Posted Dec. 21, 2011

Economists and policymakers named their favorite charts of the year. A BPC original made the cut

The Washington Post's Ezra Klein asked an array of economists, investors and policymakers to highlight the best charts of 2011. Contributors included Larry Summers, Glenn Hubbard, Mark Zandi, Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, Peter Diamond, Peter Orszag, Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Kent Conrad, among others. The full selection can be viewed here.

Rep. Paul Ryan on the importance of BPC's chart:

"Government spending drives the debt, and the growth of government health care programs drives the spending. Relentlessly rising health care costs (coupled with demographic changes) are driving the growth of these programs, while the open-ended structure of these programs is responsible for much of the increase in health care costs."

Read BPC's Domenici-Rivlin Protect Medicare Act here.

Economic Policy Project