Open Source Policy Center Information

The Open Source Policy Center offers a collaborative and technology-driven fix for a policy evaluation process that inhibits democratic participation in government and constrains the creativity of economic policymakers. The OSPC community is working to make policy analysis more transparent, accessible, and innovative by harnessing open-source methods and a growing community of expert contributors to build cutting edge economic models. Policymakers and the public depend on economic models to understand how a policy may affect the government's budget, whom a policy will help or hurt, and how a policy might change people's behavior and affect the economy as a whole. As a result, economic models -- ranging from microsimulation models of individual behavior, to time-series forecasting models, to fully articulated simulations of the macroeconomy -- powerfully influence which policy ideas become law. Most government institutions tasked with quantifying the impact of policy changes lack the ability to harness all of the technology that would allow for greater transparency and widespread collaboration on models. Therefore, despite their influence, most policy-relevant economic models exist as proprietary software that is unavailable to the public. Even most policymakers and politicians (including members of congress and leading presidential candidates) don't have access to this software, making it very difficult for them to generate creative policy solutions or even to participate in policy debates. What's more, limited availability and transparency undermines external review and stifles innovation. This status quo inhibits democratic participation in government and constrains effective economic policymaking. The motivating principle behind the Open Source Policy Center is that policymakers and the public should have the best tools for understanding public policy choices, and that those tools should be completely transparent and collaborative in order to promote innovation and quality. With that in mind, OSPC brings ...