New Consensus is an agile think tank that makes detailed plans for governments to achieve economic renewal and transformation. Our guiding principle is that it is possible to create a world where the people of every nation and community have the means to sustainably make a prosperous living. Humanity has everything it needs to build that world in a single generation: billions of creative and hard working people, technology that would allow us to make a comfortable living sustainably if deployed, and virtually unlimited clean energy just waiting to be harnessed.
The obstacles to getting to that world are political, not technical. The reigning economic consensus, the "Washington Consensus," teaches the political classes in almost every nation to accept painfully slow and mixed advances in living standards, or gradual decline if that's all global markets offer them. Attempting anything different would be a catastrophe.
The world is beginning to part ways with the Washington Consensus. A new consensus is rising that isn't afraid to think as big as the problems the world faces. It is driven by a new generation of thinkers and leaders who recognize that governments and other public institutions have played a critical role every time a national economy has renewed and reinvented itself — not only by setting rules, but also by setting goals; not only by building infrastructure, but also by investing in new industries; not only by protecting rights, but also by materially correcting historic injustices.
New consensus thinkers are exploring how government and other public institutions can lead the transition to a green economy, close wealth and income gaps, spearhead innovation and research, kickstart new high wage industries, and more. Our work at New Consensus is intended to support these developments with detailed plans for leaders to enable them to succeed in a near-future transformational political moment, as well as educational work to help the moment to come.
Check out the our reading list to learn about some of the voices of the new consensus. Read more about our core, The Mission for America.
Saikat Chakrabarti is the co-founder and president of New Consensus. Previously, he was a founding engineer at Stripe and an organizer and developer on the 2016 Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, co-founded Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats, and was the campaign manager and then Chief of Staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez where he led the effort to draft the Green New Deal.
Zack Exley is a co-founder and the executive director of New Consensus. Previously, he was a co-founder of Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats, and led the national distributed organizing team on Bernie Sander's 2016 presidential campaign. At New Consensus, Zack developed plans that helped to shape the 2018 U.S. Green New Deal and helped turn internationalize the project. Zack was an early pioneer in internet-powered political campaigning and online small-dollar fundraising at MoveOn.org, and on a string of presidential campaigns starting with Howard Dean and John Kerry in 2004.
Sean Atkins is a policy analyst at New Consensus working on the Playbook project. A recent graduate of Missouri State University, Sean was a national debate semi-finalist, co-founder of MSU's Sunrise Hub, and a field organizer for both the 2020 Biden-Harris campaign and the Minnesota Democratic party.
E-mail us at info@newconsensus.com!