During his campaign for the presidency, Barack Obama proposed a comprehensive tax plan that would raise taxes on high-income taxpayers, provide tax cuts for low- and middle-income households and lose an estimated $3.9 trillion dollars of revenue over the next decade. In January, now President-elect Obama will take office with the economy in sharp recession and a rapidly deteriorating fiscal situation, made worse by new government spending to address the country’s economic problems. In the face of those twin crises, the president-elect has indicated that he will pursue both his campaign tax plan and additional tax-related proposals addressing problems created by the downturn. This paper examines in detail the revenue and distributional effects of Obama’s tax plan and describes stimulus proposals offered during the campaign.

The Urban Institute, along with its subcontractor, International Communications Research, conducted the 2008 Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey (HIS) for the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy to obtain information on health insurance coverage and access to and use of health care for the non-institutionalized population in Massachusetts. This report provides information about the methods used to collect and analyze the 2008 HIS data.

The Urban Institute, along with its subcontractor, International Communications Research, conducted the 2008 Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey (HIS) for the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy to obtain information on health insurance coverage and access to and use of health care for the non-institutionalized population in Massachusetts. This report summarizes the results of that new survey, including the finding that more than more than 97 percent of Massachusetts residents have health insurance, with only 2.6 percent of state residents remaining uninsured.

This study examined the prosecution of the commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth (CSEC) in the United States. The research took the form of a national analysis of federal prosecutions since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000, answering the following research questions: (1) Is the United States enforcing existing federal laws related to CSEC? (2) What are the key features of successfully prosecuted CSEC cases? (3) Have the U.S. courts increased penalties associated with sexual crimes against children? (4) What are the effects of CSEC legislation on service providers who work with victims? This assessment provides policy makers with a means of assessing the effects of legislation aimed at combating CSEC.

This brief, part of the Urban Institute's "Recession and Recover" series, assesses how unemployment and household income changes as the economy moves through a recession and into recovery.

This brief, part of the Urban Institute's "Recession and Recover" series, examines how the Unemployment Insurance program responds during a recession and how that response may differ in the current recession from its response in the past.

This brief, part of the Urban Institute's "Recession and Recover" series, examines how the TANF program (formerly AFDC) responds during a recession and how that response may differ in the current recession from its response in the past.

This brief, part of the Urban Institute's "Recession and Recover" series, examines how the SNAP program (formerly food stamps) responds during a recession and how that response may differ in the current recession from its response in the past.

This brief, part of the Urban Institute's "Recession and Recover" series, assesses the extent to which the Earned Income Tax Credit can help families hit by job losses and falling incomes during a recession.

This brief, part of the Urban Institute's "Recession and Recover" series, examines how the Medicaid and SCHIP programs respond during a recession and how that response may differ in the current recession from their responses in the past. It also assesses the extent to which health insurance coverage may decline as unemployment rises.