Alan S. Blinder

The last decade’s decline in productivity—coupled with very low interest rates and declining public investment—presents a challenge and an opportunity for economic policy. In response, many policymakers and experts have proposed investments in public infrastructure, raising questions about which types of infrastructure projects are worth pursuing and how to finance them effectively. On February 7, The Hamilton Project hosted a policy forum exploring fiscally responsible policy options for funding and financing infrastructure investments.

In the years following the Great Recession, many economists and policymakers agreed that fiscal stimulus was critical to improving the faltering economy and helping to save or create millions of jobs. There is less agreement, however, on whether the stimulus should have been larger, if it contained the correct mix of tax cuts and targeted government spending, and whether it optimally utilized income support programs—notably TANF and SNAP—to stabilize the economy and protect millions of households from falling into poverty. On May 23, The Hamilton Project at Brookings hosted a policy forum addressing how to make better use of fiscal stimulus in future downturns, with a focus on three new Hamilton Project papers.

In the years following the Great Recession, many economists and policymakers agree that fiscal stimulus was crucial to turning around the faltering economy and helped to save or create millions of jobs. What economists and policymakers do not agree on is whether the stimulus should have been larger, whether it contained the correct mix of tax cuts and targeted government spending, and how it could have best been delivered. In this Hamilton Project policy proposal, Alan Blinder tackles these questions using economic theory and recent evidence from the Great Recession to discuss how fiscal policy can be better designed to mitigate the effects of the next economic downturn.

On July 17, THP hosted CEA Chairman Jason Furman to discuss a new report on opportunities & challenges in the U.S. labor market. Furman was joined by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin and economist Alan Blinder of Princeton University for a roundtable discussion.

Vice President Joe Biden gave the keynote speech at a forum to kick-off The Hamilton Project’s 2010 policy agenda. The event featured two roundtable discussions to highlight innovative policy ideas and the more general challenges facing the U.S. economy.