Briefing Book is one year old!
Celebrating a year of posting
When we worked as economic policy staffers, our job was, in part, to bring economics to bear on the policy issues of the day. We were charged with describing costs and benefits, highlighting what we know and what we do not, characterizing likely consequences, and presenting our work in a way that very busy people could process quickly.Â
When we started Briefing Book one year ago, our goal was to bring this type of analysis to a broader audience. Our experience showed us that there is value to an approach that tells people what to think about while letting them decide what to think that goes well beyond the White House.
It has been gratifying to see that audience grow over the last year. This post landed in over 3,700 inboxes this morning, a number that would have been difficult to imagine before we launched. About a quarter of those subscribers are readers of other newsletters that have recommended us, including most notably Chartbook and Noahpinion. We appreciate the support!
It has also been great to see the work we publish mentioned in other outlets, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Financial Times. Links from these outlets have been another important source of new subscribers. A couple of the big jumps up in the figure above were driven by links from Paul Krugman - thanks Paul!
To succeed in covering the wide range of topics that are important to readers, Briefing Book needs to be a platform for experts to share their insights. It has been a pleasure to publish great work from outstanding contributors on many different topics. Posts on consumer sentiment, inflation, and immigration have been particularly well-received, but our archive is also full of posts that help readers think through issues that are important even though they are not (yet) in the news daily. Here are a few examples:
The new Circular A-4 will avoid biased climate economic analysis
U.S. health spending is slowing down
Surveys can improve measurement of public program access burdens
Growing Costs of Natural Disasters are Stressing Property Insurance Markets
Thank you for your readership during our first year. We are excited to bring you more great work in year two.
Congratulations!