(September 28) – At a campaign rally in 1976, Ronald Reagan introduced the welfare queen into the public conversation about poverty: “She used 80 names, 30 addresses, 15 telephone numbers to collect food stamps, Social Security, veterans’ benefits for four nonexistent deceased veteran husbands, as well as welfare. Her tax-free cash income alone has been running $150,000 a year.”

(September 27) – At the beginning of Monday night’s first presidential debates, it looked like the candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, would finally and at last explore the issue of poverty. In fact, the first question from NBC’s Lester Holt, the night’s moderator, was how the candidates would create prosperity. It’s an important topic, and a timely one, too.

(September 25) – Not that long ago, Alex Caicedo was stuck working a series of odd jobs and watching his 1984 Chevy Nova cough its last breaths. He could make $21 an hour at the Johnny Rockets food stand at FedEx Field when the Washington Redskins were playing, but the work was spotty. Today, Mr. Caicedo is an assistant manager at a pizzeria in Gaithersburg, Md., with an annual salary of $40,000 and health benefits.

(September 24) – When we talk about the economy, we spend a lot of time talking about jobs — how to create more of them and how to replace the ones being lost. But what if we’re entering an automated future where there won’t be enough jobs for the people who need them? If this happens, how will people pay for food and shelter?

(September 23) – It’s not just the concept behind Britain’s first “waste supermarket” that’s impressive, it’s also the project’s sheer scale. Run by food-waste-busting nonprofit the Real Junk Food Project, this pay-what-you-can store housed in a Leeds warehouse connects local shoppers with food donated by supermarkets, restaurants, and wholesalers that would otherwise end up in the trash.

(September 23) – One of the big criticisms of the current economic expansion—and also the one that ran from 2001 through 2007—is that most of the gains accrued to the best off, unleashing a populist groundswell in the presidential election campaign. The White House lays out the case in a new report that the Obama administration’s policies have done more than any administration in the last half-century to reduce inequality.

(September 22) – If it takes three examples to label something a fad, then San Francisco, Seattle, and New York City have collectively been some of American labor’s most prolific trendsetters. In recent years, the three coastal cities were among the first and highest-profile polities to instate a $15 minimum wage, efforts that begot statewide regulations in California and New York and inspired legislation around the country.

(September 21) – Seven years in the making, Democratic South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn’s anti-poverty plan has found powerful friends — and a real shot at passage — in this year’s government spending debate. Leading Republicans have in the past supported Clyburn’s targeted spending approach, which would funnel more federal dollars to the most poverty-stricken parts of the country.

(September 12) – More Americans are making more money. The U.S. Census Bureau released new numbers on Tuesday showing that, after a brutal economic recession and years of stagnation, real median household incomes rose from $53,718 in 2014 to $56,516 last year. That’s a 5.2 percent rise — the first statistically significant increase since 2007.

(September 12) – The specter of economic anxiety has loomed large throughout this election cycle. It has been a touchstone for pundits and pollsters when explaining the diehard loyalty of Bernie-or-Bust Sanders supporters or Donald Trump’s path to the nomination, and for the candidates themselves as they make their case to voters that they are the better choice to steer the nation through today’s uncertain economic waters. A number of indicators — like 75 consecutive months of job growth and a national unemployment rate under 5 percent — tell a brighter story about where the American economy is seven years after the end of the Great Recession.