In recent years, the “growth vs. austerity” debate has been raging in academic and policy circles. In recent weeks the growth crowd have been claiming victory, citing:

• Research showing Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff’s seminal work on debt-to-GDP levels contained numerous errors and was not so conclusive as originally believed. (Related: Did Harvard Economists Make an Excel Error that Led to Economic Austerity?)
• The European Commission granting Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy and France, among other nations, greater leniency on planned adoption of budget cuts and other austerity measures.
• PIMCO’s Bill Gross told The Financial Times: “The UK and almost all of Europe have erred in terms of believing that austerity, fiscal austerity in the short term, is the way to produce real growth. It is not. You’ve got to spend money.”

As a former advisor to Ronald Reagan and diehard supply-sider, Larry Kudlow is no Keynesian. “I am for government austerity” and believe “a smaller government with

If you think of the typical American suburb as a refuge from the bustling city next door, you may want to think again. According to a new book from the Brookings Institution, the suburbs are changing and are becoming home to a larger number of poor people. The result: more poor people now are living in suburbs than in cities.

In “Confronting Suburban Poverty in America,” Brookings researchers found that 16.5 million poor people live in suburbs now versus 13 million in cities. The number of poor people in the suburbs has surged 67% between 2000 and 2010.

Brookings says structural shifts in the U.S. economy and two recessions helped shrink the American middle class, pushing more people into poverty.

Related: Top Reason to Raise the Minimum Wage: It's 30% Below 1968 Level After Inflation

“The economic tumult of the 2000s not only helped propel the size of America’s poor population to record levels but also contributed to its broadening geographic reach," write authors Elizabeth Kneebone