Economy

Free-market, pro-growth policies are critical to enable our economy to flourish.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Economy and Jobs Policy in 2012 Elections Economy and Jobs Policy in 2012 Elections

    Issues 2012 provides candidates for elected office the ability to quickly identify the key issues of the day and present clear policy recommendations, supported by facts, for addressing them. Read More.

  • Saving the American Dream Saving the American Dream

    The Heritage Foundation offers a detailed plan to redesign entitlement programs, guarantee assistance to those who need it, and save the American dream for future generations. Read More.

  • How to Cut $343 Billion from the Federal Budget How to Cut $343 Billion from the Federal Budget

    Federal spending is on an unsustainable path that risks disaster for America. Runaway spending has increased annual federal budget deficits to unprecedented levels, adding $2.7 trillion to the national debt in the past two years alone. Read More.

  • 2010 Index of Dependence on Government 2010 Index of Dependence on Government

    The number of Americans who pay taxes continues to shrink—and the United States is close to the point at which half of the population will not pay taxes for government benefits they receive. Read More.

  • Obama Tax Hikes: The Economic and Fiscal Effects Obama Tax Hikes: The Economic and Fiscal Effects

    President Obama has advanced a plan that reverses the long-standing successful policy: The President and his supporters are calling for tax increases, primarily on upper-income taxpayers and businesses. Read More.

Our Research & Offerings on Economy
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  • WebMemo posted February 1, 2012 by J.D. Foster, Ph.D. CBO Baseline: A Few Quirks Do Not Distract from a Dismal Picture

    The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its baseline budget outlook through fiscal year 2022 on January 31. The analysis is as creditable to the CBO as its message is daunting to the nation. After squandering three years in which the signal consequences have been persistent high unemployment coupled with an… Read more

  • Report posted by Jay Richards The Economy Hits Home: Poverty

    What causes poverty in America? If you’re like most people, you are concerned about poverty—but probably not your own. By historical standards, most Americans are quite wealthy. And that’s part of what bothers us.… Read more

  • WebMemo posted July 19, 2011 by James Sherk Recovery Stalled After Obamacare Passed

    Private-sector job creation initially recovered from the recession at a normal rate, leading to predictions last year of a “Recovery Summer.” Since April 2010, however, net private-sector job creation has stalled. Within two months of the passage of Obamacare, the job market stopped improving. This suggests that businesses are not… Read more

  • WebMemo posted January 30, 2012 by Diane Katz CFPB Wields New Powers with Director

    Within hours of Richard Cordray assuming the role of director[1] at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), agency officials began exercising their newly expanded powers. Their immediate target is all manner of “nonbank”[2] financial services used by millions of households. While proponents contend that the new… Read more

  • WebMemo posted August 3, 2006 by Rea Hederman, Jr., James Sherk Who Earns the Minimum Wage -- Single Parents or Suburban Teenagers?

    As Congress debates raising the minimum wage, Congress should consider which workers-assuming that their jobs are not casualties of the higher minimum wage-the change would benefit. Data from the Department of Labor show that most minimum wage-earners are young, part-time workers and that relatively few live below the Poverty line. A minimum … Read more

  • Backgrounder posted April 22, 2008 by Ronald Utt, Ph.D. The Subprime Mortgage Market Collapse: A Primer on the Causes and Possible Solutions

    The collapse of the subprime mortgage market in late 2006 set in motion a chain reaction of economic and financial adversity that has spread to global financial markets, created depression-like conditions in the housing market, and pushed the U.S. economy to the brink of recession. In response, many in Congress and the executive branch have… Read more

  • WebMemo posted April 16, 2004 by Tim Kane, Ph.D. The Economic Lessons of President Hoover

    The economy today is strong, but perceptions remain gloomy thanks to unrelenting negative rhetoric from some politicians in Washington. Despite the widely held view, on Wall Street and elsewhere, that the economy may be overheating, Senator John Kerry and the Democratic Party maintain that President George Bush has "the worst economic record since the… Read more

  • WebMemo posted January 16, 2007 by Arthur Laffer The Four Pillars of Reaganomics

    The following is Arthur Laffer's November 13 address to members of The Heritage Foundation's President's Club at the fall 2006 President's Club meeting, held at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in Washington, DC. You know, one thing I always loved, Ed, was when I followed Milton Friedman to the podium I could actually raise… Read more

  • WebMemo posted July 25, 2006 by James Sherk Raising the Minimum Wage Hurts Vulnerable Workers' Job Prospects Without Reducing Poverty

    When the government changes the law, individuals respond to those changes. Because of this, the true effects of a law often differ radically from its authors' intentions. For example, Congress created welfare to help the poor in times of need, but instead it created a cycle of dependence trapping low-income Americans in poverty. Similarly, raising the minimum… Read more

  • WebMemo posted February 7, 2007 by James Sherk Union Members, Not Minimum-Wage Earners, Benefit When the MinimumWage Rises

    Supporters of raising the minimum wage argue it will raise the earnings of low-income workers. Labor unions are among the most prominent of these supporters, a fact that makes little intuitive sense, because very few union members work for the minimum wage. Unions, however, are not just being altruistic when they push to raise… Read more

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Find more work on Economy
Find more work on Economy