Two Charts That Show How Working Women Have Fared Under Obama

Abby McCloskey, Forbes, July 26, 2016

"Clinton's efforts to double down on the Affordable Care Act, raise the minimum wage, ignore occupational licensing and raise taxes on working women would implicitly encourage even more women to leave the work force."

Is Hillary Good For Women?

Abby McCloskey, National Review Online, July 21, 2016

"Hillary has rejected her husband’s New Democrat platform, which led to one of the most successful economic periods for American women. Free trade, fiscal responsibility, and welfare reform were followed by rising wages in the 1990s and by the highest labor-force participation rate among women ever reached in America: 60 percent in 1999. Instead, she has taken a page from President Obama’s playbook for economic growth, accepting as the new normal the weakest economic recovery since World War II. That means that Obama-era weakness would continue, which isn’t great for women (or men, for that matter)."

It's Time For A Supply Side Experiment

Abby McCloskey, Forbes, June 30, 2016

"America’s economy has all but sputtered to a standstill. GDP growth in the first quarter was an anemic 1.1%. After seven years of the Obama Administration, liberals have few people to blame but themselves. Which is why it is curious that some high-profile liberals are busy denouncing conservative economic policies to jumpstart the economy, such as tax cuts."

The Concerning Drop in Workforce Participation and Role of Family Friendly Policies

Abby McCloskey and Aparna Mathur, Forbes, May 25, 2016 

"At first blush, the drop in workforce participation rates seem to have similarly impacted men and women.  The employment rate for American females in their prime working years, 25-54, has dropped from 74.9% in April, 2000 to 70.8% in April 2016.  For similarly aged men, participation rates dropped from 89% to 84.9% during the same time period. Yet relative to their peers globally, American women may have prematurely plateaued in their labor force participation rates."

A Conservative Plan for Parental Leave

Abby McCloskey, National Review Magazine, May 23, 2016

"A majority of Republican voters (55 percent) support paid leave for new parents, as do two-thirds of the American public, according to a recent AP-GfK poll. Instead of shying away from paid leave, conservatives should articulate the shortcomings of the Democratic approach and present America with a better alternative."

The Rise of Single Parents

Abby McCloskey, Ripon Forum, April 2016 edition

"Since 1960, the share of households headed by single parents in the United States has more than tripled.  According to the Pew Research Center, 25 percent of households (8.6 million) were headed by single mothers in 2011.  Another 6 percent of households (2.6 million) were headed by single fathers."

The Victim Complex In American Politics

Abby McCloskey, Forbes, April 7, 2016

"The logical outgrowth of the victim mentality is that we need to be protected and guarded and turn inward. We can no longer afford the freedom and openness and international cooperation that marked America in the past, and arguably were the source of our greatness to begin with.."

Joe Biden is campaigning, but not for president

Jim Tankersley, Washington Post, February 26, 2016

"“The Obama administration made things worse than they needed to be, by prioritizing a progressive agenda over what the economy actually needed,” said Abby McCloskey, a middle-class focused conservative economist who advised GOP presidential candidates Rick Perry and Jeb Bush before each man dropped out of the race."

What To Do Now That Most Americans Hate Big Government

Abby McCloskey, The Federalist, December 29, 2015

"The majority of Americans (60 percent) now believe the federal government is too powerful—the highest in polling history, aside from 2013, according to a recent Gallup poll. That belief has grown stronger among Democrats and Independents under President Obama. During Obama’s first term, 59 percent of Independents and 24 percent of Democrats thought that was the case. During Obama’s second term, those numbers grew to 64 percent and 37 percent, respectively.

Who’s Schooling Rick Perry on Policy Issues in Preparation for 2016?

Philip Rucker, Washington Post, December 9, 2014

"The days of briefings -- which typically include multiple roundtable and lunch or dinner -- are being organized by Jeff Miller, Perry's top political strategist, and Abby McCloskey, a Texas-based economist who previously worked for the American Enterprise Institute."

Matchmaking Season for Republican Presidential Candidates and Economists

Patricia Cohen and Nelson D. Schwartz, The New York Times, June 19, 2015

"As the campaign heats up, some experts are signing on with specific candidates. Abby McCloskey, former program director of economic policy at the American Enterprise Institute, for example, is now policy director for Mr. Perry."

Conservatives Frustrated by GOP's Drop in Working Women's Votes

Danielle Paquette, Washington Post, June 19, 2015

"McCloskey, a former director of economic policy at the American Enterprise Institute, said she supports reforming child and dependent tax credits to help low-
income mothers stay in the workforce.

“It needs to be part of the conversation when we talk about opportunity for all and economic mobility,” said McCloskey, who works from her home in Dallas and is eight months pregnant. But, she added, these are “not solely women’s issues.”"

Clearing the Way for Working Women

Abby McCloskey, Winter 2015, National Affairs

"Republican politicians and working women both have much to gain from conservative engagement with women's economic issues. To be sure, men and women alike benefit from conservatives' traditional agenda of promoting economic growth, reducing regulation, incentivizing innovation, and lowering taxes. Republicans should continue to vigorously pursue these pro-growth policies.

In a country dealing with stalled economic growth, rising government debt, and low work-force participation, increasing rewards for work and reducing the barriers that make work difficult for mothers will encourage more women to participate in and contribute to the economy. The conservative principles of promoting work, reducing the tax burden, protecting freedom of choice, and investing in human capital can and should be applied to these challenges to help women succeed in today's economy and contribute to greater national prosperity."