Introduction: Building a More Resilient US Economy
The post-pandemic US economy features a strong labor market but also persistent inflation, rising levels of debt, and acute educational challenges. These issues are compounded by ongoing, systemic difficulties: domestic and global, economic and political. This policy volume considers these topics and others, with a thematic focus on building a more resilient US economy. The ...
High and Rising US Federal Debt: Causes and Implications
The outlook for federal debt represents a significant economic challenge for the United States. Economic developments and policy changes over the past two decades have materially raised the level of current and projected debt, but the primary factors behind the projected upward trajectory of debt remain population aging and rising health care spending. Even under ...
The Next Business Tax Regime: What Comes After the TCJA
This essay presents the case for a better US business tax regime. First, we provide an overview of the business tax base in the United States and describe how business activity is taxed, with special focus on the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). We then review early evidence of the TCJA’s effects on ...
Aspen Economic Strategy Group Releases 2023 Annual Policy Volume: Building a More Resilient US Economy
Washington, DC, November 8, 2023 – The Aspen Economic Strategy Group (AESG) today released its sixth annual policy volume, Building a More Resilient US Economy. The book’s publication comes as the US faces historically high levels of debt that threaten the resiliency of the nation’s economy, including the ability to invest in key priorities and ...
In Brief: Building Security in the Semiconductor Supply Chain
BRIEFLY Semiconductors are the building blocks of almost every modern technology, from dishwashers to smartphones to javelin missiles. Shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with rising geopolitical tensions in the region where most chips are produced, have highlighted the fragile supply chains of this critical technology. In response, US policymakers have invested billions in the ...
Eight Questions—and Some Answers—on the US Fiscal Situation
In this paper, Jason Furman addresses eight specific questions essential to understanding the US fiscal situation and what policymakers can do to address the federal debt. He finds that an adjustment of between 0.7 and 4.6 percent of GDP is necessary to stabilize the debt over the next decade, and he proposes a broad set ...
Why Crime Matters, and What to Do About It
In this paper, Jennifer Doleac describes what is known about crime trends in the US and outlines the best evidence to date on the effectiveness of various approaches to reducing crime through prevention, deterrence, and rehabilitation. Crime in the US rose during the 1980s and early 1990s before declining steadily until 2020. During the COVID-19 ...
Erskine Bowles
ERSKINE B. BOWLES began his business career at Morgan Stanley and went on to found and lead Bowles, Hollowell, Conner, which became the preeminent investment bank focused on middle market mergers and acquisitions. He subsequently co-founded the middle market private equity firm Carousel Capital, served as a senior advisor for Credit Suisse First Boston, was ...
Austan D. Goolsbee
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE is president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. In this capacity, he serves on the Federal Open Market Committee—the Federal Reserve System’s monetary policymaking body—and leads the Chicago Fed, which conducts research and monitors local economic conditions in support of the formulation of monetary policy, supervises and regulates ...