A recent study by the Manhattan Institute that heralded the “the end of residential segregation”—a claim that was widely celebrated in mainstream press, has also been found to mask important demographic and economic trends. The study is entitled “The End of the Segregated Century: Racial Separation in America’s Neighborhoods 1890-2010.”

Louisiana Catholics Committed to Repeal of the Death Penalty and the Jesuit Social Research Institute have collaborated on a study that addresses the death penalty through a Roman Catholic theological lens – aiming to “demonstrate the ineffectiveness and arbitrariness of our death penalty system as a public policy, including the ways it is unfairly administered across racial, social and economic lines.” The study – co-authored by Alex Mikulich of Louisiana Catholics Committed to Repeal of the Death Penalty and Sophie Cull of the Louisiana Coalition for Alternativ

Persistent High Unemployment for African Americans and Latinos in Gulf South States

by: Alex Mikulich, Ph.D.

The Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy [RISEP] at Florida International University released a groundbreaking analysis of reported wage theft cases throughout the state of Florida. The report entitled: “Wage Theft: An Economic Drain on Florida.

In November, 2011, the PEW Economic Mobility Project, together with the Russell Sage Foundation and the Sutton Truse, released a study of ten countries and how socioeconomic advantage, as measured by parents' education, is transmitted over the course of one's life.  The select key findings are:

In a November 22, 2011 releaso, Citizens for Tax Justice outlined how the deficit reduction "Super Committee" was undone by the excessive devotion to tax cuts and the inability to wean themselves from the Bush tax cuts that have contributed substantially to the current federal deficit and accumulated debt.  See "Super Committee" Undone by Devotion to Tax Cuts here.

By Fred Kammer, S.J.

The nation was held prisoner this past summer as our politicians played “chicken” with one another about raising the debt ceiling, slashing spending, increasing revenue, or somehow reneging on our fiscal obligations to ourselves and to external creditors. A last-minute deal was reached at the end of July, but it still cost us our Triple-A credit rating. Now there is a new congressional “supercommittee” at work on the debt.

By Alex Mikulich, Ph.D.

In September 2011, Louisiana Catholics Committed to the Repeal of the Death Penalty publicly launched its campaign to end the death penalty in Louisiana. The Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops initiated this campaign in 2010. This essay highlights key findings of a comprehensive study of Louisiana’s use of the death penalty that I have conducted over the past year. The full study, coauthored with Sophie Cull of the Louisiana Capital Appeals Project, was part of the campaign’s launch.

The report Under Attack: Texas’ Middle Class and the Opportunity Crisis, co-published by Center for Public Policy Priorities and national policy center Demos, examines how stagnant wages, falling union participation, the lack of good jobs and health benefits, and the rising cost of a college education are all squeezing the Texas middle class. As the report indicates, “The American Dream means working hard to learn, earn, save, and build assets so that our families are financially secure.