Today we launched our OZ housing and affordability initiative. Remember, we CAN build and we NEED to build. Let’s take the steps to make it happen.

More than 53 million U.S. workers don’t have access to an employer-provided retirement plan. That fact puts today’s “$955 saved” headlines in context — the retirement crisis is fundamentally about access.

Workers want us to tackle affordability - lowering costs and making home ownership achievable. What didn’t they want? Raising tariffs. www.instagram.com/reel/DUYZeRq...

Yale making tuition free for families under $200k has sparked the inevitable take: “$200k is the poverty line now.” In 2024, only 16% of U.S. households earned $200,000 or more. Calling the other 84% “in poverty” is nonsense.

People warn about desensitization to state violence. What they miss is that desensitization cuts both ways. The more threats are used, the less they work on protesters who stood their ground and keep recording.

Big city kid counts stopped falling in 2024, but the comeback is not here yet. 🧒 #Cities #Demographics #Housing

How prosperous it is where you live shows up in your life expectancy, and the gaps are huge.

Excited to share I’ve been promoted from Economist to Senior Economist at @innovateeconomy.bsky.social!Grateful for the chance to work on research that connects real-world policy to the data—and for a team focused on building a more dynamic, inclusive economy. More work ahead. Let’s go.

Black unemployment has risen rapidly since “Liberation Day,” up 31.7%, from 6.3% to 8.3% as of November. Compared to usual flows/changes, we are well outside the norm and in some concerning company... Source: fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS14...

Involuntary part-time work is surging. From September to November 2025, the share of employed workers working part-time for economic reasons rose about 20%. In the raw data, that is 2.741% to 3.352% of employment, and 4.579M to 5.488M workers. Full analysis here: t.co/kAcnPMQp0O

Given how often we talk about manufacturing, and how important it is, we really should have a clearer idea about how many people are actually working in manufacturing. Spoiler: depending on who/how you ask, the answer differs by million of jobs.

EIG’s @benglasner.bsky.social joins Money with Katie to discuss how a wage subsidy can improve the lives of low-wage workers nationwide. Check it out! 🎧 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

Had a great conversation about who the low-wage working class really is and how we can end low-wage work forever on the Money with Katie show from @morningbrew.bsky.social

Come work with me, and more importantly with all the much smarter and cooler people than I am, at the @innovateeconomy.bsky.social: Full-time, entry-level research role for someone who wants to work directly with data, policy ideas, all while building strong quantitative and writing skills.

When states like Colorado passed policies requiring employers to disclose salary information in job postings, what happened? It increased competition, and raised wages, without harming employment or changing skill requirements. Improved functioning of markets, helped workers.

SNAP isn't a partisan program, and recipients are split across red and blue America. #SNAP #FoodSecurity #GovernmentShutdown #Economy

Ready to get back to my old home at @uwevansschool.bsky.social and @appam.bsky.social in Seattle. You should not miss the full panel where I’ll be covering the impact of Opportunity Zones on housing.

Last night we wrote about the geo. and poli. dist. of SNAP reliance. We walked back language to reflect that the admin stated they would resume paying. Yet here we are. A SNAP shutdown does not punish one side. It punishes families, our neighbors, and local economies.

Among counties that received more than 1% of total income from SNAP, 82% voted for Trump and 18% voted for Harris. The on-again-off-again, still-looming, lapse in SNAP benefits for 42 million people is not in fact a “largely Democrat” issue.

1 in 5 children receive SNAP. 1 in 2 children receive assistance from at least one nutrition program. Cannot emphasize enough how important stable access to nutrition is for everyone, and especially for kids.

SNAP isn’t just about hardship today, it is an investment in all of our futures. Both program participants and those lucky enough to never have to be. Short-run support and long-run gains in health, safety, and economic mobility, especially for the kids who need it most.

As always, look for the sourcing info: SNAP, like many policies that work to reduce material hardship in families, has shown REAL long-run economic benefits and reductions in inter-generational poverty and transfer reliance. Thread:

Even the smartest AI in the world can’t see why the internet loves a chunky bear:

Even the smartest AI in the world can’t see why the internet loves a chunky bear:

Who I am, why I do this, and what you’ll get here: clear, honest, usable economics. Check the linktree for more: linktr.ee/bglasner

Do you know someone looking to get some experience in the think tank/economic and policy research world? Encourage them to apply!

So what is going on with wages? It is all about missed potential!

