Heather Boushey FROM: Casey Schoeneberger, Ed Paisley DATE: May 30, 2014 RE: Evaluation of Impact Regarding Day of Events with Amir Sufi and House of Debt
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MEMORANDUM TO: Heather Boushey FROM: Casey Schoeneberger, Ed Paisley DATE: May 30, 2014 RE: Evaluation of impact regarding day of events with Amir Sufi and House of Debt _____________________________________________________________________________ The Washington Center for Equitable Growth hosted two highly successful events on May 29th focused on the research conclusions of Atif Mian and Amir Sufi’s just-released book, “House of Debt.” The early afternoon event was a private lunch with the book’s authors, policymakers, and academics. The lunch was immediately followed by a public event at Hotel Monaco focused on the research findings and policy implications of Mian and Sufi’s research conclusions, targeted to a wider audience. The private, off-the-record lunch was held at a neutral location near Capitol Hill to highlight Equitable Growth’s position as an unbiased convener of high-level dialogue and also provide a convenient venue for guests. Attendees included policymakers, Hill staffers, administration officials and Equitable Growth senior staff, including: • Dr. Michael Stegman, Counselor for Housing Finance Policy, Treasury • Seth B. Carpenter, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Macroeconomic Analysis, Treasury • Claudia Sahm, Federal Reserve Board • Wendy Edelberg, Congressional Budget Office • Gideon Bragin, Senator Sherrod Brown (staffs Brown for Senate Finance) • Therese Scharlemann, Treasury • Brian Scholl, Ph.D., Chief Economist, Committee on the Budget • Matthew A. Salomon, Chief Macroeconomist, Democratic Staff, U.S. Congressional Joint Economic Committee • Graham Steele, Senator Sherrod Brown • Andrew Jakabovics, Senior Director, Policy and Research Development, Enterprise Now • Chad Stone, Chief Economist, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities • Stephen Lerner, Georgetown University • Julia Gordon, Center for American Progress • Anne Johnson, Generation Progress Staff: • Heather Boushey, Equitable Growth • Ed Paisley, Equitable Growth • Carter Price, Equitable Growth • Elisabeth Jacobs, Equitable Growth • Marshall Steinbaum, Equitable Growth • Pedro Spivakovsky-Gonzalez, Equitable Growth • Nick Bunker, Equitable Growth Individuals who RSVP’d but were ultimately not able to attend included: • Andrew Green, Office of Senator Merkley • Bharat Ramamurti, Office of Senator Warren • Marc Jarsulic, Center for American Progress Following the private lunch, panelists moved to Hotel Monaco for the public portion of events. Joining Mian, Sufi and Equitable Growth’s Heather Boushey on the panel was Michael Barr, current professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School and former Treasury official under the Obama Administration during the financial crisis and a key architect of Dodd-Frank legislation. Barr’s presence on the panel provided some important points of tension and contrast as he worked inside the Treasury Department at a time that is now the focus of Mian and Sufi’s latest research examining the real drivers of the Great Recession and whether the Obama Administration responded accordingly. Though there are important notes to be had regarding timing and location of events, the 2pm public event was well attended by approximately 80 individuals representing think tanks, research centers, unions and U.S. Congressional offices. A number of journalists were invited to the event, with several responding with interest but saying they were unable to attend due to prior commitments or they were out of town. May 29th was a big day for college and law school graduations and that proved to complicate the ability of our target journalists to attend. Invited journalists: • Ben Casselman, fivethirtyeight.com (couldn’t make it down and it was his anniversary) • Greg Ip, Economist • David Leonhardt, Upshot • Annie Lowrey, New York Times (out of town) • Neil Irwin, Upshot, New York Times • Jordan Weismann, Slate (was at the University of Chicago on Thursday) • Paul Solman, PBS NewsHour • Jim Tankersley, Washington Post (not available) • Derek Thompson, The Atlantic (not in town) • Michelle Conlin, Reuters • Adam Davidson, Planet Money (Mian and Sufi make a very positive mention of him in book) • Matt Yglesias, VOX The public event was recorded by a video team which provided us with the ability to reach people who otherwise could not attend the event in-person. The metrics from the video stream tell us that 25 individuals tuned in to watch the live webcast. While we are not able to capture names of those viewing the webcast, the link was primarily shared with journalists. The video from the event will now be posted on our site and accessible by academics and researchers at any time. Conclusion: Both the private lunch and public event targeted and attracted the ideal audience and provided a launching point for future projects and unique opportunities. It also generated useful lessons on the types of events the organization should convene in the coming months that will provide the most value-add for partners on Capitol Hill and in the academic community. END. .