Report

We can’t go back to the economy of the past—a high-consumption, low-wage economy based on asset bubbles and foreign borrowing. Our response to the current crisis must plant the seeds for the economy of the future. America needs an industrial policy to shape that future. From workforce development to component manufacture, we need a strategic collaboration between the private sector and the government to reach our shared national goals. This report makes the case for that policy and explains what should be the key elements. more »

It is fitting that the G-20 summit meets in Pittsburgh in late September 2009. Pittsburgh has come back from enormous setbacks in its dominant industry, steel, through a combination of deliberate planning, public investment, and partnerships between government and private industry. But Pittsburgh’s comeback reveals the limitations of local efforts. In the absence of a national industrial strategy and a different approach to trade, the U.S. will be lucky to end up where Pittsburgh is now. This report examines the lessons national policy leaders should learn from Pittsburgh's experience. more »

Who pays taxes, and who reaps the benefits of an unfair tax code? Income inequality between 1980 and 2006 has gone up 144 percent between the top one percent of taxpayers and the middle 60 percent, even as top-end tax rates have declined 15 percent for the top one percent during that same period. This is the result of bad policy choices that can be reversed. This report explains how three decades of tax policy have led to Gilded Age inequality and outlines some steps to make the tax code more progressive. more »

This Policy Note assesses intergenerational accounting and related aspects of what we call “the accounting campaign against Social Security and Medicare.” more »

Read the latest from the COP on TARP. more »

The CBPP Special Series: Economic Recovery Watch reviews the benefits of state relief in the Economic Recovery Plan. more »

CBPP Special Series: Economic Recovery Watch reviews the benefits of relief to States in the Recovery Package. more »

Our economy now faces the most serious crisis since the Great Depression. The financial crisis that was triggered by the bursting of the housing bubble has now spread to the real economy, and we face a sharp downturn that is spreading across the globe. A serious recession now seems unavoidable in the United States, as well as Europe and Japan. The developing world is already struggling with financial turmoil and economic decline. For the first time since the 1930s, we face a real risk of deep worldwide economic contraction.

Restoring economic growth will require a bold, multifaceted plan. This must begin with a recovery program for Main Street — substantial fiscal expansion to revive the real economy.

more »