The Inflation Reduction Act’s Historic First Year
August 18, 2023
What the law’s accomplished so far, and the work that remains.
The Roosevelt Rundown features our top stories of the week.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the first anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act on August 16, 2023.
The IRA Is Already Shaping a New Economy
One year ago this week, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law.
Already, we’re seeing significant economic benefits: Public investment has helped spur private investment in manufacturing construction to historic levels, and over 170,000 clean energy manufacturing jobs have been created so far.
And that’s only the beginning, as Roosevelt’s Todd N. Tucker explains.
“In the decade to come, implementation of this law will shape US markets and livelihood in ways that will ripple for generations,” Tucker writes.
More work remains, including investing in the care economy, boosting unionization rates, and using tax policy to address wealth concentration.
But one year into the IRA, we’re seeing what it looks like when government embraces its role in driving the markets and industries we need to decarbonize our economy.
Read more about the benefits unlocked by the IRA.
We Need a Care Work Industrial Policy
It’s also been a year since care investments were struck during IRA negotiations, and more than 230,000 care workers are still missing from the labor market.
That’s hurting both care workers’ well-being and economic growth, Roosevelt’s Alí Bustamante argues in a new brief.
“As implementation of the IRA continues, care work still deserves to be one of the administration’s primary issues,” Bustamante writes for the blog.
“In the absence of an industrial policy that bolsters care work, investments in various industries and the broader economy will be severely compromised, as will the economic security of care workers.”
Learn more in “The Macroeconomic Implications of Care Work.”
What We’re Talking About
Roosevelt fellow @KateAronoff has absolutely the most refreshing (like jumping into a nice public pool) thing I've read on the progressivism that builds debate. https://t.co/7W7R80foHY
— Suzanne Kahn (@SuzMKahn) August 16, 2023
What We’re Reading
How State Capacity Can Help America Build [feat. Roosevelt Fellow Kate Aronoff] – The American Prospect
Biden and America’s Big Green Push – New York Times
5 Ways the IRS Funding Boost Is Paying Off – Washington Post
The Pay Gap for Moms Is Bad. It’s about to Get Worse. – Ms. Magazine
Why Childcare Prices Are Rising at Nearly Twice the Overall Inflation Rate [paywall] – Wall Street Journal