Recently released research from Harvard economist Raj Chetty and the Opportunity Insights team reinforces AEI scholars’ long-standing argument that stable employment and married families are key to increasing upward mobility. Earlier this year, Chetty privately previewed his findings in a conversation with AEI President Robert Doar at the 2024 Old Parkland Conference. Watch their conversation here.

These encouraging shifts in economic mobility are mirrored by positive trends in Americans’ retirement savings. In a new AEI Economic Perspectives report, AEI Senior Fellow and former Principal Deputy Commissioner at the Social Security Administration Andrew G. Biggs explains why there are no signs of a “retirement crisis” now or in the future.

In 2016, there was a 13-point gender gap in presidential voting preferences, as 54 percent of women voted for Hillary Clinton compared to only 41 percent of men. Director of AEI’s Survey Center on American Life Daniel A. Cox examines whether Kamala Harris’s candidacy will create a similar split.

Among many issues at stake in this election is the future of federal student lending, after years of repeated attempts at outright and de facto forgiveness by the Biden administration. In a new AEI report, coauthored with researchers from EducationCounsel and the Century Foundation, Beth Akers proposes a more sensible, bipartisan policy agenda for federal graduate student lending that better protects both students and taxpayers.

Democrats’ fixation on loan forgiveness reflects their party’s drift away from the working class toward college-educated voters. Ruy Teixeira argues that this shift makes it difficult for Harris to reconstitute Barack Obama’s coalition and narrows her path to victory in November.