PolicyEngine Research Lookup

Use this skill to find existing PolicyEngine research, blog posts, and published analyses that can serve as evidence, proof points, or references.

For Users 👥

What is PolicyEngine Research?

PolicyEngine publishes research through:

• Blog posts: Policy analyses, model updates, methodology explanations
• Research reports: In-depth studies for partners and stakeholders
• Dashboards: Interactive tools for specific policy questions

Key Research Highlights

Government adoption:

• Our CTO spent 6 months at 10 Downing Street adapting PolicyEngine for UK government use (see policyengine-10-downing-street.md)

State coverage:

• US model covers federal + state taxes for all 50 states
• State-specific posts: California, New York, Kansas, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Minnesota

UK coverage:

• Full UK tax-benefit system
• Autumn Budget analyses, manifesto costing

For Analysts 📊

Finding Blog Posts

Location in codebase:

~/policyengine-app-v2/app/src/data/posts/articles/

Search for topics:

# Find posts mentioning a topic
find ~/policyengine-app-v2/app/src/data/posts/articles/ -name "*.md" | \
  xargs grep -l -i "topic" 2>/dev/null

# List all posts
ls ~/policyengine-app-v2/app/src/data/posts/articles/

Post metadata is in:

~/policyengine-app-v2/app/src/data/posts/posts.json

Key Posts to Reference

| Topic | File | Use Case | |-------|------|----------| | Government adoption | policyengine-10-downing-street.md | Credibility, state capacity | | State tax models | state-tax-model-beta.md | US state coverage | | Machine learning | Various | Accuracy, methodology | | Budget analyses | autumn-budget-*.md | UK policy coverage | | US tax proposals | *-tax-*.md, *-ctc-*.md | Federal policy coverage |

Post Structure

Each post is markdown with YAML frontmatter:

---
title: "Post Title"
date: "2025-01-15"
authors:
  - name: Author Name
tags:
  - us
  - federal
---

For Contributors 💻

When to Use This Skill

• Preparing talks, pitches, or presentations about PolicyEngine
• Finding proof points for PolicyEngine's credibility
• Referencing specific analyses in conversations
• Looking up methodology explanations
• Finding state or country-specific coverage

Common Lookups

"What's our strongest credibility proof point?" → 10 Downing Street blog post: CTO spent 6 months adapting PolicyEngine for UK government

"Do we cover [state] taxes?" → Search for state name in posts directory; also check policyengine-us-skill

"What did we write about [policy]?" → Search posts directory for policy name or related terms

"Where can I find our methodology for [X]?" → Search for technical posts; check also policyengine-core-skill

Adding New Research References

When PolicyEngine publishes significant new research:

1. Note the filename in this skill if it's a key proof point
2. Update the "Key Posts to Reference" table above
3. Consider if it warrants mention in related skills (e.g., country skills)

Resources

• Blog posts: ~/policyengine-app-v2/app/src/data/posts/articles/
• Post index: ~/policyengine-app-v2/app/src/data/posts/posts.json
• Live blog: https://policyengine.org/us/blog and https://policyengine.org/uk/blog