What if every baby could receive a college savings account, regardless of the financial situation they’re born into? That’s the mission behind baby bonds, a government policy championed by Senator Cory Booker that would provide children with a nest egg to start off adulthood. Andy speaks with economist Darrick Hamilton, who proposed the policy in 2010 as a mechanism to reduce the racial wealth gap in the United States, and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, who created a program in his city. They explain how baby bonds could eliminate college debt, why we should invest in kids we don’t personally know, and the money and public support it would take to expand local programs to the national level.

Keep up with Andy on Twitter @ASlavitt.

Follow Darrick Hamilton and Mayor Melvin Carter on Twitter @DarrickHamilton and @MayorCarter.

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Check out these resources from today’s episode: 

• Read how Darrick helped bring the concept of baby bonds to the national conversation: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-03-17/baby-bonds-eyed-as-way-to-close-u-s-racial-wealth-gap
• Learn more about Mayor Carter's baby bonds program, College Bound St. Paul: https://collegeboundstp.com/
• Find vaccines, masks, testing, treatments, and other resources in your community: https://www.covid.gov/
• Order Andy’s book, “Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response”: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250770165 

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