Issue Areas
The Washington Center for Equitable Growth is engaged in an array of issues to advance evidence-based ideas and policies that promote strong, stable, and broad-based economic growth.
234 Results
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Whether data from the Fed or from WID.world are used, U.S. debt-to-wealth measures show similar trends (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 22, 2026
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The United States sits in the middle of the pack on debt relative to wealth (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 22, 2026
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Explosion in post-1980 inequality largely explains low debt-to-top U.S. wealth ratios (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 22, 2026
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Measured against the wealth of the very top, U.S. debt is historically modest (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 22, 2026
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Private wealth has grown far faster than the overall U.S. economy in recent decades (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 22, 2026
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U.S. debt looks alarming against GDP but far less so against wealth (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 22, 2026
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Certain U.S. manufacturing subsectors have experienced more tariff relief since the Supreme Court IEEPA ruling (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 13, 2026
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The U.S. Supreme Court IEEPA ruling reduced tariffs unevenly across key U.S. economic sectors (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 13, 2026
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U.S. trade with China has largely been supplanted by trade with other countries suspected of transshipment (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 13, 2026
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U.S. imports are up and tariff rates are down since the U.S. Supreme Court IEEPA ruling (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 13, 2026
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Transfer income has fallen faster than other components of U.S. income over the past 3 months (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 25, 2026
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Income declines over the past 3 months and the past 6 months are higher for low-income U.S. households (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 25, 2026
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Personal Income is now declining year-over-year, a possible warning sign for the economy (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 25, 2026
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U.S. income shares changed little due to the pandemic, with top decile and bottom half households making gains (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 24, 2026
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In a reversal of 21st century trends, wages grew faster for lower-income U.S. households in the pandemic era (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 24, 2026
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Realized capital gains are highly volatile, leading to large swings in the top 0.1% U.S. income thresholds (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations May 26, 2026
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Midwest and Southern workers are more concentrated in tariff-exposed industries (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Mar 17, 2026
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Industries within the U.S. machinery manufacturing subsector faced different tariff costs in 2025 (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Mar 17, 2026
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Industries within the U.S. metals manufacturing subsector faced different tariff costs in 2025 (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Mar 17, 2026
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Certain subsectors of the U.S. economy were more exposed to tariff costs than others in 2025 (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Mar 17, 2026
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Construction faced the highest tariff rate of any U.S. sector in 2025 (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Mar 17, 2026
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Population weights reveal that the distribution of cost and benefits of policies are skewed differently (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Nov 13, 2025
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Cutting government transfer programs has broad effects on the U.S. economy (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Aug 12, 2025
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Cutting government transfer programs has broad effects on the U.S. economy (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Aug 12, 2025
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The economic effects of austerity policies under a nonreactive Federal Reserve – Final (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Aug 12, 2025
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The economic effects of austerity policies under a reactive Federal Reserve (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Aug 12, 2025
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Recessions coincide with periods of higher policy uncertainty – updated (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Aug 7, 2025
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States dependent on federal grants tend to be poorer or more rural (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Aug 7, 2025
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Workers in many midwestern U.S. states are more exposed to tariffs (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 28, 2025
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U.S. manufacturing industries are particularly exposed to tariff costs (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 28, 2025
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U.S. employment is dropping in industries with high tariff exposure (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 28, 2025
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Manufacturing and other key U.S. sectors are particularly exposed to tariffs on inputs (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 28, 2025
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U.S. manufacturing is particularly vulnerable to tariff costs (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 28, 2025
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With capital gains, the share of income earned by the wealthiest households went up 5 percentage points since 2002 (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 14, 2025
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Pure capital gains are highly volatile and can turn negative in recessions (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 14, 2025
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In some U.S. congressional districts, cuts from the reconciliation bill are bigger than multiple local industries combined (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 10, 2025
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The One Big Beautiful Bill Act disproportionately harms lower-income Americans (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 3, 2025
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Wages have grown much slower in the 21st century than in previous eras of the U.S. economy (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 25, 2025
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Wages have grown relatively similarly across income deciles, while business and asset income is strongly skewed to the wealthiest households (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 25, 2025
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Wages are the slowest-growing component of U.S. income for households across the income distribution (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 25, 2025
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Wages and government transfers are the primary source of income for most U.S. households (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 25, 2025
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The upper-middle class has lost income share, while low-income and extremely wealthy households have grown their share of income (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 25, 2025
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U.S. inequality has decreased slightly since 2000, with the upper-middle class seeing the weakest gains (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 25, 2025
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U.S. income inequality dropped sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic before returning to pre-pandemic levels by 2023 (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 25, 2025
