We've updated two of our indicators to reflect the latest available published data:

• Medicare Enrollment: updated through 2010
• High School Dropouts: updated through the 2008-2009 school year

Please get in touch if you have any questions.

As the 2012 presidential election moves forward and another federal budget cycle begins, National Priorities Project offers a look at how federal dollars are currently spent in order to help voters decide how future tax dollars should be allocated.

NPP’s Federal Priorities Database shows how much individuals and businesses in every state pay in federal taxes and how much they receive in direct federal assistance.  The Federal Tax Collection and Federal Aid to Individuals data provide an overview of taxes ...

Earlier this week, NPP released a short publication about the role of federal money in Iowa and New Hampshire: Federal Money Keeps Iowa, New Hampshire Afloat. Sam and Mattea, the authors, conclude that in 2010 Iowa residents collected more in federal benefits than they paid in taxes.

Sam and Mattea used three datasets from the Federal Priorities Database to reach this conclusion:

• Federal Aid to Individuals: total amount of money paid by the U.S. government directly to or on behalf of individuals
• Federal Tax Collection (Individual): federal taxes paid by individuals
• Population: used to calculate per-person amounts

So if ...

This morning, the New York Times Economix blog published a piece by Nancy Folbre arguing that the U.S.'s current welfare program (i.e., Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, aka TANF) is an inadequate safety net during periods of long-term unemployment.

I'm not an economist, but I do have some data that the economists among you could use to further explore Ms. Folbre's piece. I'm talking about NPP's Federal Priorities Database, which not only has the children in poverty and unemployment measures she uses, but has localized versions of them AND federal TANF dollars received ...