Project

Commission on Reimagining Our Economy

Democracy & Justice
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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. 

Overview

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 business, faith, labor, and philanthropic communities. With this diverse makeup, the Commission sought to consider the well-being of Americans more broadly than is customary in economic discussions. In addition to a report with recommendations, the Commission released a metric dashboard offering county-level measurements of well-being that account for factors such as political voice that are typically excluded from standard economic indicators.

Learn about the reports, recommendations, resources, and data dashboard produced by the Commission HERE

The CORE project builds 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 did not offer recommendations specifically targeted at the intersection of the economy and democracy, the Commission on Reimagining Our Economy faced these issues head on.

Through listening sessions, data collection, photojournalism, and a commitment to crosspartisan work, the Commission developed bold, achievable recommendations that advance practices and policies to enable opportunity, mobility, and sufficiency for all.

People

People

Commission Chairs
Commission Members

K. Daron Acemoglu

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics
Academy Member

Elizabeth S. Anderson

University of Michigan
John Rawls Collegiate Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor
Academy Member

Helene D. Gayle

Spelman College
President and Chief Executive Officer
Academy Member

Jacob S. Hacker

Yale University
Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science
Academy Member

Tom Hanks

Independent
Actor, Director, Screenwriter, and Producer
Academy Member

Mary Kay Henry

Service Employees International Union
President
Academy Member

Kelly Lytle Hernández

University of California, Los Angeles
Professor and Thomas E. Lifka Chair of History
Academy Member

Goodwin Liu

Supreme Court of California
Associate Justice
Academy Member

James M. Manyika

Alphabet Inc.
Chairman, McKinsey Global Institute; Senior Partner
Academy Member

Katherine S. Newman

University of California System
Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and International Relations
Academy Member

Viet Thanh Nguyen

University of Southern California
Aerol Arnold Chair of English and Professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity
Academy Member

Ruth Simmons

Harvard University
President Emerita
Academy Member

Matthew J. Slaughter

Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth
The Paul Danos Dean of the Tuck School of Business
Academy Member

Anna Deavere Smith

Independent
Actress; Playwright; Author; University Professor of Arts and Civic Dialogue
Academy Member

Kenneth L. Wallach

Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Foundation
Executive Chairman
Academy Member
Staff

Jonathan D. Cohen

Joan and Irwin Jacobs Senior Program Officer for American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good

Victor Lopez

Program Associate for American Institutions, Society, and the Public Good

Betsy Super

Program Director for American Institutions and Global Security
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Publications

Publications

Report |
NOV 2023

Advancing a People-First Economy

The final report of the Commission on Reimagining Our Economy includes 15 recommendations that place the American people at the center of discussions about the nation’s economy. The areas of emphasis are Security, Opportunity and Mobility, and Democracy.
Project
Commission on Reimagining Our Economy
Democracy & Justice
Economy & Business
Book |
SEP 2023

Faces of America

A photojournal produced by the Academy’s Commission on Reimagining Our Economy is part of their work to put the American people and their well-being at the center of discussions about the nation’s economy. Featuring photographs from four U.S. locations.
Project
Commission on Reimagining Our Economy
Democracy & Justice
Economy & Business
Society & Health
News & Updates

News & Updates

CORE Score Image of Map of the U.S. mostly Green
Press Release
|

Economic Wellbeing Measurement Developed at the Academy is Now at Yale

The CORE Score website and infrastructure, developed at the Academy as part of its work to understand how Americans experience the economy, is moving to Yale for further growth, support, and analysis. Academy President Laurie Patton described the development as "a great example of how intellectual and institutional partnership makes us all stronger.”
Photograph of economist Daron Acemoglu.
Academy Article
|

Daron Acemoglu Wins Nobel Prize – Worked on Academy Commission to Reimagine the Economy

Economist and Academy member Daron Acemoglu received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics for groundbreaking work that illuminates how institutions shape economies. Acemoglu was a vital contributor to the Academy's Commission on Reimagining Our Economy, a cross-disciplinary effort to understand and improve the economy for the people who make it work.
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Bulletin
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The Geography of American Opportunity

The gap between the richest and poorest communities in the United States has grown significantly, as have differences in population growth, business development, and economic insecurity. The Academy explored this issue with in a conversation with entrepreneur Reid G. Hoffman, sociologist Katherine S. Newman, and founder of End Poverty in California Michael D. Tubbs. The event was inspired by the work of the Academy’s Commission on Reimagining Our Economy and its recommendations to build a people-first economy that ensures no Americans and no communities are left behind.
In the News
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We need policy solutions to address the collapse of the media industry

This guest essay in The Hill sets forth that journalism should be treated like critical infrastructure, with the understanding that it is essential to a strong and healthy democracy. Rooted in Academy work, the oped explores how and why stabilizing media is part of strengthening democracy in America.
Source
The Hill
CORE Score Map of the United States
In the News
|

CORE Score in the Wall Street Journal

A Wall Street Journal essay features the CORE Score, a metric created by the Academy's Commission on Reimagining the Economy to help move national focus from how the economy is doing to how Americans are doing. In this essay, the CORE Score helps explain how standard economic measures may indicate a good economy, while that's not what many Americans are feeling about their own wellbeing.
Source
Wall Street Journal
New York Times Guest Essay text
In the News
|

Many Americans Believe the Economy Is Rigged

Guest essay in the New York Times by Katherine J. Cramer and Jonathan D. Cohen shares insights from the Academy's Commission on Reimagining Our Economy to help explain the disconnect between positive standard economic indicators and the negative views Americans have of the economy.
Source
New York Times
A barber applies an electric razor to the hair behind the ear of a customer.
Academy Article
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New York Times Essay Features Academy Work

