The economy is in a time between paradigms. To thrive in a century defined by challenges of unprecedented scale and complexity, the economy must adapt and evolve.
The Library of Economic Possibility (LEP) is a digital knowledge-base that aims to bring together the twin forces of optimism and evidence. Our ambition is a more participatory and informed culture of debate around how to design the next economy.
A rich inventory of policy options for a better economy already exists, along with empirical evidence drawn from both international experience and pilots within the US. But that knowledge is too often buried in dense academic texts, trapped in PDFs, or locked behind paywalls.
What’s missing are better ways of discovering, organizing, and disseminating that knowledge for a general public audience. The incumbent economic framework only rose to prominence after decades of careful organization, planning, and platform building. LEP aims to provide a similar platform for organizing a wider scope of economic knowledge and making it available for something new to emerge.
And today, a new system is already taking shape, from grassroots movements to the White House. The quickening pace of shocks — from the 2008 crash, to the 2016 election, to the Covid-19 pandemic — is inspiring a widening search for alternative ideas. Our focus is advancing public knowledge around policies that deserve a place in this debate over how we actually design what comes next.
As we develop, we’ll add new policies, and new ways of using our knowledge-base. We look forward to embarking on this journey with you. If you're interested in collaborating, please feel free to get in touch.
Sincerely,
Oshan Jarow & Kasey Klimes