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Millions of Americans, including children, will lose nutrition assistance due to proposed SNAP cuts – updated (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 24, 2025
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Reducing IRS funding by half could cost the same amount of the Republican budget bill in noncompliance increases (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 23, 2025
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No tax on tips or overtime provisions cost less than the more regressive proposals in the Republican tax bill (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 23, 2025
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Americans have heard more about the no tax on tips and overtime provisions of the Republican bill than its more regressive provisions (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 23, 2025
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Many of the wealthiest U.S. individuals do not pay any estate taxes (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 23, 2025
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16 million Americans will lose health care coverage if the House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act becomes law (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 23, 2025
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Cryptocurrency tax noncompliers tend to be young, male, and urban residents-similar to crypto investors more broadly (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Nov 20, 2024
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Firms’ rate of investment rose and fell less markedly due to changing U.S. monetary policies enacted by the Federal Reserve (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Sep 15, 2024
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Firms’ sales fell and remained down but recovered only slowly due to changing U.S. monetary policies enacted by the Federal Reserve (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Sep 15, 2024
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The number of firms’ employees dropped sharply but rose modestly due to changing U.S. monetary policies enacted by the Federal Reserve (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Sep 15, 2024
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Children from higher-wealth families are more upwardly mobile (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Apr 19, 2024
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Personal loan delinquency is low or within normal levels for all major loan types (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Feb 20, 2024
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Production and nonsupervisory workers now have higher real wages than the pre-pandemic trend (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Feb 20, 2024
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The gap in unemployment between White and Black workers is at historic lows (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Feb 20, 2024
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Wage growth for 16- to 24-year-old workers is higher than at any point in the previous expansion (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Feb 20, 2024
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Unemployment for 16- to 24-year-old workers is at low levels not seen in decades (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Feb 20, 2024
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Real U.S. GDP now exceeds pre-pandemic projections by the Congressional budget Office (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Feb 20, 2024
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The Great Recession of 2007-2009 caused permanent damage to U.S. GDP (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Feb 20, 2024
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Distributional weighting in regulatory cost-benefit analysis reflects state of the science and would even the playing field for low-income Americans (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 31, 2024
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The Biden administration’s new regulatory cost-benefit guidelines encourage agencies to better account for inequality (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 31, 2024
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IRS audits of higher-income taxpayers deliver larger revenue returns to the government (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 9, 2024
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Auten and Splinter assign more and more in-kind transfers to the bottom 50 percent’s income (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 9, 2024
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Fiscal income, the income that is visible in individual tax data, has become much more concentrated (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 9, 2024
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Auten and Splinter find lower levels of top 1% income share over time when compared to Piketty, Saez, and Zucman (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 9, 2024
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Investment Rate EG Graph 04 (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Nov 20, 2023
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Average income growth no longer represents the fortunes of most Americans (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 11, 2023
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Jobs growth is once again leading the current U.S. economic recovery (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 14, 2023
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U.S. household rents have risen while office rents are slowing (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Apr 4, 2023
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U.S. inflation surged but expectations remain well anchored (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Apr 4, 2023
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The GDP deflator rose more and is falling faster than consumer inflation measures (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Apr 4, 2023
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Investment in the U.S. economy declined for most of the 21st century (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Mar 13, 2023
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American Indians and Alaska Natives have the nighest unbanked rate compared to other racial groups (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Mar 1, 2023
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While housing and investments account for most wealth among other races in the United States, most of AIAN wealth is held in vehicle value (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Mar 1, 2023
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Native American wealth is significantly lower than wealth of other racial groups in the United States (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Mar 1, 2023
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U.S. income growth from 2007 to 2019 was relatively even across household income deciles (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 17, 2023
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U.S. incomes for households in the bottom 50 percent have benefitted most from transfer payments since 2007 (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 17, 2023
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Visualizations Jan 17, 2023
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The share of wealth held by the top 10 percent of U.S. households leveled off around 2015 (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 17, 2023
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Expected inflation of U.S. households (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Dec 9, 2022
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The lowest-income U.S. households with children were the least likely to receive the enhanced monthly Child Tax Credit in October 2021 (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Nov 28, 2022
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The enhanced Child Tax Credit reduced hardship among low-income households with children (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Nov 28, 2022
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Unemployed U.S. workers tapped Unemployment Insurance at unprecedented rates amid the COVID-19 pandemic (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Nov 17, 2022
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Federal income support spending amid the COVID-19 pandemic injected more than $1.6 trillion into the U.S. economy to spark a sharp economic rebound from the COVID-19 recession (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Nov 14, 2022
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Latinos and American Indians or Alaskan Natives were disproportionately undercounted in the 2020 census (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Oct 14, 2022