A guest essay in the New York Times highlights the original work and unique insights of the Academy's Commission on Reimagining Our Economy. Rooted in the Commission's listening sessions, the essay helps answer the question: why are standard economic indicators—including unemployment, GDP growth, and retail sales—positive while the sentiment of Americans about the economy is persistently negative?
Woman in a Red Apron Wiping Down a Restaurant Table
Bulletin
|

Reimagining Our Economy

As the United States approaches the 2024 presidential election, several journalists and commentators have been puzzled by one question: “Why do Americans seem so unhappy with an economy that appears to be doing so well?” Polls are influenced by many factors, but recent results show how pessimistic many Americans feel about the economy. And yet, judged by traditional economic metrics like the GDP or the Dow Jones, the economy is doing well. How do we explain this paradox?
CORE Score Image of Map of the U.S. mostly Green
Academy Article
|

A New Measurement of American Wellbeing: Introducing the CORE Score

The CORE Score is a nationwide measurement of American wellbeing. It was launched in November 2023 by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences as a result of the cross-partisan, multi-disciplinary Commission on Reimagining Our Economy (CORE).
A person working under a car in a driveway. Their face is not visible.
In the News
|

Transforming the economy around people

An article and embedded video exploring what the Commission on Reimagining Our Economy learned from listening sessions in Indian Country, which Commission recommendations would have the greatest impact on tribal nations, and the unique economic challenges and opportunities facing Indian Country.
Source
Indian Country Today
Black Man in His Home surrounded by Images of Family and History
In the News
|

Let’s Give Black World War II Vets What We Promised

Black World War II veterans were denied the housing and education benefits of the 1944 G.I. Bill. An article in The New Republic endorses and explores legislation and a recommendation in the report from the Commission on Reimagining Our Economy, championed by Commission member Cornell Brooks, to extend those benefits to the direct descendants of those G.I.'s.
Source
The New Republic
Image of Commission Cochair Professor Katherine Cramer
In the News
|

Making an American economy that works for the people

Profile of Kathy Cramer, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and her leadership of the Academy's Commission on Reimagining Our Economy and the work to advance an American economy that works for its people.
Source
University of Wisconsin-Madison News
Photograph of People in Central Square in Cambridge Massachusetts from WGBH News Item
In the News
|

Here is a new way to measure — and compare — Americans’ economic wellbeing

The new national dashboard released by the Academy's Commission on Reimagining Our Economy, the CORE Score, is mined for data about Massachusetts in this piece by WGBH. The coverage also connects the wellbeing assessed in the CORE Score to recommendations in the Commission's final report.
Source
WGBH
Three people load boxes onto a truck. Two are holding one box, while another person is reaching for the next box.
In the News
|

US Economy Scores Low on New Index Measuring Nation’s Well-Being

A Bloomberg article about the new metric of wellbeing issued by the Commission on Reimagining Our Economy - the CORE Score - considers how it might shed light on a a disconnect between how Americans have been feeling about the economy and standard indicators of economic activity.
Source
Bloomberg
Woman Standing at Table
Press Release
|

Photojournal Features the Faces of the American Economy

A new photojournal produced by the Academy’s Commission on Reimagining Our Economy is part of their work to put the American people and their well-being at the center of discussions about the nation’s economy.
Representatives Himes and Steil in Conversation at the Academy
Bulletin
|

Reimagining the American Economy

The Academy's Commission on Reimagining Our Economy (CORE) is rethinking the values, policies, narratives, and metrics that shape the nation’s political economy. Rather than focus on how the economy is doing, the Commission seeks to direct a focus onto how Americans are doing. As part of this work, the Academy hosted a conversation with U.S. Representative Jim Himes, Chair of the House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth and U.S. Representative Bryan Steil, the Ranking Member of the Committee.
Representatives Himes and Steil in Conversation at the Academy
Academy Article
|

Bipartisan Conversation on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth

Congressman Jim Himes (D-CT) and Congressman Bryan Steil (R-WI) were the featured speakers when the Academy hosted a bipartisan conversation about the economy and the future of democracy. They are the  chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the U.S. House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth. The event - now available for viewing - was an opportunity to hear how members of Congress think about economic issues—from trade wars and globalization to inflation and its impact on the day-to-day lives of their constituents.
Bulletin
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The Commission on Reimagining Our Economy

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 people like them. In a 2021 Pew Research Center survey, 66 percent of Americans felt that the nation’s economy needs major reforms, while just 6 percent felt it should remain unchanged. Coupled with the current challenges facing American democracy, these trends contribute to the growing distrust of political and economic institutions. While it often seems that the nation cannot agree on much, there is widespread agreement that changes are needed to bolster opportunity and to allow more Americans to share in the nation’s prosperity.
Press Release
|

Reimagining Our Economy: A New Commission

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences has launched the Commission on Reimagining Our Economy, an interdisciplinary and nonpartisan multiyear effort to rethink the principles that drive economic decision making and to recommend policies that enable opportunity for all.
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Events

Events

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Project Information

This work is an extension of the research and recommendations of the Academy's Commission on Reimagining Our Economy. The work of the Commission is supported by a $1 million grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and additional funding provided by C&P Buttenwieser Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, Omidyar Network, David M. Rubenstein, and Patti Saris.

Project Date
-
Contact Information
Jonathan D. Cohen
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