Child Tax Credit

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected every part of society, and the country’s economic wellbeing has been no exception. The time since March 2020 has provided a sort of natural experiment as to how various untested policy ideas play out in real life. Initially, most politicians on both sides of the ideological spectrum agreed on the need for a robust federal response to the virus. These actions took many forms: universal relief checks, enhanced unemployment benefits, and historic funding of vaccine research and distribution — just to name a few. For well over a year, the federal government was a source of seemingly unlimited spending. Although many of those policies have since fallen by the wayside or are at least becoming less relevant, some remain part of a fierce public discussion.