Economic and fiscal policy studies at PPI are framed by a central idea: The New Economy is ushering in a new era for federal policy. The budget policies of the 1990s, which emphasized fiscal discipline, were formed in a time of fiscal crisis, debt, recession, and unemployment. Those policies successfully guided the economy from stagnation and deep deficits to rapid productivity growth, robust economic performance, and nascent budget surpluses. Now a victim of their success, the deficit-reducing conventions of the 1990s must be replaced by a new set of ideas for fiscal policy in the New Economy.

The imminent retirement of the baby boom generation will dominate this new fiscal policy. To guide policy in the next decade, PPI will build on the core themes of fiscal discipline, progressive taxation, and investment-led private sector growth. Our goal is to blend solid economics with a meaningful concern for the disadvantaged. Fiscal policy studies at PPI attempt to bridge or bypass the old-fashioned ideologies of the political right and left that stymie needed actions.

Top priorities for economic and fiscal policy include:

• Reforming and modernizing Medicare and Social Security for reasons of opportunity as well as necessity; and
• Setting sound priorities for domestic and defense spending in the New Economy rather than following outdated precedents or pursuing a blind austerity.

Future topics will include tax fairness and efficiency. In an economy that increasingly rewards holders of financial wealth, PPI will also study ways to help build the financial assets of those who would otherwise be left out.