The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity

Improving the lives of Americans on the bottom half of the economic ladder using freedom, innovation, and pluralism.

OUR POLICY AREAS

  • 01 Bitcoin & CBDCs
  • 02 COVID-19
  • 03 Energy
  • 04 Finance
  • 05 Health Care
  • 06 Higher Education
  • 07 Housing
  • 08 Immigration
  • 09 Inflation
  • 10 K–12 Education
  • 11 Public Safety
  • 12 Social Mobility
01

Bitcoin & CBDCs

The vicious cycle of rising public debt, monetary inflation, and consumer price inflation is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Inflation primarily harms lower-income Americans, and we must protect Americans’ ability to place their savings in inflation-protected assets like bitcoin. Furthermore, we must reform financial regulations to ensure that lower- and middle-income Americans have access to basic financial services and the innovation economy.
02

COVID-19

We should learn from excessive economic restrictions and school closures in order to ensure that we protect both lives and livelihoods in future pandemics. Most importantly, we must overhaul the ways in which we make decisions and acquire data about critical public health threats.
03

Energy

American prosperity and national security depends on affordable, abundant, reliable, low-carbon energy. Instead of making energy scarcer or less reliable—which primarily harms lower- and middle-income Americans—we should dramatically expand the role of nuclear energy in the United States. Natural gas has a constructive role to play in the low-carbon transition, as do emerging technologies.
04

Finance

The vicious cycle of rising public debt, monetary inflation, and consumer price inflation is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Inflation primarily harms lower-income Americans, and we must protect Americans’ ability to place their savings in inflation-protected assets like bitcoin. Furthermore, we must reform financial regulations to ensure that lower- and middle-income Americans have access to basic financial services and the innovation economy.
05

Health Care

Americans deserve a health care system that provides universal—and universally affordable—coverage for today’s Americans, and a fiscally sustainable system for the generations to come. All Americans should have the freedom to choose among a wide variety of plans that suit their needs. Taxpayer-funded subsidies should be reserved for the poor, the sick and the vulnerable—not the wealthy. Enabling competition and curtailing the power of health care monopolies will lower patients’ costs and increase innovation in patient care.
06

Higher Education

Student debt now exceeds $1.5 trillion. We must overhaul a system that, for too long, has incentivized colleges and universities to charge unaffordable prices for degrees that do not always improve the lives of their recipients. Measures of return on investment (ROI) can help ensure that that institutions are accountable for the economic outcomes of the students they plunge into indebtedness.
07

Housing

A critical obstacle to universally affordable housing in the United States is the nationwide web of “not-in-my-backyard” laws and regulations that restrict growth in the supply of housing. In addition, we should modernize housing assistance so that it can help people live near their jobs and families, and reform macroeconomic policies that have placed home prices out of reach for middle- and lower-income Americans.
08

Immigration

While much of the political controversy around immigration in the United States has revolved around illegal immigration, it is the broken system for legal immigration that is the core problem. If America once again becomes a magnet for the world’s best and brightest, those already here will greatly benefit from job growth, wage growth, and innovation.
09

Inflation

The vicious cycle of rising public debt, monetary inflation, and consumer price inflation is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Inflation primarily harms lower-income Americans, and we must protect Americans’ ability to place their savings in inflation-protected assets like bitcoin. Furthermore, we must reform financial regulations to ensure that lower- and middle-income Americans have access to basic financial services and the innovation economy.
10

K–12 Education

Parents and students should have more sovereignty over their children’s education, especially by enabling parents to use Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) to supplement their children’s brick-and-mortar schooling. The landmark enactment of universal ESAs in Arizona, in which every K-12 pupil will receive $6,500 for tutoring, technology, and instructional expenses, is a model for every other state. Microschools and charter schools give parents additional affordable options for their children. Well-designed testing is a key element to helping students succeed in school.
11

Public Safety

We can improve public safety, reduce crime, and improve opportunities in disadvantaged communities with smarter policing and a fairer criminal justice system. We must overcome resistance from vested interests within police unions to holding unethical officers accountable for their actions.
12

Social Mobility

A core promise of America is the ability of people to rise up from humble beginnings. The challenges faced by lower- and middle-income Americans today are multidisciplinary in nature, and require our renewed focus. Job and wage growth are essential; in particular, Americans need access to more blue-collar work and other jobs that don’t require a college degree. Our employment and welfare policies should encourage work, family formation, and income security. Paid family leave can help strengthen families at their times of need.

