About Us

The Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization founded in 2013 to deliver actionable research and expert analysis on public policy issues impacting businesses, working families, and taxpayers. The Midwest Economic Policy Institute (MEPI) is a division of ILEPI and serves to expand our research mission to surrounding states.

Since our founding, we have produced more than 300 reports and studies on a variety of important policy issues. We apply deep expertise and sophisticated methodologies to produce high quality applied research while maintaining a down to earth writing style to allow everyday people to understand our work. Our goal is to help citizens, community leaders, and journalists understand policy choices as we all work together to pursue broad-based prosperity for working families. Our research has enlightened the dialog and changed the game in Illinois and across the Midwest on clean energy, wage policy, workers’ rights, infrastructure funding, workforce development, tax policy, and more.

Our researchers work hard to educate on our findings through outreach efforts including presentations, speaking engagements, editorials, workshops, media interviews, and conferences across Illinois and throughout the Midwest.