About The Budget Lab at Yale

The Budget Lab at Yale is a non-partisan policy research center dedicated to providing in-depth analysis of federal policy proposals for the American economy.

Our goal is to bring fresh ideas and new methods so policymakers can make better choices. To that end, we have been building tools to analyze the fiscal and social impacts of government policies. 

Recognizing the need for comprehensive assessment beyond financial and macroeconomic impacts, the Budget Lab aims to fill a critical gap in policy evaluation, particularly focusing on the long-term effects of proposed policies on the economy, the income distribution, and recipients. 

The Budget Lab’s work will look at issues not included in current budget policy assessment methods, particularly in evaluating the full scope of costs and returns related to policies including the child tax credit, tax cuts, paid family leave, deficit reduction, and universal pre-K. 

We’re not just analyzing policies; we are building a better understanding of how they affect families over time.  

Our commitment to transparency

We are making the code we use to produce our analysis publicly available.  This transparency is critical for fostering trust and allowing policymakers to understand our methodology and how we arrive at our results. Anyone who is interested in producing similar analyses will be able to leverage the infrastructure of our models.

The Budget Lab is funded by the California Community Foundation, the Yagan Family Foundation, NEO Philanthropy, the Ford Foundation, and Arnold Ventures.