The U.S. is failing to provide economic opportunity to all its citizens. On that, at least, Democrats and Republicans can agree. A key question — arguably the most important question — facing the new Administration and new Congress is: how to improve economic opportunity?
Rising to this challenge will require strong leadership and institutional muscle, along with an investment in using big data, along with a renewed commitment to evidence and evaluation.
Joe Biden should therefore create an Office of Economic Opportunity. Or rather he should restore it: Ronald Reagan abolished it in 1981. The original version, founded in 1964, was a key weapon in the “war on poverty,” incubating programs like Jobs Corp and Head Start.
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