Avni Patel Thompson

I still strongly believe that women can “have it all” (and that men can too). I believe that we can “have it all at the same time.” But not today, not with the way America’s economy and society are currently structured.

“Child care is a textbook example of a broken market,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, a mother herself. She pointed out that families spend, on average, 13 percent of their income on child care for young kids, yet day-care workers earn so little they rank in the bottom 2 percent of all professions.

Why is this decision so powerful? Chetty’s team has a possible answer for that. Three of the biggest predictors that a neighborhood will increase a child’s success are the percent of households in which there are two parents, the percent of residents who are college graduates, and the percent of residents who return their census forms. These are... See more

Which neighborhoods in America offer children the best chance to rise out of poverty?The Opportunity Atlas answers this question using anonymous data following 20 million Americans from childhood to their mid-30s.

A prevailing argument against a paid family leave policy is that it hurts employers. “Pro-business” tax cuts and incentives, the thinking goes, are a better way to ensure workers get time off when they need it. But a study released by the National Bureau of Economic Research in April suggests that taxpayer-funded paid family leave does not harm... See more