This is a periodic newsletter of the interesting things we’ve seen and what we are thinking about in open source policy analysis.

Analysis of business investment under Biden tax policy plan with Cost-of-Capital Calculator and Tax-Calculator. In a new report, Kyle Pomerleau (AEI) used Tax-Calculator and Cost-of-Capital-Calculator to analyze the tax burden on business investment that would stem from Joe Biden’s proposed tax policy. Results show the marginal effective tax rate (METR) for business investment would be 7.8 percentage points higher over the next year relative to current law and that the proposed tax legislation would favor debt-financed and noncorporate investment. Alongside the report, Pomerleau partnered with Matt Jensen (AEI) and Peter Metz (AEI) to develop a web app visualizing METRs on capital under current tax law and Biden’s proposed tax law. Paper, Visualization

UI-Calculator added to the Policy Simulation Library. University of Chicago researchers have added their unemployment insurance (UI) calculator to the Policy Simulation Library. The project calculates weekly UI benefits for individuals based on earnings history under current law or alternative policies. The project was created by Peter Ganong, Pascal Noel, Peter Robertson, and Joseph Vavra. Link

Linux Foundation and IBM release open-source earthquake warning system. The Linux Foundation, Grillo, and IBM have released a new earthquake early warning system for developing countries to use. The software may be deployed on a number of cost-effective platforms, including the Raspberry Pi, and the project is open-source. Link

An open-source python package released for querying physical oceanographic data. The Laboratory for Ocean Physics and Science in France has released “argopy,” a Python library for querying physical oceanographic data (such as temperature, salinity, and water pressure) from Argo. Argo is an internationally deployed collection of about 3,500 autonomous floating probes designed to oscillate within the water column between the ocean surface and 6,500 feet below it. Link

Edited by Matt Jensen, Peter Metz, and Jacob Chuslo