I got a PhD so I could ask ChatGPT if a bear is fat. Like Kasparov vs. Deep Blue, the team at EIG pitted human reasoning against the machine. But our arena wasn’t a chessboard, it was the salmon-filled rivers of Alaska. I give you: Fat Bear Week and the Fate of the World! 🐻🤖

I got a PhD so I could ask ChatGPT if a bear is fat. Like Kasparov vs. Deep Blue, the team at EIG pitted human reasoning against the machine. But our arena wasn’t a chessboard, it was the salmon-filled rivers of Alaska. I give you: Fat Bear Week and the Fate of the World! 🐻🤖

We’ve got an extremely fun post coming out early tomorrow morning on Agglomerations. Subscribe: agglomerations.substack.com

The Abundance agenda has spotlighted supply-side barriers—housing, energy, tech. But one crucial ingredient remains under-discussed: workers. Without a dynamic, mobile labor force, efforts to build more, innovate faster, and deploy clean energy will run into a human bottleneck🧵

Increasing reliance on government transfer programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is shaping the politics of both parties. #SocialSecurity #Medicare #Medicaid #Politics #Economy #news

Yes. Nothing says “Kaldor–Hicks efficiency” like eating away at social surplus with tariffs, then using the nonexistent gains to bail out the people you just hurt. Link in the next post.

Thanks @benglasner.bsky.social & Adam Ozimek for making a compelling case for well-designed wage subsidies. "In our version of a wage subsidy, the government sends money directly to low-wage workers in every single paycheck, raising their hourly wage." #EconSky

The challenge: 21 million workers earn less than $16/hr, two-thirds are women, and in states like WV & LA, 1 in 5 prime-age men don’t have jobs. Too many Americans face low pay or no pay. So, let’s talk about what a wage subsidy can do.

The Trump Proclamation ignores what Americans actually want. ✅ 71% of Trump voters ✅ 78% of Americans overall …support more high-skilled immigration. Why double down on fear and scarcity when we could build a system rooted in growth and opportunity?

The Trump admin just “proclaimed” a massive new set of hurdles for H-1B workers to “protect American jobs.” Let’s be clear: this isn’t reform, it’s self-sabotage. High-skilled immigration raises wages, fuels innovation, and strengthens the economy we all share. The data is clear.

It is only de jure political censorship when it originates directly from the seat of power. Everything else is just sparkling de facto regulation of speech.

Roughly 90 percent of counties that are significantly reliant on government transfer programs — meaning that more than 25 percent of their total income came from transfers — went to Trump in 2024. What other trends do we find when we scrutinize the data? [1/9] 🧵

America’s housing crisis isn’t just about building more — it’s about building in the right places. Proximity to jobs, transit, and opportunity matters. #Housing #Innovation #HousingCosts #EconomicInnovationGroup #Economics #Construction #EconSky

Roughly 90 percent of counties that are significantly reliant on government transfer programs — meaning that more than 25 percent of their total income came from transfers — went to Trump in 2024. What other trends do we find when we scrutinize the data? [1/9] 🧵

From @benglasner.bsky.social: The new Distressed Communities Index from EIG helps us see how Orange County glam sits among nearby distress. Check your ZIP to see how close your neighborhood is to Bravo prosperity. youtube.com/shorts/N01mU...

The Real Housewives of Orange County are just a short drive away from struggling neighborhoods. The new Distressed Communities Index from the Economic Innovation Group helps us see how OC glam sits among nearby distress.

Reshoring high-tech manufacturing by taxing the very parts our factories rely on will not work. Great new analysis from Connor O'Brien and @jasonhehehe.bsky.social

Unemployment among Black Americans is creeping into a recession territory:

Currently at #Abundance2025, so let’s rehash something: We’re in a housing shortage, and OZs caused real, significant, increases in housing supply on the order of hundreds of thousands of new addresses.

The link to the Brookings Metro piece is here: www.brookings.edu/articles/the...

"American workers said the United States should pursue free trade with other nations by a decisive 51-point margin." Happy Labor Day! Fresh results from the new national survey by the Economic Innovation Group and Echelon Insights, written up by John Lettieri.

The president and his top officials have promised not only that tariffs will bring jobs back to the country, but that they will bring back specific kinds of jobs for specific kinds of workers in specific kinds of places. Looking like they are finding that promise hard to fulfill…

Where you live can determine how long you live. The less prosperous your neighborhood, the lower your life expectancy at birth. The relationship couldn’t be more clear. Check out this and other new insights from the Distressed Communities Index of the Economic Innovation Group.