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Coastal and Southwestern states have the highest share of Hispanic Americans (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Oct 14, 2022
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30 U.S. states received the second half of their American Rescue plan fiscal recovery funds in May 2022 (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Sep 19, 2022
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Bisexual women and transgender people face the highest rates of poverty in the United States (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Sep 15, 2022
Equitable Growth responds to passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (opens in a new tab)
Press Releases AUG 16, 2022
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During recessions, the loss of employment income is concentrated among already-disadvantaged groups (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Aug 12, 2022
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The child day care sector continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic slower than the overall U.S. economy (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Aug 9, 2022
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Child care centers with higher wages experience lower turnover (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Aug 9, 2022
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Top earners rapidly recovered from the Great Recession, while most Americans languished in poor growth (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Aug 9, 2022
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After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, migration away from high-tax states increased significantly – updated (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 28, 2022
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Migration rates for U.S. millionaires were unchanged after the 2017 tax law passed (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 28, 2022
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The child day care sector continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic slower than the overall economy (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations May 20, 2022
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Child care centers with higher wages experience lower turnover (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations May 18, 2022
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Inflation for child care prices has historically exceeded inflation for all other items in the U.S. Consumer Price Index (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations May 18, 2022
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The unemployment rate of Black and American Indian and Alaska Native workers is higher than for other workers (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations May 6, 2022
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In 2021, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander workers’ employment-to-population ratio was well below its pre-pandemic level (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations May 6, 2022
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Employment for Black women and White women continues to be substantially below pre-coronavirus levels (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Apr 26, 2022
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Distributional changes in wages and transfers usually dominate the distributional effects of other streams of income (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Feb 23, 2022
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U.S. government spending in the 1970s slowed and then contracted, yet inflation galloped ahead (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 12, 2022
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Top tax rates on personal income and capital gains fell during the Carter administration (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 10, 2022
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While wages fell and profits soared during the Carter era expansion, both fell with the Volcker Shock (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 10, 2022
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U.S. private-sector investment and higher oil prices spurred higher inflation during the Carter administration (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 10, 2022
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An increase in U.S. government defense spending preceded the 1970s inflation, while nondefense expenditures were steady (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 10, 2022
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Slowing U.S. government social infrastructure spending in the 1970s did not result in falling inflation (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 10, 2022
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The U.S. government’s share of Gross Domestic Product declined amid rising inflation in the 1970s (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 10, 2022
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Austerity policies and tight monetary policies led to repeated recessions during the 1970s (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 10, 2022
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Inflation expectations of less uncertain and highly uncertain U.S. consumers (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 12, 2021
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Long-run U.S. consumer inflation uncertainty rose after average inflation targeting announcement by the Federal Reserve in August 2020 (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 12, 2021
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U.S. consumers’ uncertainty about short-run and long-run inflation (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 12, 2021
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In an equal-opportunity America, GDP would be 33.5% higher (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 2, 2021
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In an equal-opportunity America, poverty would be substantially lower (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 2, 2021
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In an equal-opportunity America, women and people of color would earn significantly more, and earnings gaps would disappear (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jul 2, 2021
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In an equal opportunity America, women and people of color would earn significantly more, and earnings gaps would disappear (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 7, 2021
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In an equal opportunity America, poverty would be substantially lower (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jun 7, 2021
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Rising credit papers over underconsumption with a rise in inequality (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations May 20, 2021
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Secular stagnation evident in productivity trends in recent U.S. history (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations May 20, 2021
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Secular stagnation evident in U.S. population trends (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations May 20, 2021
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The estimated costs of refund uncertainty are substantial, especially for EITC recipients (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Apr 13, 2021
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Top earners rapidly recovered from the Great Recession, while most Americans languished in poor growth (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Mar 4, 2021
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American Indian workers earn far less than White workers (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Jan 11, 2021
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The amount of equity U.S. families have in their house has increased for the top 10 percent of income earners, but fallen for most others (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Oct 13, 2020
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Homeownership for middle-aged U.S. families remains depressed after the Great Recession (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Oct 9, 2020
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U.S. homeownership has declined for most groups but is rising in the top 10 percent of income earners (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Oct 9, 2020
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The retirement savings gap in the United States by race and income widened after the Great Recession of 2007–2009 (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Oct 7, 2020
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Percentage of American households who own at least one retirement account remains steady over past 25 years (opens in a new tab)
Visualizations Oct 6, 2020
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