US Economy

Aspen Institute President and CEO Dan Porterfield delivered the introductory remarks at the opening session of the 2019 Aspen Economic Strategy Group meeting, “The State of American Capitalism,” on July 28, 2019 in Aspen, CO.

The most recent America’s Rural Opportunity event brought together panelists from a forest collaborative, tribal government, environmental group and stewardship organization in Idaho and Oregon. Together, they explored how tension brought about by changes in natural resource management and local economies has catalyzed new alliances among interests that have been polarized for decades.

The research of Harvard economist Raj Chetty shows that the scale of inequality is incredibly small.

Efosa Ojomo, senior research fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, is a 2019 Aspen Ideas Festival speaker.

This brief summarizes why Rural Development Hubs are important, how they work, and what it takes to do that work. It also discusses policy levers and enabling environments that can strengthen Rural Development Hubs, and that foster community and economic development that advances both equity and prosperity.

This tax day, we have highlighted a number of challenges that U.S. taxpayers face navigating the current tax filing system and shared some ways to help taxpayers file accurately and expediently, regardless of their work arrangement.

Dramatic differences in income, productivity, and housing costs within the United States make geographic mobility important for spreading prosperity. State-level Minimum Zoning Mandates (MZMs) allowing landowners to build at a state-guaranteed minimum density, even in municipalities resistant to development, would be an effective means of encouraging denser housing development.

We propose two alternative policy options for promoting increased earnings and employment of low-income households: expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) among childless workers, and implementing a wage subsidy for low-income workers that would be administered through employers.

The American economy is stronger today than it has been in many years. But our nation’s economic performance has not been even, and prosperity is not as widespread as it once was.