية، ضروريةٌ للحفاظ على الصحّة العامة،…

As Ramadan begins, Pakistan has loosened social distancing restrictions on gatherings in mosques, allowing communal prayers to go forward during the holy month. David Rubenstein Fellow Madiha Afzal explains how Prime Minister Imran Khan's political compromise with the religious right and cash assistance programs for the poor help burnish his populist image, while leaving it…

When policymakers consider how to respond to a public health crisis, they tend to think in terms of quarantines, medical equipment supplies, and travel restrictions. Yet they too often miss a vital factor that countries like South Korea and Singapore recognized long ago—that public communications are just as crucial. Effective communication increases compliance with public…

Perform your ablutions at home. Bring your own prayer mats, place them six feet apart. Wear masks. Use the provided hand sanitizer. No handshakes or hugs allowed. No talking in the mosque. No one over 50 years old can enter. No children allowed. These guidelines are part of a list of 20 standard operating procedures that Pakistan’s…

On April 2, as Nigeria’s megacity Lagos and its capital Abuja locked down to control the spread of the coronavirus, the country’s military announced a massive operation — joining forces with neighboring Chad and Niger — against the terrorist group Boko Haram and its offshoot, the Islamic State’s West Africa Province. This spring offensive was…

Turan Kayaoglu is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center and a professor of international relations at the University of Washington, Tacoma. His research explores issues related to religion and politics, international relations, politics of human rights, and American-Muslim political engagement. Kayaoglu is the editor-in-chief of Muslim World Journal of Human Rights and the author of Legal Imperialism:…

The right to practice religion free of fear is one of our nation’s most indelible rights. But over the last few years, the United States has experienced a significant increase in mass casualty attacks targeting houses of worship and their congregants. Following a string of attacks on synagogues, temples, churches, and mosques in 2019, the…

The United Nations Human Rights office has made public a long-awaited catalogue of 112 companies doing business in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The blacklist, which was four years in the making and released last Wednesday, sent the Israeli government, members of the U.S. Congress, and the White House into a frenzy. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in particular,…

كشفت مفوّضية الأمم المتحدة السامية لحقوق الإنسان عن قائمة طال انتظارها لـ112 شركة عاملة في المستوطنات الإسرائيلية في الضفّة الغربية. وأدّت هذه القائمة السوداء التي تطلّب تحضيرها أربعة أعوام ونُشرت الأربعاء الماضي إلى إثارة حفيظة الحكومة الإسرائيلية وأعضاء الكونغرس الأمريكي والبيت الأبيض. ووجّه وزير الخارجية الأمريكي بالتحديد بعض العبارات اللافتة للمفوّضية السامية التي وصفها بأنّها…

The Brookings Doha Center (BDC) hosted a keynote event on March 4, 2020 featuring Sihem Bensedrine, the president of the Tunisian Truth and Dignity Commission (Instance Vérité et Dignité; IVD) and a veteran Tunisian human rights activist and journalist. Bensedrine helped found the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), which is part of the National Dialogue…

نظّم مركز بروكنجز الدوحة ندوة متميّزة في 4 مارس 2020 ضمّ رئيسة هيئة الحقيقة والكرامة والناشطة والصحافية في مجال حقوق الإنسان في تونس، سهام بن سدرين. وكانت بن سدرين من بين الأعضاء المؤسّسين للرابطة التونسية للدفاع عن حقوق الإنسان التي هي جزء من الرباعي التونسي للحوار الوطني الذي حاز جائزة نوبل للسلام في العام 2015.…

On my first day as an Obama administration deputy assistant secretary of state in November 2009, I sat down with my boss Jeff Feltman and his principal deputy Ron Schlicher for a meeting. “What are your priorities for your time here?” they asked me. I said that, among other things, I wanted to help the…

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) crackdown on Uighur and other Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) has attracted intense scrutiny and polarized the international community. At least 1 million people, maybe as many as 1.5 million, have been detained in a large network of recently constructed camps, where they undergo forced reeducation and political indoctrination.…

