Blog
The archive mixes longer research work with shorter commentary on policy, city budgets, court backlog, and access to counsel. The October brief remains pinned at the top, with the newer posts listed below in reverse chronological order.
Shortening the 180-day wait for asylum seeker work permits adds double-digit employment gains, millions in wages, and substantial municipal shelter savings.
Headliner
We built a continuous-time search model grounded in Swiss employment elasticities, Swedish earnings scarring, and current U.S. wage and shelter data to estimate what earlier work authorization would change.
6 posts
Mar 7, 2026
Policy Note
5 min read
The backlog is no longer a side effect of the system. It is the system that asylum seekers, lawyers, and local service providers are being asked to navigate.
Feb 18, 2026
Field Analysis
7 min read
Each change has its own rationale. Taken together, they make it more expensive to file and less certain that a full merits review will follow.
Jan 23, 2026
Data Note
5 min read
Point-in-time shelter counts are falling. The demand for legal help is not a point-in-time problem, and treating it like one risks underbuilding the next phase of support.
Dec 19, 2025
Field Analysis
6 min read
The border story and the city-budget story are now moving in the same direction, but at very different speeds. That gap is where local fiscal pressure lives.
Nov 13, 2025
Policy Note
5 min read
A flat, nonwaivable asylum fee regime does not distribute burden evenly. It concentrates pressure on applicants with the least room for delay, error, or missed payments.