Effective Government

Immigration is good for the U.S. economy and for the fiscal picture at the federal level, but some local areas experience adverse fiscal impacts when new immigrants arrive. Wendy Edelberg and Tara Watson propose a transparent system for redistributing resources from the federal government to these localities.

In a policy proposal, Jennifer Hunt identifies reforms to the U.S. immigration system that would increase its economic benefits to the native born, enforce its fairness, and strengthen the application of its laws.  

To build the intellectual foundations, data, and analytics needed to inform national technology strategy, Erica R.H. Fuchs proposes the creation of a national capability for cross-mission critical technology analytics.

A modern approach to industrial policy must target "good-jobs externalities" and include the service sector, Dani Rodrik argues. He proposes two specific initiatives: one at the local level and the other at the federal level.

Some of the starkest differences between women and minorities' participation in the innovation process arises in the practice and commercialization of invention. The proposals put forward here would address each of these phases of the innovation process.

Slowdowns in the economy are inevitable. While it may be tempting to rely on Federal Reserve policy as a lone response to recessions, this would be a mistake; we know that fiscal stimulus is effective. Rather than wait for a crisis to strike before designing discretionary fiscal policy, we would be better served by preparing in advance. Enacting evidence-based automatic stabilizer proposals before the next recession will help the next recovery start faster, make job creation stronger, and restore confidence to businesses and households.