U.S. economy
The end of American exceptionalism, by Clive Crook
Road to ruin?, Financial Times
Living standards, inequality, poverty, well-being
Presidents and income growth, by Larry Bartels
Pulling apart: a state-by-state analysis of income trends, by Jared Bernstein, Elizabeth McNichol, and Andrew Nicholas
Hunger stalks millions of poor Americans, Financial Times
Worked over and overworked, by Steven Greenhouse
The economic costs of poverty, by Harry Holzer, Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, Greg J. Duncan, and Jens Ludwig
Good jobs for Americans who help Americans, by Robert Kuttner
Trends in infancy/early childhood and middle childhood well-being, 1994-2006, by Kenneth Land (via The Early Ed Watch Blog)
For many, a boom that wasn’t, by David Leonhardt
Maybe money does buy happiness after all, by David Leonhardt
Tax credits and public benefits (pdf), by Elizabeth Lower-Basch (via Matt Lewis)
Wall Street winners get billion-dollar paydays, New York Times
Inside the middle class: bad times hit the good life, by the Pew Research Center
The wage that meant middle class, by Louis Uchitelle
Taxes
McCain and the decline of US, by Brad DeLong
Read their lips: Clinton and Obama take the pledge, by Howard Gleckman
Bush made permanent, by Paul Krugman
Weighing a McCain economist, by David Leonhardt
Principles of taxation, by Mark Thoma
Capital gains mythology, by Eric Toder
Health care
Are you confused yet?, by Jacob Hacker
The path to universal health care, symposium in The American Prospect
Housing
As cities revive, America’s poor are forced to the periphery, Financial Times
Playing the housing blame game, by David Leonhardt
Unsold homes tie down would-be transplants, New York Times
Modern suburbia not just in America anymore, USA Today (via Richard Florida)
Education
Evaluating NCLB, by Harry Brighouse
Considering effective education solutions, by the Center for American Progress
How the world’s best-performing school systems come out on top (pdf), by McKinsey and Co.
Primary watch: ignoring early education, by Sara Mead
Early education at risk?, by Sara Mead
Fixing education policy, by Jim Ryan
Trade
Krugman’s conundrum, The Economist
Better roses than cocaine, by Nicholas Kristof
Is trade the problem?, New York Times
America needs to make a new case for trade, by Larry Summers
Immigration
Of income and incomers, by Tim Harford
Immigration in western Europe, by Gianmarco Ottaviano and Giovanni Peri
Immigration reform suggestions: bring back indentured servitude?, by Jeff Weintraub
U.S. politics
The opiate of the elites, by Jeronimo Cortina, Andrew Gelman, David Park, and Boris Schor
Loose lips and Democratic ships, by E.J. Dionne
The culture wars, by Kevin Drum
The importance of campaign policy, by Ezra Klein
“Elite” … what’s it to you?, by Geoff Nunberg
Abroad
The paradox of disappearing European unemployment, by Tito Boeri
Europe’s employment growth revived after 1995 while productivity growth slowed: Is it a coincidence?, by Ian Dew-Baker and Robert J. Gordon
The new face of hunger, The Economist
How to show a dictator the door, New York Times
U.N. panel urges changes to feed poor while saving environment, New York Times
Japan may be rigid but it is not inefficient, by David Pilling
Miscellaneous
An uncertain truth, by Daniel Engber
When one parent is better than two, by Shawn Fremstad
How to really change your kid’s behavior, by Alan Kazdin
If climate skeptics are right, it is time to worry, by Paul Klemperer