Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting monetary policy response, short-term interest rates are currently near zero and longer-term rates are historically low.
Infrastructure investment has important impacts on the economy, and this piece examines the economic effects that could be expected from the bipartisan physical infrastructure plan that is currently being debated.
The continued economic recovery, fueled by consumer spending, brought economic output back to its pre-pandemic level just a year after the worst economic contraction ever recorded.
Adjustments to the U.S. corporate income tax system could influence the level of domestic investment, economic growth, and hiring; such adjustments would also alter the amount of revenues collected by the federal government, which would have an effect on the nation’s fiscal outlook.
While the United States does not currently have a nationwide free college program, a number of such initiatives have been proposed in the past few years.
President Biden’s budget for fiscal year 2022 outlines new details of the American Families Plan (AFP), a $1.7 trillion package including major new investments in education, childcare, healthcare, and family leave.
While deficits will decline over the next few years as the pandemic wanes and the economy recovers, the nation will remain on an unsustainable fiscal trajectory due to a structural mismatch between spending and revenues.