The effects of income inequality have been felt throughout society but they are especially evident in the current coronavirus crisis. For instance, workers in the information economy are able to telework and draw their salaries, but workers in the service sector are either unemployed or at great risk as they interact with customers during a…

Introduction Around the world, the lives of women and girls have improved dramatically over the past 50 years. Life expectancy has increased, fertility rates have fallen, two-thirds of countries have reached gender parity in primary education, and women now make up over half of all university graduates (UNESCO 2019). Yet despite this progress, some elements…

At a time when 95 percent of Americans, and much of the world, is in lockdown, the often invisible and underappreciated work that women do all the time—at home, caring for children and families, caring for others (women make up three-quarters of health care workers), and in the classroom (women are the majority of teachers)—is…

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…

During the decade between the Great Recession and the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. experienced a historically long economic expansion. Demand for rental housing grew steadily over those years, driven by demographic trends and a strong labor market. Yet the supply of new rental housing did not keep up with demand, leading to rent increases that…

In the early part of the 20th century, women sought and gained many legal rights, including the right to vote as part of the 19th Amendment. Their entry into the workforce, into occupations previously reserved for men, and into the social and political life of the nation should be celebrated. The biggest remaining challenge is…

The recent economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is unmatched by anything in recent memory. Social distancing has resulted in massive layoffs and furloughs in retail, hospitality, and entertainment, and millions of the affected workers—restaurant servers, cooks, housekeepers, retail clerks, and many others—were already at the bottom of the wage spectrum. The economic catastrophe of…

When inflation targeting came to Canada, it was the government not the Bank of Canada that proposed it. Why? Three possible explanations come to mind. First, perhaps the government thought it was a fundamentally good idea. Second, the government was in the process of introducing a new goods and services tax, which would boost headline…

Canada is having a moment. In a world where talent is mobile and technology central, Canada stands out with its vibrant democracy, growing tech clusters, and unparalleled openness to the world’s migrants. Yet there is a problem: Despite the nation’s many strengths, Canada’s economy faces serious structural challenges, including an aging population and slowing output…

Trade integration has been a central element of U.S.-Mexico relations for the past quarter century. The renegotiation of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) presented a formidable challenge for two neighboring countries who also manage a complex border agenda including immigration and drug control. As President Trump considered terminating NAFTA and continues to press…

As 2019 winds down, all eyes will soon turn to the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The cycle promises to dominate the news throughout next year, covering everything from the ongoing impeachment proceedings to health-care reform and more. While education traditionally may not be considered a top-tier issue in national elections, as Brookings’s Doug Harris has…

Playful Learning Landscapes lies at the intersection of developmental science and transformative placemaking to help urban leaders and practitioners advance and scale evidence-based approaches to create vibrant public spaces that promote learning and generate a sense of community ownership and pride. On Wednesday, February 26, the Center for Universal Education and the Bass Center for…

High-quality early learning experiences—those filled with stimulating and supportive interactions between children and caregivers—can have long-lasting impacts for children, families, and society. Unfortunately, many families, particularly low-income families, struggle to find any affordable early childhood education (ECE) program, much less programs that offer engaging learning opportunities that are likely to foster long-term benefits. This post…

“Holistic development” is the watchword when setting educational goals for students. However, what this means in practice differs from country to country and culture to culture. The underlying sentiments, though, are similar: We all want to ensure that our young citizens are equipped to think critically and creatively, and to solve problems in an increasing…

For many of us, COVID-19 has completely changed how we work. Remote work might have its advantages for some, but when the kids are out of school and libraries and museums are closed, juggling two roles at once can be a challenge. What is a parent to do? As two developmental psychologists dedicated to understanding…

I am a “glass is half full” kind of person. While uncertainty and fear from the coronavirus epidemic is of course top of mind, I have also seen many acts of human kindness on social media and on trips to the supermarket, library, or just walking my dog that give me hope. One of the…

Under normal circumstances, children spend 80 percent of their waking time outside the classroom. The COVID-19 pandemic has quite abruptly turned that 80 percent into 100 percent. Across the U.S., schools and child care centers have been mandated to close, and children of all ages are now home full time. This leaves many families, especially…

The year 2020 was always going to be critical for climate change. In the United States, a presidential election will likely present two candidates whose climate policies are diametrically at odds. Around the world, countries are required to submit updated plans to the United Nations in order to comply with the Paris Agreement in a…

In a piece written for this blog four years ago—after the Ebola outbreaks but mostly focused on rising natural disasters—I argued that to deal with global public “bads” such as climate change, natural disasters, diseases, and financial crises, we needed global financing mechanisms. Today, the world faces not just another global public bad, but one…

The Medicare Part D program allows plans to negotiate rebates directly with  manufacturers, often in exchange for preferential placement on the plan’s formulary. These rebates have grown from about 10 percent of Part D spending in 2007 to about 22 percent in 2017. While these rebates help keep Part D premiums low, they do so…

We know that to achieve success in most social policy areas, such as homelessness, school graduation, stable housing, happier aging, or better community health, we need a high degree of cross-sector and cross-program collaboration and budgeting. But that is perceived as being lacking in government at all levels, due to siloed agencies and programs, and…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…