diff --git a/policyengine_api/routes/economy_routes.py b/policyengine_api/routes/economy_routes.py
index a1e922b4..450aea00 100644
--- a/policyengine_api/routes/economy_routes.py
+++ b/policyengine_api/routes/economy_routes.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 
 @validate_country
 @economy_bp.route("/<policy_id>/over/<baseline_policy_id>", methods=["GET"])
-def get_economic_impact(country_id, policy_id, baseline_policy_id):
+def get_economic_impact(country_id: str, policy_id: str | int, baseline_policy_id: str | int):
 
     policy_id = int(policy_id or get_current_law_policy_id(country_id))
     baseline_policy_id = int(
diff --git a/policyengine_api/routes/policy_routes.py b/policyengine_api/routes/policy_routes.py
index 762c63e7..2b645f57 100644
--- a/policyengine_api/routes/policy_routes.py
+++ b/policyengine_api/routes/policy_routes.py
@@ -39,9 +39,6 @@ def get_policy(country_id: str, policy_id: int | str) -> Response:
         policy_id = int(policy_id)
 
         policy: dict | None = policy_service.get_policy(country_id, policy_id)
-        print(policy)
-        print(type(policy))
-        print(type(policy["policy_json"]))
 
         if policy is None:
             return Response(
diff --git a/policyengine_api/services/economy_service.py b/policyengine_api/services/economy_service.py
index 66beaceb..3a59a766 100644
--- a/policyengine_api/services/economy_service.py
+++ b/policyengine_api/services/economy_service.py
@@ -21,15 +21,18 @@ class EconomyService:
 
     def get_economic_impact(
         self,
-        country_id,
-        policy_id,
-        baseline_policy_id,
-        region,
+        country_id: str,
+        policy_id: int,
+        baseline_policy_id: int,
+        region: str,
         dataset,
-        time_period,
-        options,
-        api_version,
+        time_period: str,
+        options: dict,
+        api_version: str,
     ):
+        """
+        Calculate the society-wide economic impact of a policy reform.
+        """
         try:
             # Note for anyone modifying options_hash: redis-queue treats ":" as a namespace
             # delimiter; don't use colons in options_hash
@@ -172,15 +175,19 @@ def get_economic_impact(
 
     def _get_previous_impacts(
         self,
-        country_id,
-        policy_id,
-        baseline_policy_id,
-        region,
+        country_id: str,
+        policy_id: int,
+        baseline_policy_id: int,
+        region: str,
         dataset,
-        time_period,
-        options_hash,
-        api_version,
+        time_period: str,
+        options_hash: str,
+        api_version: str,
     ):
+        """
+        Fetch any previous simulation runs for the given policy reform.
+        """
+
         previous_impacts = reform_impacts_service.get_all_reform_impacts(
             country_id,
             policy_id,
@@ -203,16 +210,19 @@ def _get_previous_impacts(
 
     def _set_impact_computing(
         self,
-        country_id,
-        policy_id,
-        baseline_policy_id,
-        region,
+        country_id: str,
+        policy_id: int,
+        baseline_policy_id: int,
+        region: str,
         dataset,
-        time_period,
-        options,
-        options_hash,
-        api_version,
+        time_period: str,
+        options: dict,
+        options_hash: str,
+        api_version: str,
     ):
+        """
+        In the reform_impact table, set the status of the impact to "computing".
+        """
         try:
             reform_impacts_service.set_reform_impact(
                 country_id,
diff --git a/policyengine_api/services/policy_service.py b/policyengine_api/services/policy_service.py
index 81009671..80cf98b6 100644
--- a/policyengine_api/services/policy_service.py
+++ b/policyengine_api/services/policy_service.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import json
+from sqlalchemy.engine.row import LegacyRow
 
 from policyengine_api.data import database
 from policyengine_api.utils import hash_object
@@ -23,15 +24,18 @@ def get_policy(self, country_id: str, policy_id: int) -> dict | None:
         Returns
             dict | None -- the policy data, or None if not found
         """
+        print("Getting policy")
+
         try:
             # If no policy found, this will return None
-            policy = database.query(
+            row: LegacyRow = database.query(
                 "SELECT * FROM policy WHERE country_id = ? AND id = ?",
                 (country_id, policy_id),
             ).fetchone()
 
-            # Note that policy_json field stored as string in database;
-            # must be converted before handing back
+            # policy_json is JSON and must be loaded, if present; to enable,
+            # we must convert the row to a dictionary
+            policy = dict(row)
             if policy and policy["policy_json"]:
                 policy["policy_json"] = json.loads(policy["policy_json"])
             return policy
@@ -39,7 +43,11 @@ def get_policy(self, country_id: str, policy_id: int) -> dict | None:
             print(f"Error getting policy: {str(e)}")
             raise e
 
-    def get_policy_json(self, country_id, policy_id):
+    def get_policy_json(self, country_id: str, policy_id: int):
+        """
+        Fetch policy JSON based only on policy ID and country ID
+        """
+        print("Getting policy json")
         try:
             policy_json = database.query(
                 f"SELECT policy_json FROM policy WHERE country_id = ? AND id = ?",
@@ -65,18 +73,21 @@ def set_policy(
             tuple[int, str, bool] -- the new policy ID, a message, and whether or not
             the policy already existed
         """
+        print("Setting new policy")
 
         try:
 
             policy_hash = hash_object(policy_json)
             api_version = COUNTRY_PACKAGE_VERSIONS.get(country_id)
             # Check if policy already exists
+            print("Checking if policy exists")
             existing_policy = self._get_unique_policy_with_label(
                 country_id, policy_hash, label
             )
 
             # If so, pass appropriate values back
             if existing_policy:
+                print("Policy already exists")
                 existing_policy_id = str(existing_policy["id"])
                 message = (
                     "Warning: Record created previously with this label. To create "
@@ -86,6 +97,7 @@ def set_policy(
                 return existing_policy["id"], "Policy already exists", True
 
             # Otherwise, insert the new policy...
+            print("Policy does not exist; creating new policy")
             self._create_new_policy(
                 country_id, policy_json, policy_hash, label, api_version
             )
diff --git a/tests/python/test_policy_service.py b/tests/python/test_policy_service.py
index 1d69f8ae..ee7d86f3 100644
--- a/tests/python/test_policy_service.py
+++ b/tests/python/test_policy_service.py
@@ -42,6 +42,9 @@ def test_get_policy_success(
         # Test
         result = policy_service.get_policy("us", self.test_policy_id)
 
+        print(result)
+        print(result["policy_json"])
+        print(type(result["policy_json"]))
         # Verify
         assert result is not None
         assert isinstance(result["policy_json"], dict)
diff --git a/tests/python/test_yearly_var_removal.py b/tests/python/test_yearly_var_removal.py
index 34fa6e42..34db4b49 100644
--- a/tests/python/test_yearly_var_removal.py
+++ b/tests/python/test_yearly_var_removal.py
@@ -253,14 +253,19 @@ def test_get_calculate(client):
     ) as f:
         test_household = json.load(f)
 
-    test_policy = policy_service.get_policy("us", CURRENT_LAW_US)[
-        "policy_json"
-    ]
+    # Current law is represented by empty dict/empty JSON
+    test_policy = {}
+    print(test_policy)
+    print(type(test_policy))
 
     test_object["policy"] = test_policy
     test_object["household"] = test_household
 
     res = client.post("/us/calculate-full", json=test_object)
+    print(res)
+    print(res.text)
+    print(json.loads(res.text))
+    print(json.loads(res.text)["result"])
     result_object = json.loads(res.text)["result"]
 
     # Create a dict of entity singular and plural terms for testing