Commission on Reimagining Our Economy

This crosspartisan, interdisciplinary Commission seeks to advance an economy that puts people first. Guided by the values of security, opportunity and mobility, and democracy, it will offer bold recommendations to make the economy work for the people who make it work.
Economic uncertainty is a disruptive force in American life. Too many families are unable to achieve the life they want despite their best efforts, too many communities have not benefited fully from national economic growth, and too many Americans believe the economy does not work for them.
New photojournal issued - Faces of America: Getting By in Our Economy
The Academy launched the Commission on Reimagining Our Economy (CORE) in October 2021 to rethink the principles, metrics, narratives, and policies that shape the nation’s political economy. While policymakers and journalists often track how the economy is doing, the Commission seeks to direct a focus onto how Americans are doing, elevating the human stakes of our economic and political systems.
The interdisciplinary and crosspartisan Commission comprises scholars, journalists, artists, and leaders from the faith, labor, business, and philanthropic communities. With this diverse makeup the Commission seeks to consider the well-being of Americans more broadly than is customary in economic discussions. In addition to a report with recommendations, the Commission will release a metric dashboard offer county-level measurements of well-being that account for factors such as political voice that are typically excluded from standard economic indicators.
The CORE project will build on Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century. That report acknowledges that economic conditions influence public faith in government, political participation, and civic engagement. While Our Common Purpose does not offer recommendations specifically targeted at the intersection of the economy and democracy, the Commission on Reimagining Our Economy will face these issues head on.
Through listening sessions, data collection, and a commitment to crosspartisan work, the Commission will develop bold, achievable recommendations that advance practices and policies to enable opportunity, mobility, and sufficiency for all.