Paid family leave: Frequently asked questions from a Republican perspective

Abby McCloskey, AEI-Brookings Joint Blog, February 13, 2017

"Over the last few years, I’ve had numerous conversations with political leaders about the opportunity to introduce a paid parental leave policy. Several of the same questions and concerns tend to pop up among conservatives, which I would like to address here, considering that the new administration and Congressional majority are Republican."

Child Care & Paid Leave Policies That Work For Working Parents

Abby McCloskey, Aparna Mathur, Angela Rachidi, National Review, January 9, 2017

"In our personal experiences and scholarly work, we see a policy environment that has missed significant opportunities to support families and foster economic growth. Conservatives in particular have been slow to realize the benefits of these policies, but 2017 offers the GOP a huge opportunity to change that."

Trump's 4% economic growth plan is crucial, but not enough

Abby McCloskey, Dallas Morning News (Print), January 6, 2017

"Trump is wise to pursue economic growth, but he must not stop there. Improving the lives of forgotten Americans depends on going further than <his> 4 percent target. It will require thoughtful and targeted investment to improve economic opportunity for the people who need it most."

Examining what's ahead under GOP

Abby McCloskey, The Dallas Morning News, November 11, 2016

"In the coming days, President Trump has a crucial choice to make: Does he prioritize the red meat, populist reforms he promised on the campaign trail? Or does he prioritize reforms that have the highest potential of jumpstarting the economy and helping the "forgotten" Americans, whose imaginations he has so successfully captured and whose votes he has won?"

More Money Won't Ensure Better Results For Children, So Let's Prioritize Needed Reforms

Abby McCloskey, Dallas Morning News, October 31, 2016

"Last year, U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack ruled the foster care system in Texas was “broken.” Most of the resulting efforts have focused on state and local-based reforms. But this overlooks the crucial role played by the federal government.

The GOP Is In An Ideological Civil War

Reihan Salam, Slate, September 14, 2016

"On the surface—and again, the surface is all we have right now—Trump’s paid maternity leave proposal bears a close resemblance to a very good one advanced by domestic policy analyst Abby M. McCloskey in National Affairs last year. McCloskey, a conservative in good standing, has served as an adviser to the presidential campaigns of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Donald Trump’s mortal enemy, the famously low-energy former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Her proposed maternity-leave program is simple, cheap, pro-growth, and business-friendly." 

Everyone Agrees Americans Deserve A Raise, But Raising The Minimum Wage Is The Worse Way To Do It

Abby McCloskey, The Dallas Morning News, September 1, 2016

"In this polarized election year, there is something that unites Republicans and Democrats: the desire to give American workers a pay raise. The big question is how."

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."