Restoring America’s promise of opportunity, prosperity, and growth

With global competition increasing and wages stagnating, America’s promise of providing an opportunity for every individual to lead a better life is in jeopardy. To restore this promise, an economic policy project — backed by leaders from business, academia, and public policy — was launched on April 5, 2006. The Hamilton Project is a unique initiative at the Brookings Institution designed to inject new policy options from leading economic thinkers across the country into the national economic debate.

The project was unveiled at a policy briefing featuring remarks by Senator Barack Obama, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, and the Reverend Jim Wallis. Project Director Peter Orszag, a Brookings Senior Fellow, moderated the discussion and released a white paper outlining the economic vision and principles of the new project.

The launch also featured the first in a series of policy papers and issue briefings sponsored by the new project. The first three policy options focus on teacher quality, retirement savings, and educational opportunities for low-income students. A question and answer session followed each of the panel discussions.