Kathryn Anne Edwards

Kathryn Anne Edwards

@kedseconomist.com

Labor economist, opinion writer, policy consultant, podcaster https://linktr.ee/keds_economist https://linktr.ee/optimisteconomy

12.7K followers786 following550 posts

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Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

Reminder: the $600 billion per year that the IRS doesn't collect in taxes owed is enough to pay for universal school meals (~$50 billion) and the child care /preschool (~$40 billion) and paid family leave (~$20 billion) provisions of build back better...six times over! www.crfb.org/blogs/irs-es...

crfb.orgIRS Estimates a $606 Billion Tax Gap for 2022 | Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget2024-10-24-The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently published its p
Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

There's a three-hour gap between when school gets out and when parents get home and a burgeoning youth mental health crisis. Afterschool programs are a proven, parent-approved, positive investment that is severely underfunded. Y'all, we can do this. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

bloomberg.comFree Universal After-School Is an Easy Win in a World of ProblemsIt’s a time-honored tradition for one generation to shake its head at the next, wondering if progress and technology have caused more harm than good. So it is now, with some prominent academics saying...
Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

The problem is obvious: our profit-driven private health insurance system is not fit for purpose. It's time to get on board with the solution, universal public health insurance. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

bloomberg.comUniversal Public Health Insurance Is the AnswerEmployer-sponsored health insurance is rapidly deteriorating. In 2027, premiums are expected to see their largest single-year increase in two decades, jumping 11% and closing in on a nearly four-fold ...
Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

In 1990, the US had ~130 tax coupons (credits, adjustments, deductions, etc), today we have more than double that: 271. To address the debt, we should start with the coupon book that doles out $2.3 trillion in discounts each year, dwarfing Social Security. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

bloomberg.comThere’s a Secret Third Path to Escaping America’s Debt TrapThe US deficit has reached $1.97 trillion and is on track to pass 6% of gross domestic product this fiscal year, the latest milestone in a remarkable deterioration of the federal budget. With national...
Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

Are Social Security benefits too high? In my latest column, I offer a practical answer based on replacement rates and formulas, but I think it's getting at a larger question that we would be better off answering directly: What do we need Social Security to do? www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

bloomberg.comThe Case Against Cutting Social Security BenefitsAre Social Security benefits too generous? Some fiscal hawks and classic conservatives say the answer is yes, and see the upcoming depletion of the trust fund as an opportunity to rein them in. Social...

Kathryn Anne Edwards reposted

Liberal Currents
@liberalcurrents.com

"If I'm shoved out of the labor market because…I have two kids under 5 and I cannot afford childcare—I just have to stop working for five years—that's bad for the economy. We lose a worker. And for what it's worth, the size of the economy is very well predicted by the number of people working in it"

liberalcurrents.comLabor Economist Explains: To Fix Inequality, Start Young (Neon Liberalism #89, with Kathryn Anne Edwards)What makes for a good economy on a generational scale?

Kathryn Anne Edwards reposted

Aaron Sojourner
@aaronsojourner.org

💯

Kathryn Anne Edwards@kedseconomist.com

And he just totally and unnecessarily swiped at public data. In his words "We’re no longer going to have to rely solely on data ​that we get from government agencies with mismeasurement problems that have surveys that are no longer relevant." This is so shortsighted and a massive miss.

Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

I managed to take the Fed to task for bad leadership and discuss W.E.B. Du Bois's "The Philadelphia Negro," a real win of a column. Walking away from public data is going backwards in time, as the history of measuring the economic status of Black people shows. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

bloomberg.comThe Fed’s Data Task Force Is a Step BackwardThe logic seems straightforward enough: To make its decisions, the Federal Reserve needs timely and reliable information. A lot of that is public, but increasingly, there is relevant data in private h...
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Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

I talk about Du Bois to put into perspective just how hard it is to be counted and what being counted means. If public surveys slip in precision, we lose the smallest groups first, like black people. So say it that way: abandoning public data is walking away from measuring minorities.

Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

Warsh cares about prices more, and the current economy supports it, but there's two sides to the mandate. Private data can be incredibly informative, but it can never replace public data, only augment it. He could be so influential here, but he chose not to. It's a miss we'll all feel.

Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

I managed to take the Fed to task for bad leadership and discuss W.E.B. Du Bois's "The Philadelphia Negro," a real win of a column. Walking away from public data is going backwards in time, as the history of measuring the economic status of Black people shows. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

bloomberg.comThe Fed’s Data Task Force Is a Step BackwardThe logic seems straightforward enough: To make its decisions, the Federal Reserve needs timely and reliable information. A lot of that is public, but increasingly, there is relevant data in private h...
View full thread
Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

And he just totally and unnecessarily swiped at public data. In his words "We’re no longer going to have to rely solely on data ​that we get from government agencies with mismeasurement problems that have surveys that are no longer relevant." This is so shortsighted and a massive miss.

Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

1. He and the fed will 100% without doubt still have to rely heavily on public data; he could not do his job without it. 2. He is arguably the most important public data user in the world, because he's the most powerful, and he could have carried the mantle to improve that data, but he didn't.

Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

I managed to take the Fed to task for bad leadership and discuss W.E.B. Du Bois's "The Philadelphia Negro," a real win of a column. Walking away from public data is going backwards in time, as the history of measuring the economic status of Black people shows. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

bloomberg.comThe Fed’s Data Task Force Is a Step BackwardThe logic seems straightforward enough: To make its decisions, the Federal Reserve needs timely and reliable information. A lot of that is public, but increasingly, there is relevant data in private h...
Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

So public data is highly important, highly valuable, and there's a very well thought out plan of how to improve it. Enter Kevin Warsh, the new Fed Chair. He commissioned a data task force to improve the data that the Fed has to rely on.

Kathryn Anne Edwards reposted

Roosevelt Institute
@rooseveltinstitute.org

Replying to @rooseveltinstitute.org

Via @kedseconomist.com: Economic mismanagement is one of the biggest threats to Social Security, but it’s hardly discussed. For example, failing to invest in childcare can push parents out of the workforce, reducing the earnings—and payroll tax revenue—that help finance the program.

Kathryn Anne Edwards reposted

Terry Moran
@terrymoran.bsky.social

I wanted to share this reel from @kedseconomist.com . Good stuff and clearly shows we need tax reform here. www.instagram.com/reel/Db6NurD...

instagram.comKathryn Anne Edwards on Instagram: "Candid keds! My husband asked me about my latest column, and then filmed my answer. What else should I fit in here??? #medicaid #taxes #overtime #profits #tips"342 likes, 19 comments - keds_economist on August 11, 2026: "Candid keds! My husband asked me about my latest column, and then filmed my answer. What else should I fit in here??? #medicaid #taxes #ove...
Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

Imagine the conversations we would have on social security if articles like this listened to the SSA Actuary and said “An increase in wage inequality in the 1980s, followed by mismanagement of the Great Recession, had meant that the program’s payment costs exceed its incoming tax revenue.”

Kathryn Anne Edwards reposted

Amy Hanauer
@amyhanauer.bsky.social

This piece ties together complicated economic issues in a really thoughtful way

Kathryn Anne Edwards@kedseconomist.com

Companies are benefiting from soaring profits, historically low taxes, and a Congress willing to make middle class salaried workers subsidize low-wage work instead of making the jobs better paid. My latest on the collapsing sense of fairness in our tax system: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

bloomberg.comNo One Who Works Full Time Should Be on MedicaidThere are a lot of jobs in the US economy that pay miserably low wages. And there are a lot that offer a reasonable hourly rate but still result in miserably low earnings because of unstable, fluctuat...
Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

Companies are benefiting from soaring profits, historically low taxes, and a Congress willing to make middle class salaried workers subsidize low-wage work instead of making the jobs better paid. My latest on the collapsing sense of fairness in our tax system: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

bloomberg.comNo One Who Works Full Time Should Be on MedicaidThere are a lot of jobs in the US economy that pay miserably low wages. And there are a lot that offer a reasonable hourly rate but still result in miserably low earnings because of unstable, fluctuat...
Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

How will we know today what Social Security needs for the next 75 years? That is the challenge of reform, and one I tackle head on in this report. It's predicting the future from examining the past. My latest in partnership with @rooseveltinstitute.org rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

rooseveltinstitute.orgWhat the 1983 Social Security Reform Missed—and 2032 Must Get RightKathryn Anne Edwards explains how wage inequality and economic mismanagement weakened Social Security—and what the next reform must get right before 2032.

Kathryn Anne Edwards reposted

Roosevelt Institute
@rooseveltinstitute.org

A great piece from @kedseconomist.com that understands the fundamental mandate any Social Security reform must follow: protecting guaranteed benefits in their entirety while addressing the economic forces that have weakened the program’s foundation.

Kathryn Anne Edwards@kedseconomist.com

In my Bloomberg column this morning I propose bipartisan Social Security reform that avoids any benefit cuts and puts the program on a path to long-term solvency. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

bloomberg.comHow to Fix Social Security, in Six WordsThe annual report of the Social Security board of trustees, issued last month, has prompted Congress to return to one of its favorite pastimes: creating bipartisan Social Security commissions. More pr...
Kathryn Anne Edwards
@kedseconomist.com

In my Bloomberg column this morning I propose bipartisan Social Security reform that avoids any benefit cuts and puts the program on a path to long-term solvency. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

bloomberg.comHow to Fix Social Security, in Six WordsThe annual report of the Social Security board of trustees, issued last month, has prompted Congress to return to one of its favorite pastimes: creating bipartisan Social Security commissions. More pr...