Blog

In September 2022, The Hamilton Project hosted an event exploring how the modernization of industrial policy can support economic growth. The event featured a keynote with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and highlighted two policy proposals on good jobs and critical technology strategy.

Ryan Nunn and Jay Shambaugh's analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau's Management and Organizational Practices (MOPS) survey finds that management competence does not increase with firm age, and that small firms often lack the management skills necessary to help their firms grow. New Hamilton Project policy solutions would include more rigorous evaluation of management practices and strengthen entrepreneurship as a result.

In this op-ed, Hamilton Project Director Jay Shambaugh and Senior Research Assistant Becca Portman discuss the talent pipeline for STEM fields and how expanding the pipeline to more women and minorities could boost productivity.

While forms of nontraditional and contingent work relationships such as subcontracted, temporary, part-time, and seasonal work are not new, the emergence of the online gig economy has increased policy interest in the issue of contingent work arrangements. To draw attention to this emerging issue, The Hamilton Project released a new framing paper on the economic opportunities and challenges of the online gig economy, and hosted a public forum featuring a new proposal by Seth Harris of Cornell University and Alan Krueger of Princeton University. 

In late March, Governor Jerry Brown signed a billion-dollar emergency drought relief legislation package. Recent Hamilton Project authors Newsha K. Ajami and Barton H. Thompson discuss the importance of investing in water infrastructure and innovation.

In the blog post, The Hamilton Project explores the regulatory challenges of America's fragmented water systems and highlight eye-opening information from our new list of economic facts about water in the United States. We note that—with more than 150,000 water systems in the United States—there are many roadblocks to streamlined regulation, implementation of new technologies, and costly repairs to equipment.

In a new policy memo, The Hamilton Project highlights four policy challenges hampering the economic potential of wireless spectrum and opportunities to address these challenges through innovative, evidence-driven approaches to reform.

In a recent policy memo, “A Dozen Economic Facts About Innovation,” The Hamilton Project found that federal support for research and development has been on the decline in recent years. The paper found that federal funding for R&D as a percent of GDP has declined from a high of 2.2 percent in 1964 to 1 percent today. Now, many experts are warning that a failure to reach a deal to avoid going over the fiscal cliff would lead to automatic spending cuts that will further reduce those investments, McClatchy Newspapers reports. Read the full story here.

The Hill's "Healthwatch" highlights a new Research!America report that shows declines in federal spending on medical research and development of 14% or more than $6 billion between fiscal years 2010 and 2011. The Hamilton Project addressed the declining spending on research development in a paper, "A Dozen Economic Facts About Innovation," which examines the role of innovation in driving the U.S. economy. Read the full paper here.

A Forbes guest post cites one of The Hamilton Project’s “Dozen Economic Facts About Innovation,” which shows that the pace of American innovation has slowed over the last four decades.

President Barack Obama is expected to sign legislation to authorize the auction of public spectrum now used for television broadcasts to create more wireless Internet systems. This legislation draws from a 2008 Hamilton Project discussion paper focused on ways to reform spectrum policy to ensure the most efficient use of wireless spectrum.

On SmartBrief, Advisory Council member Lawrence H. Summers discusses how our current actions may weigh on the consciences of future generations.