Improving Housing Affordability
Housing affordability in the United States has become a major challenge for Americans and a key policy priority for US policymakers. In this paper, Benjamin Keys and Vincent Reina assess the drivers of the housing affordability challenge, concluding that inadequate supply, barriers to homeownership such as tight credit standards, and the lack of a meaningful ...
Remarks at Can We Get Through the Demographic Crunch?
On November 5, 2025, AESG Policy Director Luke Pardue provided remarks during a panel discussion hosted by the American Enterprise Institute: Can We Get Through the Demographic Crunch? The Implications of the 2025 OECD Employment Report. A recording of the full event can be found here: Pardue’s slides can be downloaded here.
Top 12 Charts of 2025 from the AESG
Happy holidays from the Aspen Economic Strategy Group! Thank you for your continued interest and support of our work. As a group devoted to advancing evidence-based economic policy, we appreciate the powerful role that charts play in telling the story of our economy. Enjoy twelve figures that showcase the AESG’s work in 2025! Figure 1: ...
Aspen Economic Strategy Group Reports related to Affordability
Policymakers across the political spectrum – and at the federal, state, and local levels – are increasingly focused on improving “affordability” for Americans. The Aspen Economic Strategy Group has released a series of reports that speak directly to this challenge. Below, we highlight five AESG reports that offer evidence-based insights into how policy can strengthen ...
Aspen Economic Strategy Group Welcomes Four New Members
Aspen Economic Strategy Group Welcomes New Members Leading business executives and academics join bipartisan group dedicated to promoting evidence-based solutions to America’s economic challenges. WASHINGTON, DC, FEBRUARY 10, 2026 – The Aspen Economic Strategy Group (AESG), co-chaired by former U.S. Secretaries of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson, Jr. and Timothy F. Geithner, today announced four ...
The Age Divide in the American Workplace
Demographic shifts are reshaping the U.S. labor market, as the share of the population within the working age has begun to decline. In The Age Divide in the American Workplace, Nicola Bianchi and Matteo Paradisi address the implications of this decline with a focus on within-firm dynamics. Over the past five decades, longer life expectancy ...
The Environmental Benefits of Low Fertility and Population Decline are Overstated
The discussion of impending population decline is often dismissed or minimized by arguments that downplay its urgency – or even welcome this development – because of the proposed environmental benefits. In The Environmental Benefits of Low Fertility and Population Decline are Overstated, Kevin Kuruc addresses this common misconception. He argues that welcoming depopulation on environmental ...
Low Fertility and Fiscal Sustainability: The Effects of Past and Future Fertility Rates on the US Federal Budget Outlook
Low fertility and population aging have shaped the US federal government’s spending and revenue patterns, contributing significantly to the large and growing federal debt, which the CBO projects will grow from 98 percent of GDP in 2024 to over 150 percent by 2055. In Low Fertility and Fiscal Sustainability: The Effects of Past and Future ...
Implications of Low Fertility and Declining Populations for the Operations of US State and Local Governments
Roughly half of US counties lost population between 2010 and 2020, a trend driven overwhelmingly by declining fertility rather than changes in migration. Looking ahead, the Congressional Budget Office forecasts that the number of births will first exceed the number of deaths nationwide in 2033. Even under optimistic immigration assumptions, U.S. population growth will stagnate ...