Formation | 1986 |
---|---|
Founder | Jeff Faux, Lester Thurow, Ray Marshall, Barry Bluestone, Robert Reich, Robert Kuttner |
Type | Public policy think tank |
52-1368964 | |
Location |
|
Coordinates | 38°54′06″N77°01′45″W / 38.901627°N 77.029256°W |
President | Heidi Shierholz |
Revenue (2018) | $8,020,337 [1] |
Expenses (2018) | $6,699,574 [1] |
Website | www |
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit American think tank based in Washington, D.C., that carries out economic research and analyzes the economic impact of policies and proposals. Affiliated with the labor movement, [2] [3] [4] the EPI is usually described as presenting a left-leaning and pro-union viewpoint on public policy issues. [5] [6] Since 2021, EPI has been led by economist Heidi Shierholz, the former chief economist of the Department of Labor.
EPI has an advocacy arm, EPI Action, which is a 501(c)(4) group.
EPI was founded in 1986 by economists Jeff Faux, Lester Thurow, Ray Marshall, Barry Bluestone, Robert Reich, and Robert Kuttner. [7] Since 2021, Heidi Shierholz has served as its president. [8] Shierholz succeeded Thea Lee, who was named Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs at the Department of Labor by President Joe Biden. [9]
EPI supported Bernie Sanders's Medicare for All proposal. In a March 2020 policy paper, it argued that the loss of jobs in the insurance industry and in administering the current system would be small, within the normal job churn, and easily absorbed by the economy. The paper argued that this cost would be outweighed by the benefits of universal health care and in small business formation. [10] [11] EPI has also released policy papers analyzing U.S. investment in early childhood education. [12]
In July 2012, EPI and the AFL–CIO, Center for Community Change, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Council of La Raza and SEIU proposed a budget plan titled Prosperity Economics, a counter to the Republican Party's Path to Prosperity budget plan. The Prosperity Economics plan suggests that major public investment in areas like infrastructure is needed to jump-start the economy. [13]
In response to the debate over the United States fiscal cliff, EPI economist Josh Bivens advocated raising tax rates for higher income earners, writing: "Given this rise in [income] inequality, it makes sense that much of the future burden of reducing budget deficits should be borne by those who have benefited the most from economic trends in recent decades." [14]
Eight labor unions made a five-year funding pledge to EPI at its inception: AFSCME, United Auto Workers, United Steelworkers, United Mine Workers, International Association of Machinists, Communications Workers of America, Service Employees International Union, and United Food and Commercial Workers Union. [15] According to EPI, about 29% of its funding between 2005 and 2009 was supplied by labor unions and about 53% came from foundation grants. [7]
In the 1980s, EPI took money from the Tobacco Institute, a now-defunct tobacco industry trade group, to oppose excise taxes on the tobacco industry's behalf. The Tobacco Institute worked with groups like EPI "to support the release of studies, editorials, press briefings, and testimony against regressive excise taxes" that would negatively impact the tobacco industry's bottom line if passed. [16]
The Adam Smith Institute (ASI) is a UK-based neoliberal think tank and lobbying group, named after Adam Smith, a Scottish moral philosopher and classical economist. The Institute advocates free market and classical liberal ideas, primarily via the formation of policy options with regard to public choice theory, which political decision makers seek to develop upon. ASI President Madsen Pirie has sought to describe the activity of the organisation as "[w]e propose things which people regard as being on the edge of lunacy. The next thing you know, they're on the edge of policy".
The Fraser Institute is a libertarian-conservative Canadian public policy think tank and registered charity. It is headquartered in Vancouver, with additional offices in Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. It has links to think tanks worldwide through the Economic Freedom Network and is a member of the free-market Atlas Network.
The Tax Foundation is an international research think tank based in Washington, D.C. that collects data and publishes research studies on U.S. tax policies at both the federal and state levels. Its stated mission is to "improve lives through tax policy research and education that leads to greater economic growth and opportunity".
The Urban Institute is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank that conducts economic and social policy research to "open minds, shape decisions, and offer solutions". The institute receives funding from government contracts, foundations, and private donors.
Tariffs have historically served a key role in the trade policy of the United States. Their purpose was to generate revenue for the federal government and to allow for import substitution industrialization by acting as a protective barrier around infant industries. They also aimed to reduce the trade deficit and the pressure of foreign competition. Tariffs were one of the pillars of the American System that allowed the rapid development and industrialization of the United States.
Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank and advocacy group founded in 1979 focusing on tax policies and their impact. CTJ's work focuses primarily on federal tax policy, but also analyzes state and local tax policies.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) is a non-partisan American think tank that analyzes the impact of federal and state government budget policies. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Center's stated mission is to "conduct research and analysis to help shape public debates over proposed budget and tax policies and to help ensure that policymakers consider the needs of low-income families and individuals in these debates."
The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) is an American think tank that specializes in economic policy. Based in Washington, D.C. CEPR was co-founded by economists Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot in 1999.
Lawrence Mishel is distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., a pro-labor think-tank that seeks to advance the interests of American workers. He has been at EPI since 1987, first serving as Research Director, then as Vice-president and then as president from 2002 to 2017.
Jared Bernstein is an American government official who is the chair of the United States Council of Economic Advisers. He is a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. From 2009 to 2011, Bernstein was the chief economist and economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden in the Obama administration. In 2008, Michael D. Shear described Bernstein as a progressive and "a strong advocate for workers".
The Employment Policies Institute is a fiscally conservative, non-profit American think tank that conducts and publishes research on employment issues, particularly aimed towards reducing the minimum wage. It was established in 1991 by Richard Berman, and it has been described as "a nonprofit research group that studies issues of entry-level employment."
The State Policy Network (SPN) is a nonprofit organization that serves as a network for conservative and libertarian think tanks focusing on state-level policy in the United States. The network serves as a public policy clearinghouse and advises its member think tanks on fundraising, running a nonprofit, and communicating ideas. Founded in 1992, it is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, with member groups located in all fifty states.
The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America's Promise was the Republican Party's budget proposal for the federal government of the United States in the fiscal year 2012. It was succeeded in March 2012 by "The Path to Prosperity: A Blueprint for American Renewal", the Republican budget proposal for 2013. Representative Paul Ryan, Chairman of the House Budget Committee, played a prominent public role in drafting and promoting both The Path to Prosperity proposals, and they are therefore often referred to as the Ryan budget, Ryan plan or Ryan proposal.
Heidi Shierholz is the president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C. She previously served as Chief Economist of the United States Department of Labor under Secretary Thomas Perez.
Job creation and unemployment are affected by factors such as aggregate demand, global competition, education, automation, and demographics. These factors can affect the number of workers, the duration of unemployment, and wage rates.
Dorothy P. Rice was an American health statistician whose work contributed to the creation of Medicare in the United States. Rice graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and began working with the US government soon after, but left the workforce to begin raising a child. Just over a decade later, she returned to government work with a position at the Social Security Administration, where she was one of the first scientists to study the economic cost of illness and exposed a lack of health insurance among the elderly.
Oren M. Cass is an American public policy commentator and political advisor. Since 2024 he has served as the chief economist at American Compass, a conservative think tank. He previously worked on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney in 2008 and 2012, being described as a "general policy impresario of the emerging conservative consensus on fighting poverty". Between 2015 and 2019, Cass was a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and the author of The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America. In February 2020, Cass established American Compass, an organization aimed at the question of "what the post-Trump right-of-center is going to be.”
Roger Hickey is an American political activist and economic policy advocate. He has co-founded think tanks, organizations, and grassroots coalitions, including the Economic Policy Institute, Campaign for America’s Future, and Americans United to Protect Social Security.
People's Policy Project is an American think tank focused on social, economic, and political equity issues. It has been described as "left-leaning", "left-wing", "democratic socialist–leaning", and "socialist". The organization has been noted for its unique funding structure: Unlike conventional think tanks, 3P relies on crowdfunding small donations, as opposed to financial support from corporations.
'It doesn't work if you bring in the hallelujah chorus,' said Thea Lee, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning Washington think tank.
The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute in the report also said that 57,500 graduate students who are already unionized would lose the ability to collectively bargain with their schools under the September proposal.
The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute projects up to three million jobs lost by summer.
The report from the left-leaning think tank said that number was slightly lower than 2015, when average pay was $16.3 million and the ratio was 286-to-1.
Chief executives of the country's largest firms made 303 times more than a "typical" worker in 2014, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
The foundation's roster of grant recipients has been similarly eclectic: the right-wing Heritage Foundation and the liberal Brookings Institution. The progressive Center for American Progress, the free-market American Enterprise Institute and the pro-union Economic Policy Institute.
Economic Policy Institute ... Pro-union; favors more equal distribution of wealth
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