Biden Should Restore the Office of Economic Opportunity Abolished by Reagan – By Richard V. Reeves (Real Clear Politics) / Dec 16 2020
The U.S. is failing to provide economic opportunity to all its citizens. On that, at least, Democrats and Republicans can agree. A key question — arguably the most important question — facing the new Administration and new Congress is: how to improve economic opportunity?
Rising to this challenge will require strong leadership and institutional muscle, along with an investment in using big data, along with a renewed commitment to evidence and evaluation.
Joe Biden should therefore create an Office of Economic Opportunity. Or rather he should restore it: Ronald Reagan abolished it in 1981. The original version, founded in 1964, was a key weapon in the “war on poverty,” incubating programs like Jobs Corp and Head Start.
The 2021 rebooted Office of Economic Opportunity should be explicitly tasked with improving rates of upward economic mobility, by setting high-profile goals for success; measuring progress with regular public reports, drawing especially on linked administrative data; coordinating efforts across the federal government; and rigorously evaluating pilot programs intended to improve opportunity outcomes.
