Book: Building a More Resilient US Economy
The Aspen Economic Strategy Group’s sixth annual policy volume, Building a More Resilient US Economy, considers some of the most pressing economic challenges facing the United States. 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 ...
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 ...
Reforming Social Security for the Long Haul
Social Security is arguably America’s most important government program, as it is the main source of income for most elderly Americans and represents the primary tax paid by most workers as well. Forty years after Congress made its last significant changes to the program, Social Security again faces severe funding challenges, primarily due to a ...
Why Drug Pricing Reform Is Complicated: A Primer and Policy Guide to Pharmaceutical Prices in the US
Pharmaceutical pricing in the United States is a complicated and opaque process. Confusion over price setting and the method by which new drugs are brought to market can lead to ineffective and even harmful policies that decrease society’s access to innovative new treatments without providing sufficient decreases in spending to justify the cost. At its ...
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 ...