PolicyEngine US is a Python-based microsimulation model of the US tax and benefit system. It models federal individual income taxes (including credits), major benefit programs, and state income taxes (currently in six states). The PolicyEngine US package can be used as a Python package, via the PolicyEngine API, or via the policyengine.org web app.
Benefits Data Trust (BDT) is a nonprofit that connects people to public benefits through a streamlined, phone-based application system called Benefits Launch, which reduces redundant questions and speeds up the process for multiple programs. BDT's approach, supported by a custom-built rules engine, has facilitated over 800,000 benefit enrollments, helping secure over $9 billion for eligible households across seven states.
The Policy Rules Database (PRD), developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the National Center for Children in Poverty, consolidates complex rules for major U.S. federal and state benefit programs and tax policies into a standardized, easy-to-use format. This database allows researchers to model public assistance impacts, simulate policy changes, and analyze benefits cliffs across various household scenarios using common rules and language across different programming platforms.
President Biden believes that every American—regardless of where you live, where you work, or who you are—should have simple, seamless, and secure access to the Federal services they need. Over the past six months, we’ve gotten off to a fast start translating the President’s historic Executive Order on customer experience into action. Today, at the half-year mark, we have more key updates to share.
Redesigning benefits applications, renewals, and correspondence using human-centered design is one of the most impactful things state and local government agencies can do to ensure that all eligible residents can access social safety net resources. This guide includes practical insights for benefits administrators considering a comprehensive redesign of benefits delivery processes.
As we look to post-pandemic recovery, it will be critical to ensure that individuals have access to resources and supports that not only help them meet basic needs but also provide them with tools to increase their economic security and resilience and build assets that can be passed on to future generations, setting them up for future success.
Framework by the Aspen Institute to assess how both public and private benefits are performing to support workers’ financial security needs, identify where innovations are needed to fill current benefit gaps, and explore opportunities to improve and modernize design and delivery. This resource allows policymakers, employers, benefits providers, and researchers assess benefits performance for constituents and identify opportunities in market and policy innovation to ensure equitable benefits distribution.
It is hypothesized that if information about the existing screening mechanisms is highlighted and made salient, this will lead to greater approval of eligibility-based programs. The results of this study demonstrate the ways in which in which information regarding administrative burden can shape citizens’ support for eligibility-based programs.
Professor Don Moynihan discusses how administrative burden is an effective tool to make it difficult for people to access certain types of benefits, noting that this is particularly harmful to communities of color.
Report by the Aspen Institute discussing Benefits21, a multi-stakeholder, multi-faceted initiative to integrate and modernize benefits systems. This paper provides an overview of Benefits21, along with a discussion of the shortcomings of current public and private benefit systems.
The complexity of eligibility rules creates a burden for state and local government agencies, delivery organizations, and policymakers who interpret and implement policy to deliver benefits in their jurisdictions. This report explores how the U.S. federal government could improve the efficiency and equity of benefits delivery to Americans in need by applying new approaches to eligibility requirements for core safety net programs, and using a “rules as code” approach to improve digitization of legislation and policy documents.
