Methodology & Principles
We evaluate legislative proposals and public policy by prioritizing arithmetic and observable outcomes over rhetorical intent. Our analysis spans taxation, housing, climate, and healthcare.
Core Principles
Dynamic Over Static Scoring
Policy changes alter behavior. We reject static revenue scoring that assumes economic actors will not adjust to new incentives or penalties. Where applicable, our models incorporate baseline elasticities derived from peer-reviewed empirical literature.
Institutional Capacity Matters
A policy is only as effective as the institution executing it. We explicitly model administrative drag—the cost, delay, and friction introduced by regulatory compliance, enforcement, and state-capacity constraints.
Open Parameters
We do not treat our models as black boxes. Every major analysis is paired with an interactive tool allowing you to adjust the core assumptions (e.g., elasticity, phase-out thresholds, discount rates) and view the arithmetic directly.
Data Sources
Our baseline models primarily rely on publicly available data from:
- The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
- The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT)
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
- The Energy Information Administration (EIA)
- The NYU Marron Institute (Transit Costs Project)