Abstract
Our economy suffers from a large and widening “Growth Gap” between the current recovery, which started in June 2009, and an average post-1960 recovery. In this context, President Obama raised the issues of economic inequality and mobility. In the United States over the last few decades, income inequality increased modestly, but economic mobility remained stable. First, this address presents five areas in which the federal government can help to ameliorate economic inequality and enhance economic mobility. They concern the federal tax system, the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate, federal unfunded liabilities, and regulatory reform. Second, Congress has a role to play in education reform and reducing the burden of college debt. Third, increasing economic mobility requires Congress to address the “poverty traps” for low-income individuals that are imposed by the interaction between taxes and the eligibility for social welfare benefits. Fourth, as a society, we must encourage the young to get their first job, a problem made worse by the proposed increase in the federal minimum wage. Fifth, we must open new markets for exports.
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Additional information
Closing Keynote Address, National Association for Business Economics Policy Conference, February 25, 2014.
*Rep. Kevin Brady is a Republican who represents the 8th District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is also the Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee and Deputy Whip. He is a pro-family, pro-small business conservative and a champion of free enterprise and American-made energy. He is a senior member of the House Ways & Means Committee, where his focus is creating jobs, reducing Washington spending, and sunsetting obsolete federal agencies. Rep. Brady chairs the Health Subcommittee for the House Ways and Means Committee, focusing on ensuring a strong, free market in the nation’s health-care industry and seeking ways to increase the quality of health care, while keeping costs low. On the Social Security Subcommittee, he is fighting to preserve this important program for future generations once and for all. And as chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, he has been a GOP leader on economic issues—opposing the President’s stimulus and fighting White House efforts to raise taxes on families, small businesses, and American energy producers. Until 2013, Kevin was the leader of the Trade Subcommittee and led the successful effort to pass new sales agreements with Panama, South Korea, and Colombia. Also, he served as the White House point man on the successful passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Prior to his election to Congress, Kevin worked as a chamber of commerce executive for 18 years and served six years in the Texas House of Representatives where he was named one of the Ten Best Legislators for Families & Children. In 1994 he was named one of Five Outstanding Young Texans. Kevin is an original Hometown Hero of The Woodlands, a Paul Harris Fellow in Rotary, and a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of South Dakota.
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Brady, K. Time to Close the Opportunity Gap. Bus Econ 49, 85–91 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/be.2014.8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/be.2014.8