Social Justice Policy Brief Assignment

Running head: ECONOMIC POLICY BRIEF 1

Economic Policy Brief

Treylesia Alston

September 11,2022

PADM550-B01

Christopher Sharp

ECONOMIC POLICY BRIEF 2

Defining the problem

The United States government has been in the forefront in developing strategies to

increase employment levels. Different governments have come up with proposals on how the

rate of employment can increase through creation of jobs. With the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact

on the economy, there was a significant decline in employment levels as more companies and

sectors reduced the production levels thus laying off the workers. The need to stimulate the

economy through expanding job plans and supporting families resulted into the Infrastructure

Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) which was signed into law on November 15, 2021 (Sharkey,

2022).

May

Biblical guidelines: The Bible has clearly detailed the role of economic prosperity in the

life of a human kind. The economic prosperity of all people is God's will. He wishes for us to be

able to meet our basic necessities. Moreover, he wants us to benefit from the plenty (enough) of

his kindness. It is under this basis that such policies are implemented in the economy (Fischer,

n.d.).

Constitutional guidelines: The Federal Government has a duty to ensure there is

attainment of economic goals set. This include ensuring there is equitable distribution of

resources and presence of a supportive economic environment. It is under this basis that the

Federal government through the legislative organ created the IIJA policy (Barile et al, 2021).

Can

Political Feasibility: The new Biden government outlined promises to aid disadvantaged

Americans immediately and invest in infrastructure and families in 2021. The American Rescue

ECONOMIC POLICY BRIEF 3

Program (ARP) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) were enacted in 2021. The

deployment and growth of expanded assistance programs showed the policymaking potential to

alleviate poverty and increase financial security for millions of Americans (Sharkey, 2022).

Financial feasibility: Originally, the bill was a $715 billion infrastructure proposal.

Before the bill's implementation, Congress negotiated its details. This new measure added $550

billion to the recurring spending Congress had already approved (Sharkey, 2022). This resulted

into a total cost of $1265 for the implementation of the policy.

Practical Feasibility: After discussions, the bill was renamed the Infrastructure

Investment and Jobs Act to include multiple sectors of the economic infrastructure such as

electric grid renewal, clean water and broadband access (Goutsmedt, 2021). This gives the

policy a strong basis under which it can be implanted and realize the expected goals and

outcome.

Should

The importance of economic success in human life is clearly addressed in the Bible.

God's will is for all people to flourish economically. In fulfilment of the goal, the Federal

Government is responsible for ensuring that economic goals are met. This includes ensuring

equitable resource allocation and the establishment of a supporting economic environment. This

is evident through introduction and implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

(IIJA). The federal government needs to ensure there is sufficient public participation in attaining

the goals of the policy on the long run (Hills & Nakata, 2018).

ECONOMIC POLICY BRIEF 4

Reference

Fischer, K. Biblical principles of government [PDF document]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes

Online website: https://learn.liberty.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-6267706-dt-content-rid

Sharkey, J. (2022). Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Iija)/Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

(Bil).

Barile, S., Ciasullo, M. V., Iandolo, F., & Landi, G. C. (2021). The city role in the sharing

economy: Toward an integrated framework of practices and governance models. Cities,

119, 103409.

Hills, T. S., & Nakata, T. (2018). Fiscal multipliers at the zero lower bound: the role of policy

inertia. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 50(1), 155-172.

Goutsmedt, A. (2021). From the Stagflation to the Great Inflation: Explaining the US Economy

of the 1970s. Revue d'economie politique, 132(3), 557-582.