# Annie Lowrey

> Annie Lowrey is a staff writer at The Atlantic who turns the dry machinery of economic policy into stories people actually read. She coined the phrase the time tax to name the hours Americans waste navigating government paperwork, wrote Give People Money to make the case for a universal basic income, and has spent more than a decade explaining how money moves through people's lives. Her work spans The Atlantic, The New York Times, Slate, and Foreign Policy.

- **Role:** Staff writer at The Atlantic
- **Organizations:** The Atlantic, The New York Times, Slate, Foreign Policy, The New Yorker, Washington Independent
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BA, English and American Literature, Harvard University
- **Known for:** Authored Give People Money: How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World (2018), Give People Money shortlisted for the 2018 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award, Coined and popularized the phrase the time tax to describe administrative burden in government programs

## Career timeline

- **2010** — Joined Slate as part of its business and economy coverage, becoming the Moneybox columnist
- **2011** — Left Slate to cover economic policy for The New York Times
- **2017** — Moved to The Atlantic as a staff writer covering economic policy
- **2018** — Published Give People Money, shortlisted for the FT and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award
- **2021** — Published the influential Atlantic essay The Time Tax on administrative burden

## Achievements

- Authored Give People Money: How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World (2018)
- Give People Money shortlisted for the 2018 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award
- Coined and popularized the phrase the time tax to describe administrative burden in government programs
- Authored The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time and How to Fix It
- Frequent commentator on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, PBS NewsHour and other outlets

## Latest updates

- **2025** — Continues as a staff writer at The Atlantic covering economic policy; author of The Time Tax.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-lowrey-26b938266/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/AnnieLowrey
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsannielowrey/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/annie-lowrey
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-02