policyengine/policyengine-research-lookup

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