Alaska Permanent Fund

The Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) is a publicly managed investment portfolio funded via a 25% tax on oil revenues. Every Alaskan citizen is an equal shareholder in the returns, and s… View

Business cycles refer to the cyclical intervals of expansion and recession experienced by firms and economies. View

Generally, "capital" is any durable, produced good that is being 'put to work' as an input in further production; capital is any productive asset engaged in the process of producin… View

Competition – where firms compete for the patronage of buyers – is the bedrock of a healthy economy. Competition keeps prices low and innovation high. The spectrum of competition… View

Consumption taxes are taxes on spending on goods or services, such as a sales tax, or a value-added tax. View

Corporate governance describes "the processes, structures, and mechanisms that influence the control and direction of corporations" (Greg Shailer, 2018). "Control" refers to how s… View

Deficit spending is when a government's spending exceeds its revenue, thus adding to the budget deficit. Since 1970, the US government has used deficit spending for all but four y… View

Demand refers to the amount of a good or service that consumers are both willing and able to buy. Aggregate demand is the total demand for all goods and services across the entire … View

The EITC is one of the most successful antipoverty programs in the history of US social policy. It provides a work credit that returns money back to low-income earners at tax time,… View

Economic democracy, broadly, is the idea that decision-making power should not be the exclusive right of managers and shareholders, but held in equal by all stakeholders affected b… View

Economic insecurity is defined as any individual living with an income below 200% of the federal poverty line. In 2021, this would be $25,760 for an individual, $34,840 for a two-p… View

In general, efficiency refers to maximizing outputs while minimizing inputs. In economic contexts, there are two main types of efficiency: microeconomic efficiency (where system … View

Executive compensation refers to the payments – both financial and otherwise – executives receive for their services. Executive compensation is generally a mix of salary, performan… View

GDP refers to the total value of a nation's production of goods and services. The formula for GDP is: consumer spending (C) + business investment (I) + government spending (G) + n… View

We define growth as the expansion of wealth in society; growth is about generating a "a bigger pie". Amidst debates over the merits of continued growth, we begin with the idea tha… View

The (un)affordability of housing is of central concern to modern economics. Some recent research even argues that the majority of rising inequality over the past few decades is dri… View

Industrial relations refers to the web of relationships between employers and employees, labor and trade unions, employer organizations, and the state. View

Inflation is the rise in price level of a nation's currency, which corresponds to a decrease in purchasing power. View

Institutional investors are entities that invest money on behalf of others. These include commercial and central banks, mutual funds, and endowments. The largest institutional inve… View

Labor institutions are any policy intervention or collective organization that affords workers power in wage and employment determinations. Examples include labor unions, minimum w… View

Labor share refers to the share of national income (GDP) paid out in wages. Generally, national income is divided into labor share and capital share. Though recent research sugges… View

Fiscal multipliers measure the effect of government spending on economic activity. In particular, a multiplier is the ratio of the change in economic output to the change in govern… View

Negative Income Tax (NIT) is a form of basic income that phases out as recipient earned income rises. NIT is composed of an "income floor" and a "phaseout rate". The income floor i… View

Neoliberalism is a school of thought that began taking shape with the formation of The Mont Pelerin Society in the 1940's. It rose to power in the US in the 1980's, with tenets inc… View

Patient capital is an investment strategy with long time horizons, high risk-tolerance, and greater interest in customer needs than shareholder value. It is seen as a bridge for th… View

Public policies that require significant revenue often meet an important question: "how will you pay for that?" Pay-fors are potential sources of funding. While it should be noted… View

The details of a policy can fundamentally transform its effects. For example, a basic income that replaces all other welfare appeals greatly to conservatives and libertarians, whil… View

Despite consistent reductions in global poverty over the decades, even centuries, there remains a stubborn relationship between progress and the persistence of poverty. In 2021, t… View

Precedents offer real, historical examples of policies in action. Whether Denmark's experience with land value taxation, Germany's experience with codetermination, or California, S… View

Public goods are commodities or services made available to all members of a society that are non-rivalrous, meaning one's use of the good or service does not diminish from another'… View

The safety net refers to government programs that unconditionally assure a minimum amount of welfare that no citizen can fall below. Examples of safety net programs include SNAP b… View

"Short-Termism" is a term often used to critique an excessive focus on short-term results at the expense of long-term interests. For example, in corporate contexts, this can mean m… View

Poverty is an economic condition with consequences that ripple out into many dimensions of social life. Poverty is a significant factor in crime, physical health, mental health, an… View

We define stability as the resiliency, robustness, and constancy of our nested social, financial, and environmental systems. Stability is the degree to which our systems can withst… View

Stock buybacks are the practice of repurchasing company shares on the open market, reducing the outstanding number of shares, thereby increasing share price. View

In the US, UI is a state-provided benefit to individuals separated from their jobs due to no fault of their own. View

Universal Basic Income is an unconditional, individual, periodic, cash payment granted to all citizens regardless of income or employment status. View

One of the defining conflicts of economic discourse today is the debate over whether government programs should be 'targeted' to particular demographics - such as stimulus payments… View

A VAT is a consumption tax on goods and services that gets applied at each stage of the supply chain where value is added. VAT raises nearly a fifth of all tax revenue worldwide. A… View

Value extraction occurs when an entity (individual, or organization) appropriates economic gains vastly out of proportion with their contribution to said gains. Value extraction c… View

Welfare refers to government-sponsored assistance programs intended to ensure that all members of society can meet their basic needs. Examples include social insurance, Medicaid, a… View

Worker cooperatives are fully owned and managed by employees. Workers thus fully share in the profits or losses of the company, and manage decision making in democratic fashion. View

Neoclassically-informed economic models - which held sway over policymaking for at least the last 50 years - operate on the assumption that raising taxes discourages work, as do un… View

Zoning is a type of municipal regulation that governs how land may be used. As a method of urban planning, it's used to govern what kinds of development may occur on given land plo… View