POLICY NOTE | Tax increment financing (TIF) is a long-standing and popular public financing tool in the U.S., but it’s starting to jump its borders.

RESEARCH | New research shows that even before the COVID-19 recession, 55.3 percent of workers age 55 and up in the bottom half of the income distribution were forced to leave the workforce and 32.4 percent in the next 40% of the income distribution – the middle class – were forced out of work in old age.

POLICY NOTE | Since March 2020, the size of the retired population in the U.S. expanded beyond its normal trend by an additional 1.7 million people.¹

POLICY NOTE | SCEPA’s latest policy note by Senior Fellow William M. Rodgers III, former chief economist at the US Department of Labor, highlights a potential headwind to recovery from COVID-19.

POLICY NOTE | The reduction in wages resulting from the increase in older workers provides a cautionary note to those advocating delayed retirement as a solution to the retirement savings crisis.

POLICY NOTE | Since mid-2013, the US and EU have been negotiating a so-called free trade agreement, by now labeled “Transatlantic trade and investment partnership” or TTIP in short.

POLICY NOTE | In 1950, the United States could claim racial equity in one important respect - both black and white American men who reached age 65 could expect to live to 77.

POLICY NOTE | This research contradicts the highly cited Rienhart and Rogoff study, which states that debt higher than 90% of GDP will negatively affect a country's economic growth.

POLICY NOTE | In principle, the social cost of carbon emissions measures the overall impact of greenhouse gas emissions on societal well-being. 

POLICY NOTE | Part of the public skepticism towards the transition to renewable energy and implementing mitigation policies is caused by the fear of job losses.

POLICY NOTE | This note offers policy recommendations based on empirical support that shows current account imbalances in the EMU are unsustainable and may jeopardize stability in the Euro Area.

POLICY NOTE | Knowing the size of tax expenditures provides a clear understanding of the size of the government and the reasons for $121 billion tax break for pensions.

POLICY NOTE | Economic policy debate in the United States and other developed economies has been dominated by talk of lowering fiscal deficits through spending reductions.

POLICY NOTE | This paper calls into question standard measures of unemployment.

POLICY NOTE | Many have made the connection between growing insecurity and globalization, and in particular, the outsourcing of jobs.

POLICY NOTE | The Federal Reserve pumping in more liquidity and the government’s fiscal “stimulus” plan does not directly address the housing insolvency problem for millions of U.S. households.

POLICY NOTE | The relationship between productivity growth and unemployment has been debated since the birth of classical economics.

POLICY NOTE | GDP per capita and the Human Development Index are known measures of development, but are averages and thus conceal wide disparities in the overall population.

POLICY NOTE | For typical American male workers, there has been no general rise in wages since the late 1960s, with only short periods of modest improvement.

POLICY NOTE | The Millennium Development Goals effort can only be successful if it puts economies on paths to sustained growth.