People's Policy Project

The People’s Policy Project (3P) is a think tank established in 2017 with the goal of sharing ideas and analyses that promote an economic system benefiting everyone, rather than just a select few. What sets 3P apart from many other think tanks is its funding model. Instead of relying on large corporations or foundations, 3P is supported by numerous small donors who contribute between $5 and $15 each month through platforms like Patreon and ActBlue. This approach allows us to produce policy insights free from the influences and compromises often associated with big money interests. As our name implies, we are dedicated to serving the public, not the interests of corporations like Walmart or philanthropic entities like the Gates Foundation.

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Federal Workers Are Spread Out Across the Country

3 weeks ago | peoplespolicyproject.org | Kevin Werner

Donald Trump’s hatred for Washington, DC, is well-documented. He has tied his campaign to cut federal jobs explicitly to draining “the swamp.” These cuts to the federal workforce will devastate everything from food safety to disease research and cybersecurity. Sometimes missing in the justified outrage at these job cuts is that their impact will reach far beyond the DC area.
Eliminating Marriage Penalties Through Universalism

Nov 26, 2024 | peoplespolicyproject.org | Matt Bruenig

Rachel Cohen has a piece at Vox today about a conservative welfare reform aimed at removing marriage penalties. This comes up a lot in conservative welfare circles, especially during and after Presidential elections. It is doubtful that major policy changes will be made in this area, but it is a topic worth discussing, both in itself and also as a way of illustrating the superiority of a different way of doing tax and welfare policy.
The Comedy of the Winter Fuel Payment Means Test

Sep 13, 2024 | peoplespolicyproject.org | Matt Bruenig

The United Kingdom has a welfare benefit called the Winter Fuel Payment (WFP). Despite the name, the payment is not tied to winter fuel. It is just a lump-sum cash benefit paid each winter to individuals who have reached the pension age (currently 66). For the last 27 years, the WFP has been paid out universally without regard to household income.
I Have a Piece in the New York Times

Aug 21, 2024 | peoplespolicyproject.org | Matt Bruenig

The piece, which you can read here, argues that when we look at how much work the National Labor Relations Board had to do as part of the Starbucks unionization drive, we can only conclude that, absent labor law reform, any wave of mass unionization will end up choking in the bottleneck of the NLRB process. Starting with one small shop in Buffalo, Starbucks workers have unionized 481 stores with more than 11,000 employees in less than three years.
Tim Wu Does Not Understand the Welfare State

Mar 25, 2024 | peoplespolicyproject.org | Matt Bruenig

Tim Wu has a piece in the New York Times that is perfectly designed to irk me. In it, he argues that the Biden administration has broken from center-left orthodoxy by eschewing tax-and-transfer programs in favor of combatting economic concentration and redistributing money inside the market.
One More Time on the Economy

Dec 4, 2023 | peoplespolicyproject.org | Matt Bruenig

I have been closely monitoring the recent discourse on the goodness of the economy (I, II) and I think I’ve fully mapped it out and understand why it keeps breaking down. What is being presented as an argument about one question is actually an argument about three different questions:Is the economy good? Did Joe Biden do a good job with the economy given political constraints? Why do people say the economy is bad when asked by survey takers?
Imagine a Central Income Distribution Institution

Nov 22, 2023 | peoplespolicyproject.org | Matt Bruenig

Many years ago, I learned that the Faroe Islands has a peculiar process for compensating workers. There, employers pay each worker’s entire paycheck to the tax authority, which removes any taxes owed and then remits the remainder to each worker’s linked bank account. As part of this process, the tax authority also rolls in any welfare payments an individual is owed when making its periodic payments.
How Has Wealth Changed Under Biden

Nov 20, 2023 | peoplespolicyproject.org | Matt Bruenig

Late last month, I wrote a piece explaining why some people might say the economy under Biden has not been so good. For left-wing intellectuals, Biden’s failure to reform the labor market (e.g. through the passage of the PRO Act) and failure to reform the welfare state (e.g. through the passage of Build Back Better) provide plenty of reason for disappointment. For regular people, the unwinding of the COVID welfare state and inflation caused real incomes to decline for most.
The Economy Versus the Economic System

Oct 31, 2023 | peoplespolicyproject.org | Matt Bruenig

As we gear up for the next presidential election, various pundits are puzzling over how people can be dissatisfied with the Biden economy. Some of this puzzling, such as that which is focused on what survey responders actually mean when they answer generic questions about the economy, is fair enough. Personally, I think these surveys are not very insightful because so many respondents clearly use them as proxy questions about whether they like the president or not.
How to Think About Chicago’s Municipal Grocery Store Proposal

Oct 25, 2023 | peoplespolicyproject.org | Matt Bruenig

To combat food deserts in Chicago, the city government is considering opening up a municipal grocery store. The Wall Street Journal recently had a piece about this initiative. In it Joe Barrett tells the stories of a municipal grocery store in Erie, Kansas, which last year was $123,000 in the red and a municipal grocery store in St. Paul, Kansas, which is profitable and has been in operation for 16 years.