In the decades after World War II, the United States developed an implicit social compact that businesses, government and individuals would all play a role in ensuring the health, retirement and other benefits that families need. That social contract is breaking down as firms retreat from their role as a provider of social benefits and as demographic trends strain our social insurance programs. In a global economy marked by rapid technological change, global labor markets, and mobile capital, a new model is needed to provide American families with economic security and to keep the American economy productive.

Participants include:

Jared Bernstein, director of the Living Standards Program for the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

Jason Bordoff, policy director for The Hamilton Project.

Stuart Butler, vice president of Domestic and Economic Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation.

Thea Lee, policy director for the AFL-CIO.

Mark Schmitt, senior fellow with The New America Foundation and columnist for the American Prospect.

Welcoming remarks by Jason Furman, senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and director of The Hamilton Project.

The panel will be moderated by Kenneth Baer, co-editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas.

The panelists will take audience questions after the discussion.

A light lunch will be served.

Thursday, July 26, 2007
12:00 – 1:30 p.m.

The Paul H. Nitze School of
Advanced International Studies (SAIS)
The Johns Hopkins University
Kenney Auditorium
1740 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C.