OUR POLICY AREAS

  • 01 Bitcoin & CBDCs
  • 02 COVID-19
  • 03 Energy
  • 04 Finance
  • 05 Health Care
  • 06 Higher Education
  • 07 Housing
  • 08 Immigration
  • 09 Inflation
  • 10 K–12 Education
  • 11 Public Safety
  • 12 Social Mobility
01

Bitcoin & CBDCs

The vicious cycle of rising public debt, monetary inflation, and consumer price inflation is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Inflation primarily harms lower-income Americans, and we must protect Americans’ ability to place their savings in inflation-protected assets like bitcoin. Furthermore, we must reform financial regulations to ensure that lower- and middle-income Americans have access to basic financial services and the innovation economy.
02

COVID-19

We should learn from excessive economic restrictions and school closures in order to ensure that we protect both lives and livelihoods in future pandemics. Most importantly, we must overhaul the ways in which we make decisions and acquire data about critical public health threats.
03

Energy

American prosperity and national security depends on affordable, abundant, reliable, low-carbon energy. Instead of making energy scarcer or less reliable—which primarily harms lower- and middle-income Americans—we should dramatically expand the role of nuclear energy in the United States. Natural gas has a constructive role to play in the low-carbon transition, as do emerging technologies.
04

Finance

The vicious cycle of rising public debt, monetary inflation, and consumer price inflation is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Inflation primarily harms lower-income Americans, and we must protect Americans’ ability to place their savings in inflation-protected assets like bitcoin. Furthermore, we must reform financial regulations to ensure that lower- and middle-income Americans have access to basic financial services and the innovation economy.
05

Health Care

Americans deserve a health care system that provides universal—and universally affordable—coverage for today’s Americans, and a fiscally sustainable system for the generations to come. All Americans should have the freedom to choose among a wide variety of plans that suit their needs. Taxpayer-funded subsidies should be reserved for the poor, the sick and the vulnerable—not the wealthy. Enabling competition and curtailing the power of health care monopolies will lower patients’ costs and increase innovation in patient care.
06

Higher Education

Student debt now exceeds $1.5 trillion. We must overhaul a system that, for too long, has incentivized colleges and universities to charge unaffordable prices for degrees that do not always improve the lives of their recipients. Measures of return on investment (ROI) can help ensure that that institutions are accountable for the economic outcomes of the students they plunge into indebtedness.
07

Housing

A critical obstacle to universally affordable housing in the United States is the nationwide web of “not-in-my-backyard” laws and regulations that restrict growth in the supply of housing. In addition, we should modernize housing assistance so that it can help people live near their jobs and families, and reform macroeconomic policies that have placed home prices out of reach for middle- and lower-income Americans.
08

Immigration

While much of the political controversy around immigration in the United States has revolved around illegal immigration, it is the broken system for legal immigration that is the core problem. If America once again becomes a magnet for the world’s best and brightest, those already here will greatly benefit from job growth, wage growth, and innovation.
09

Inflation

The vicious cycle of rising public debt, monetary inflation, and consumer price inflation is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Inflation primarily harms lower-income Americans, and we must protect Americans’ ability to place their savings in inflation-protected assets like bitcoin. Furthermore, we must reform financial regulations to ensure that lower- and middle-income Americans have access to basic financial services and the innovation economy.
10

K–12 Education

Parents and students should have more sovereignty over their children’s education, especially by enabling parents to use Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) to supplement their children’s brick-and-mortar schooling. The landmark enactment of universal ESAs in Arizona, in which every K-12 pupil will receive $6,500 for tutoring, technology, and instructional expenses, is a model for every other state. Microschools and charter schools give parents additional affordable options for their children. Well-designed testing is a key element to helping students succeed in school.
11

Public Safety

We can improve public safety, reduce crime, and improve opportunities in disadvantaged communities with smarter policing and a fairer criminal justice system. We must overcome resistance from vested interests within police unions to holding unethical officers accountable for their actions.
12

Social Mobility

A core promise of America is the ability of people to rise up from humble beginnings. The challenges faced by lower- and middle-income Americans today are multidisciplinary in nature, and require our renewed focus. Job and wage growth are essential; in particular, Americans need access to more blue-collar work and other jobs that don’t require a college degree. Our employment and welfare policies should encourage work, family formation, and income security. Paid family leave can help strengthen families at their times of need.
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