Equitable Growth’s Vision 2020 book of essays on economic inequality and growth will inform 2020 policy debate

At our “Vision 2020 conference” last month, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth announced the forthcoming release of a compilation of 21 innovative, evidence-based, and concrete ideas to shape the 2020 policy debate. This compilation of essays into a book, Vision 2020: Evidence for a Stronger Economy, will be released mid-to-late January.

Several of the contributors to this book of essays spoke at the Vision 2020 conference—which brought together leading voices from the policymaking, academic, and advocacy communities to highlight the most pressing economic issues facing Americans today.

Chief among the themes of Vision 2020 are the exploration of recent transformative shifts in economic thinking that demonstrate how inequality obstructs, subverts, and distorts broadly shared economic growth, as well as what can be done to fix it. “Through these essays, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth aims to infuse cutting-edge research findings and prominent academics into the current policy debate,” said David Mitchell, director of external and government relations at Equitable Growth. “Our goal is for future decisions about the U.S. economy to be informed by the best available evidence.”

Essay authors who spoke at the Vision 2020 conference include:

• Heather Boushey, president and CEO of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, who will write about new ways to measure the economy
• Arindrajit Dube, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who will write about minimum wage and sectoral wage boards
• Dania Francis (opens in a new tab), assistant professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Boston, who will write about reparations
• Bradley Hardy, associate professor of public administration and policy at American University, who will write about race and economic mobility
• Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, assistant professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, who will write about labor unions

Additional contributors to the essay compilation and their topics include:

• Kimberly Clausing, professor of economics at Reed College, on trade policy
• Robynn Cox, assistant professor of social work at the University of Southern California, on criminal justice policy
• Blythe George, post-doctoral sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley, on Native American resilience in the face of incarceration and drug use
• Darrick Hamilton, professor of public affairs at The Ohio State University, and Naomi Zewde, assistant professor of public health and health policy at The City University of New York, on student debt
• Aaron Kesselheim (opens in a new tab), professor of medicine at Harvard University, on prescription drug costs
• Susan Lambert, professor of social service and administration at University of Chicago, on stable scheduling in the workplace
• Yair Listokin (opens in a new tab), professor of law at Yale University, on macroeconomics and the law
• Trevon Logan, professor of economics at The Ohio State University, and American University’s Hardy, on race and economic mobility
• Taryn Morrissey (opens in a new tab), associate professor of public policy at American University, on childcare
• Suresh Naidu, professor of economics and international and public affairs at Columbia University, and Sydnee Caldwell, incoming assistant professor of business administration and economics at University of California Berkeley, on U.S. labor market monopsony
• Maya Rossin-Slater, assistant professor of health policy at Stanford University, and Jenna Stearns, assistant professor of economics at University of California, Davis, on paid leave
• John Sabelhaus, visiting scholar at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, on fiscal and monetary policy
• Diane Schanzenbach, professor of human development and social policy at Northwestern University, and Hilary Hoynes, professor of public policy and economics at the University of California, Berkeley, on the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program, on supplemental nutrition assistance
• Fiona Scott Morton, professor of economics at Yale University, on antitrust policy
• Leah Stokes (opens in a new tab) and Matto Mildenberger (opens in a new tab), assistant professors in the Department of Political Science and affiliated with the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, on climate policy and economic inequality
• Emily Wiemers, associate professor of public administration and international affairs at Syracuse University, and Michael Carr, associate professor of economics at University of Massachusetts Boston, on U.S. workers’ earnings instability and mobility
• Owen Zidar, associate professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, and Eric Zwick (opens in a new tab), associate professor of finance at the University of Chicago, on income tax reform

For more information on the Vision 2020 conference and to view the recorded panels, click here. To sign up for notifications on upcoming content, including the Vision 2020 essay compilation, and events, click here.