Yesterday marked EIG’s first policy event, Rethinking Economic Renewal, hosted by The Atlantic.
The event brought together experts and policymakers – from opposite sides of the aisle – to discuss new approaches to revitalizing America’s distressed communities.
The first panel featured EIG’s Economic Advisory Board Co-chairs, Kevin Hassett and Jared Bernstein, along with Amy Liu from the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution. During that discussion, Hassett and Bernstein unveiled EIG’s first white paper: Unlocking Private Capital to Facilitate Economic Growth in Distressed Areas.
That panel was followed by a conversation with Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Tim Scott (R-SC) – two of the leading voices in Congress on economic opportunity and poverty issues. They discussed their bipartisan efforts on workforce skills development and their desire to see more collaboration on urgent economic challenges. Both panels were moderated by The Atlantic’s Steve Clemons.
In case you missed it, we’ve picked our six favorite moments:
- Jared Bernstein: “There is untapped demand in the places that we’re talking about… these places are underinvested in, in part due to the equilibrium problems…. We could tap untapped elasticities—”
Kevin Hassett: “—and flip the equilibrium.”
- “Two thirds of the 100 largest metropolitan areas have fewer people in their prime working age, who have jobs, than they did before the recession. Period.” –Amy Liu
- “We are in a new era where we have to reimagine our economy to take advantage of new technologies” –Senator Cory Booker
- “If we’re spending $700 billion as a nation, and our performance is going down and not up…perhaps we need to look at creative and innovative ways to make sure that the workforce of the future is prepared for jobs of the future.”–Senator Tim Scott
- “There are a lot of people that have wealth that want to make a difference, and they don’t have a vehicle to do that. People want to make a difference and they don’t know how.” –Kevin Hassett
- “I am grateful for the formation of EIG…it can be a catalytic force for getting things done in communities that are full of possibility.” –Senator Cory Booker
Missed the event? Watch the full video here:
