Equitable Growth’s inaugural grantee conference

Today Equitable Growth hosts our inaugural grantee conference, with researchers presenting work funded through our competitive grants program. The research being presented (opens in a new tab) covers areas ranging from secular stagnation and debt overhangs to declining income mobility, and from unpredictable work schedules to patents and entrepreneurism.

Equitable Growth’s competitive grants program (opens in a new tab) has funded three rounds of grantees (opens in a new tab) so far. Some of the research projects are already completed, some are in preliminary stages, and others are still in progress. The hope is that our grantees’ research will help not only other researchers better understand the workings of the economy but policymakers as well. The great work that our grantees have and will continue to do can have a great impact within their fields of research, but that impact can be expanded by forging a link between the academy and the policymaking world. There’s already a connection there, but it can be stronger.

Of course, today’s conference is just a start, though it builds on what we’ve been focused on since our launch in 2013. It’s the first time we’ve gathered our grantees together to present research, yet all along we’ve worked to better understand the potential connections between inequality, economic growth, and stability—and convey those findings to policymakers.

Later this fall we’ll release our fourth Request for Proposals and start the process of selecting new research to fund. For anyone interested in helping to increase our knowledge in these areas, be on the lookout over the next few months for more details. We’ll be looking forward to finding our future grantees.