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.
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
On November 9 the White House released guidance for the economic analysis of federal government regulations – a document called Circular A-4 (they also released its sister document, Circular A-94, which provides guidance for the analysis of Federal spending programs). The revisions bring the guidance—last updated in 2003—i…
U.S. health spending is slowing down
New estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) show that although total health spending in the country increased in 2022, the share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) spent on health declined for the second consecutive year. What contributed to the decline in the share of the economy devoted to health…
Surveys can improve measurement of public program access burdens
Researchers have increasingly documented the importance of administrative burdens in access to public benefits and services. Drawing from agenda-setting work from public administration scholars Pamela Herd and Donald Moynihan, administrative burdens refer to the costs that individuals face when attempting to interact with g…
Growing Costs of Natural Disasters are Stressing Property Insurance Markets
Widespread availability of property insurance is a key part of the U.S. financial system: it both supports mortgage access and enables financial resiliency by providing an influx of funds for post-disaster recovery. But concentrated losses from large extreme weather events pose an existential risk for insurers and are e…
Thank you for your readership during our first year. We are excited to bring you more great work in year two.
Congratulations!