Kornbluh founded the Work and Family Program at the New America Foundation, having joined the think tank as a Markle Fellow. She has argued for a modernized social insurance system that would better meet the needs of "juggler families", which are dependent on the incomes of both parents or that of a single parent. Prominent conservative commentator David Brooks cited Kornbluh's piece on juggler families as one of the notable magazine articles that characterized 2006 as a "year of losing ground", or a time of pronounced anxiety in the United States. Kornbluh has also published articles on economic policy in such periodicals as the "Atlantic Monthly", "New York Times" and "The Washington Post". She was a senior fellow for digital policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.