By: David Wood, Aaron Cantrell, Melanie Brusseler

Originally Published In ImpactAlpha’s Policy Corner On April 18, 2023. Read The Article Here.

A new paradigm for U.S. industrial strategy

The IRA, IIJA, and CHIPS Act iconize a new era in US green industrial strategy: a narrow definition of redressing “market failures” is giving way, on both sides of the aisle, to a more constructive vision of the public sector’s role in building an equitable and sustainable economy.

Industrial policy incorporates a wide range of carrots and sticks, including trade and procurement policies, financial and industrial regulation, and labor policies. But it is public investment that, when done well, can create a center of gravity that other policy tools can’t provide: for building infrastructure and productive capacity to deal with the climate crisis, driving equitable growth, and enhancing resilience in historically marginalized communities.

By: Beth Bafford And Bulbul Gupta

Originally published In ImpactAlpha’s Policy Corner on March 29, 2023. Read the article here.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank sent depositors fleeing into the arms of large “Systemically Important Banks,” even after the federal government stepped in aggressively to restore confidence and calm markets.

Too-big-to-fail banks may help individuals and businesses feel better about the safety of their accounts in the short-term. But the shift will be devastating for lower-income families, small businesses, and communities of color if the federal government doesn’t counterbalance their emergency efforts with major, long-term commitments to the community finance sector.

Such support is not only good policy. It is essential to build trust with communities who feel that large banks – which often exclude community members from financial inclusion and access to capital – are always bailed out at their expense.

[Originally published in ImpactAlpha’s ‘Policy Corner’] More than 40 years after the Community Reinvestment Act was put in place to undo racist policies in banking, the racial wealth gap persists. New CRA regulations cannot continue to be color blind. Enacted in 1977, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) came out of the civil rights movement. The CRA affirmatively obligates banks to serve the entire community in which they are located. In passing this law, Congress acknowledged the banks’ failure to serve the whole community in the past, and the essential need for banks to do so. Line drawing is not permissible.