Our Mission
PWBM is a nonpartisan, research-based initiative that provides accurate, accessible and transparent economic analysis of public policy’s fiscal impact. Using the project’s research briefs and interactive budget tools enables analysis of legislation while it is drafted. PWBM serves as an honest broker at the intersection of business and public policy providing rigorous analysis without policy advocacy.
Explore the Federal Budget with PWBM
Work with Policymakers
PWBM works directly with policymakers and their staff to provide insight into the effects of policy changes. Our simulators and briefs are informed by the policy changes being debated on Capitol Hill. We demonstrate the tools available on our website and provide briefings to improve understanding of our results and economic modeling. We also estimate the impact of detailed options for policy changes to help policymakers make data-based decisions when they craft legislation.
When working directly with policymakers we are both discrete and transparent. We do not associate policies or results with policymakers unless a policymaker has an explicit public position on that policy. If a policymaker chooses to indicate that PWBM scored a policy for them, then we post those results to ensure they are not taken out of context, can be verified and are widely available.
What Policymakers Say
“Another analysis of the Senate Republican plan using the Penn Wharton model found that even with assumptions favorable to economic growth, the Senate tax bill will increase debt by over $1.5 trillion over the next decade.”– Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Congressional Record
“Joint Committee on Taxation, The Wharton School, the Tax Policy Center, moodys.com, they all say the same thing: None of this is going to happen.”– Representative Richard Neal (D-MA 1st District), Congressional Record
“The Penn-Wharton Budget Model--again, an organization that is well respected by both sides of the aisle--did a dynamic score on this legislation as well. Again, they are saying the bill would still cost $1.5 trillion.”– Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), Congressional Record
“I wanted to just point out that there was a study that was done out of Wharton on the tax plan. It wasn't on this most recent version, but I think the majority of the things that are in this are still true in what they analyzed.”– Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA 7th District), Congressional Record
“I’ve seen your work cited as the go-to authority in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and the New York Times. Doesn’t get more authoritative than that.”– Sr. Senate Staffer
Roadmap
PWBM aims to be transparent and comprehensive across all policy areas. We plan to produce an independent deficit forecast by 2020. PWBM can help the government do its jobs better and faster by playing a similar role in the U.S. as the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) does for the Netherlands. The CPB is the trusted go-to source for policy reform forecasts in the Netherlands because of its independence, focus on economic science, and transparency. By producing trusted projections, PWBM can help the government with proactive policymaking.
