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The Hamilton Project produces and commissions policy proposals and analyses to promote broad-based economic growth by embracing a significant role for well-designed government policies and public investment.
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Work permit applications suggest prior immigration is still pushing up labor supply—for now
Work permit applications remain elevated despite recent immigration slowdowns, illustrating a lag between policy changes and labor market effects that will continue impacting labor supply through 2025.
Employment & Wages
Immigration
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Nine facts about monetary sanctions in the criminal justice system
Interacting with the criminal justice system is an expensive proposition. Its reliance on bail to encourage return after pretrial release, on fines to punish a…
Proposals for improving the US pretrial system
On any given day, there are roughly half a million individuals in custody awaiting trial in the United States, nearly double that of any other country. This hi…
Fact-based policy: How do state and local governments accomplish it?
Policymakers at the state and local levels tackle some of the toughest problems facing society. To make measurable progress in solving these problems, public p…
The economics of bail and pretrial detention
Two thirds of the jail population consist of defendants who have not been convicted. This paper characterizes key trends in pretrial detention and the bail sys…
It is impossible to make sound policy without high-quality data
The President’s 2019 budget contains a variety of proposals that would reshape policy and reallocate spending across various agencies and policy programs. As t…
Defending the data
Federal statistical agencies provide indispensable data that strengthens governance, research, and innovation. In this blog, The Hamilton Project explores one …
Graduated reintegration: Smoothing the transition from prison to community
High recidivism rates—some 50 percent of released prisoners return within three years—constitute a major factor driving both high crime rates and high incarcer…
The economics of private prisons
Recently, private prisons have become the focus of considerable attention. This economic analysis explores the growth of the private prison industry and provid…