The Brookings Doha Center (BDC) hosted a webinar discussion on April 29, 2020 about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Panelists explained migrant workers’ response to the virus, how the present situation will impact future labor conditions, and the difficulties of reporting on the ground. The…

نظّم مركز بروكنجز الدوحة ندوة عبر الإنترنت في 29 أبريل 2020 حول تداعيات جائحة فيروس كورونا على العمّال الوافدين في دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي. وفسّر المشاركون استجابةَ العمّال الوافدين للفيروس وكيف سيؤثّر الوضع الحالي على ظروف العمل المستقبلية، بالإضافة إلى الصعوبات التي تواجه عمل الصحافيين في نقل الوقائع على الأرض. وتألّفت اللجنة من مجموعة من…

This week in Class Notes: Harvard encourages applications from many students who have very little chance of being admitted, particularly African Americans Wages for low-skilled men have not been influenced by changes in the occupational composition of workers. Retention rates for the social insurance program SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) are low, even among those who remain eligible.…

This week in Class Notes: Accounting for the consumption value of college increases the rate of return to a college education by 12-14%. Virtual college counseling increases applications to four-year and selective universities, particularly among disadvantaged students, but the effect on acceptance and enrollment is minimal. Automatically enrolling employees into an employer-sponsored savings account is a cost-effective way of helping workers…

In December, while public attention focused on impeachment, the most extensive retirement legislation in more than a decade was passed and signed into law. Spearheaded by House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA), the SECURE Act of 2019 was three years in the making and designed to raise the level and security of retirement…

This week in Class Notes: Both Senator Warren's wealth tax and a popular alternative – a Swiss-style tax on household wealth – would have miniscule effects on income inequality. The ACA Medicaid expansion substantially increased insurance coverage and improved access to health care among unemployed workers. An increased tendency for men and women to remain single may have contributed…

Projected fiscal shortfalls pose an important long-term challenge to U.S. policy makers.  Important though debt and deficits may be, the best current economic analysis suggests that the problem of fiscal imbalance is not as urgent as it appeared to be in the past.  Further- more, this problem must take its place among the many challenges…

Retirement saving plays an important role in the U.S. economy. Americans hold more than $18 trillion in private retirement accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs, while defined benefit pensions in the private and public sector hold trillions more. Social Security and Medicare comprise nearly 40 percent of the federal budget. The government also provides tax subsidies…

This week in Class Notes: Male students are significantly more likely than female students to ask for regrades in college. Higher minimum wages have large, positive effects on child health, with the greatest benefits between ages 1-5. The Social Security Annual Earnings Test reduces the employment rate of affected Americans by at least 1.2 percentage points. Our top chart shows…

Teachers are taking more investment risks than ever before. At least, their pension plans are. Even though teachers themselves are less willing to take risks compared to other professionals, teacher pension plans are taking substantial risks on their behalf. That has implications for today’s teachers and retirees, not to mention the long-term health of the…

This week in Class Notes: The digital divide—the correlation between income and home internet access —explains much of the inequality we observe in people's ability to self-isolate. The labor force participation rate among older Americans and the age at which they claim Social Security retirement benefits have risen in recent years. Higher minimum wages lead to a greater prevalence…

To be capable of surveilling, preventing, and managing disease outbreaks, public health systems require trustworthy, community-embedded public health workers who are empowered to undertake their tasks as professionals. The world has not invested in this cadre of health workers, despite the lessons from Ebola. In a new paper, my co-authors and I discuss why, and…

Africa’s extreme vulnerability to the disruption of international supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need to reduce the continent’s dependence on non-African trading partners and unlock Africa’s business potential. While African countries are right to focus their energy on managing the immediate health crisis, they must not lose sight of finalizing the Africa…

As countries around the world fall into a recession due to the coronavirus, what effects will this economic downturn have on Africa? Brahima S. Coulibaly joins David Dollar to explain the economic strain from falling commodity prices, remittances, and tourism, and also the consequences of a recent G-20 decision to temporarily suspend debt service payments…