A growing economy creates jobs, raises living standards, maintains global competitiveness, and thus engenders positive attitudes and optimism about the future.
While many policymakers seem intent on focusing on either economic stimulus or austerity, IPI believes that the economy can grow consistently and at higher rates than we’ve experienced in the last decade, and we reject the idea that economic growth contains within itself the seeds of its own demise through inflation, the business cycle, and erroneous Phillips Curve assumptions. Therefore, economic growth should be elected officials’ primary policy goal at the federal, state and local levels, and it’s the organizing principle of our policy work at IPI.
Whatever limitations may exist on economic growth, they should not be self-imposed through counterproductive tax policy, overbearing regulations, ill-conceived monetary policy, trade protectionism, or hostility toward skilled and ambitious immigration.
Bold Policy Reforms for the 2016 Election
Challenging times require bold reforms, but very few political candidates have proposed any. With this paper we try to fill that gap by identifying five reforms that would solve current problems, spur economic growth and return power and money to the states and the people.
Five Bold Policy Reforms 2016 Candidates Should Embrace
House Speaker Paul Ryan says Republican candidates are looking for bold policy reforms. IPI has responded with proposals that reduce the size and scope of government, empower people and states to make their own decisions, and keep more money in the private sector rather than the public sector.
Conservatives Who Defy the Rule-of-Law on Taxation
Conservative legislators should not defy rule-of-law in their greed for more tax revenue.
When Will Republican Candidates Start Identifying Proposed Spending Cuts?
Tax cuts are nice but they are not enough. The government doesn’t just take too much money, it also spends too much.
If Unemployment is 4.9 Percent, Why Can't I Find A Damn Job
What economists call “full employment” just isn’t what it used to be!
Cut the Minimum Wage for the 1 Million Losing Food Stamps
The price of their labor is the only thing low- or no-skilled workers have to bargain with. Let the unemployed food stamp recipients work for less than the minimum wage and maybe they will be able to get a job.
Brady Briefing: Ways & Means Important to Texas, U.S.
Tom Giovanetti, president of the freedom-oriented IPI, recently wrote “Now that Texas Republican Kevin Brady chairs the Ways & Means Committee, he will have more to say about the details of any eventual tax reform than will the future president. So what really matters is Brady’s priorities…and they are encouraging”.
Comparing the Major Candidates' Tax Plans
Most of the major presidential candidates have released tax reform plans with enough specifics to run them through an economic model. On tax policy, Republicans tend to focus on economic growth, while Democrats tend to focus on distributional effects.
Economics in Action: Wal-Mart Raises Wages Then Closes Stores
Higher wages are nice, but not when it costs you your job.
Data That Suggest a Coming Recession
The country has experienced three recessions in the past 30 years, and in each instance, median household income began to decline about a year to 18 months prior to the start of a recession. A 2013 report showing how median household income began to again decline hints that a recession may be around the corner.
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