Hey there, it's Stephen Dupter.

Last year we started producing a series of episodes about American culture and how the

US is an outlier in a variety of ways.

If you're interested, the whole series can be found at Frekenomics.com slash American

hyphen culture slash.

The idea was to explore why the media and policing and transportation policy in the US

are so different than in most places.

One other big difference we examined was how other countries support families with young

children, especially lower income families.

Children, as it's been said, are our future and some countries tend to view an investment

in children as an investment in a more prosperous shared future.

In the US, not so much.

But in recent years, the American approach seemed to be changing, especially through an

aggressive expansion of what's known as the Child Tax Credit.

This happened during the Trump administration and the first year of the Biden administration,

and of course it coincided with the economic catastrophe wrought by the pandemic on many

lower income families.

According to researchers at Columbia University, this additional aid has been extremely

effective, keeping nearly 4 million children out of poverty.

So it seemed like a no-brainer that this aid would be extended, perhaps made permanent.

In Washington, it had bipartisan support and momentum, but then Washington being Washington,

it wasn't extended.

...