Issue Areas

The deeper argument at the heart of the federal budget debate (opens in a new tab)

Reports Oct 5, 2026

Interest rates on the national debt have recently crept up to levels that the U.S. government and the American people haven’t experienced in several decades. This is a potentially concerning…

Trump’s trade war with Canada grows increasingly costly as Section 338 tariffs harm both economies (opens in a new tab)

Essays Sep 22, 2026

President Donald Trump continues to escalate his administration’s perplexing trade spat with Canada through the expanded use of novel tariff powers in Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930.…

What Work Does Generative AI Do? (opens in a new tab)

Essays Sep 8, 2026

Since August 2024, our Real-Time Population Survey (RPS), a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults ages 18 to 64, has tracked how many Americans use generative artificial intelligence (AI). The adoption…

What Work Does Generative AI Do? (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Sep 8, 2026

We measure how workers use genAI for their jobs in a nationally representative survey linking genAI adoption to detailed occupations and tasks. Our data provide the first task-level genAI adoption…

What happens to U.S. workers without access to Unemployment Insurance amid economic downturns or disruptions related to AI? (opens in a new tab)

Essays Sep 2, 2026

The adoption of artificial intelligence in the workplace has led to predictions of U.S. labor market disruptions. In response, policymakers have increased attention on the fitness of the nation’s social…

Economic research shows immigration is good for U.S. workers, the economy, and affordability (opens in a new tab)

Essays Aug 31, 2026

When President Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025, mass deportations and immigration restrictions were renewed as one of the political priorities of his second administration. Since then,…

U.S. regions with more unauthorized immigrant workers experienced declines in new housing construction (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Aug 31, 2026

A large-scale deportation would shrink the U.S. economy, with particular harm to some states (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Aug 31, 2026

What can federal data collection tell policymakers and researchers about artificial intelligence in the U.S. labor market? (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Aug 24, 2026

It is impossible to perfectly predict how artificial intelligence will affect the U.S. labor market. Policymakers and researchers are grappling with important questions around this topic, including what new opportunities…

Terms and conditions for generative AI users outline a new legal framework that puts U.S. consumers at risk (opens in a new tab)

Essays Aug 20, 2026

Generative AI, or genAI, is a form of artificial intelligence that produces content in response to prompts and includes large language model chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude.…

The Terms and Conditions of Generative AI (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Aug 20, 2026

Generative AI raises pressing questions for myriad doctrinal areas. Policymakers and scholars have responded rapidly, devoting substantial attention to these difficult legal and policy questions. But, as a practical matter,…

New research shows how U.S. homeownership and the accumulation of housing wealth are linked to political participation (opens in a new tab)

Essays Aug 14, 2026

Persistent affordability pressures have driven up housing costs for millions of U.S. families in recent years. Home prices remain near record highs relative to incomes, mortgage rates and associated costs…

Housing Wealth Accumulation and Electoral Representation (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Aug 14, 2026

We document that housing wealth accumulation systematically differs among homeowners by their political participation. Using a nationwide voter-property dataset, we find that realized housing appreciation increases monotonically the more a…

Defining extreme wealth is more complicated than it looks (opens in a new tab)

Videos Aug 13, 2026

Facing high levels of income and wealth inequality and shrinking tax revenues, U.S. policymakers are showing increased interest in proposals to tax the richest households. Yet determining which households fall into that category is complex and changes based…

Estimating AI exposure is useful for research but cannot yet tell policymakers the whole story of AI’s impact on the labor market (opens in a new tab)

Essays Aug 7, 2026

Artificial intelligence has the potential to substantially change the nature and availability of work. To effectively manage the transitions this technology might bring to the U.S. economy, policymakers need information…

Tracking new research on artificial intelligence and its impact on the U.S. labor market (opens in a new tab)

Essays Aug 5, 2026

Headlines often paint extreme and dissonant pictures of the future impact of AI on the U.S. economy and labor market, with workers themselves echoing the conflicting feelings of optimism and…

The debt-to-wealth ratio: A missing lens on the U.S. government’s fiscal capacity (opens in a new tab)

Reports Jul 30, 2026

Few statistics shape the fiscal debate in the United States as powerfully as the ratio of federal debt-to-Gross Domestic Product. Debt held by the public recently surpassed 100 percent of…

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

The United States sits in the middle of the pack on debt relative to wealth (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 22, 2026

Explosion in post-1980 inequality largely explains low debt-to-top U.S. wealth ratios (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 22, 2026

Measured against the wealth of the very top, U.S. debt is historically modest (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 22, 2026

Private wealth has grown far faster than the overall U.S. economy in recent decades (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 22, 2026

U.S. debt looks alarming against GDP but far less so against wealth (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 22, 2026

The costs of the Trump administration’s tariffs diverge for countries and industries so far in 2026 (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jul 14, 2026

The first 4 months of 2026 saw continued seismic changes in U.S. trade policy. In late February, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Trump administration’s use of the International…

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

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

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

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

Why Unemployment Insurance Alone Is Not Enough in the AI Era (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jul 8, 2026

Since the large language model ChatGPT was rolled out in November 2022, artificial intelligence has captured the public’s attention and generated myriad debates over the emerging technology’s potential impacts on…

Streamlining applications to social programs unlocks more support for the U.S. families who need it most (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jul 7, 2026

Millions of low-income families in the United States tap into multiple social programs to help them meet their needs. A single household, for example, might rely on the Supplemental Nutrition…

Multiple Program Participation in the Safety Net: Incidence, Impediments, and Implications (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Jul 7, 2026

Multiple program participation is a defining feature of the U.S. safety net, with half of recipients enrolling in two or more programs. Yet most research examines programs in isolation, missing…

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, one year later: Parsing the evidence on the law’s consequences so far (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jun 30, 2026

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law one year ago on July 4, 2025, shifted trillions of dollars in income from working-class families to corporations and very wealthy…

Personal Income in the United States nudges up in May but is down 0.76 percent in the past 6 months (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jun 25, 2026

According to today’s release of Personal Income estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. household incomes have fallen 0.76 percent in the past 6 months, with month-to-month declines…

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

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

Personal Income is now declining year-over-year, a possible warning sign for the economy (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 25, 2026

U.S. income data for 2024 shows the top 10 percent accrued the highest share of income since 2000 (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jun 25, 2026

Today, Equitable Growth updated the U.S. Inequality Tracker through 2024 following the release of new data last week by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The data show that the…

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

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

U.S. workers will be hurt by immigration enforcement overreach (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jun 17, 2026

President Donald Trump last week signed the $70 billion Secure America Act, a budget reconciliation package that boosts funding for immigration and border enforcement agencies while imposing no limits on their authority.…

The United States can simultaneously foster an equitable AI boom and a clean energy economy (opens in a new tab)

Videos Jun 12, 2026

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth recently hosted a timely discussion exploring how the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence is colliding with—and reshaping—the clean energy transition. Bringing together researchers and…

U.S. workers need sectoral bargaining now more than ever (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jun 4, 2026

U.S. union membership and coverage rates have declined for decades, fueled in part by legal barriers to new organizing, including the limiting of collective bargaining to specific workplaces or employers and misclassifying certain groups of workers so they…

Union coverage and auto employment were worse in Michigan than the broader U.S. amid the recovery from the Great Recession of 2007-2009 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 3, 2026

Union workers enjoy higher pay compared to nonunion workers (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 3, 2026

Union coverage has declined across occupations in the past decade (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 3, 2026

In Conversation with Costa Samaras (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation Jun 2, 2026

Equitable Growth in Conversation is a recurring series where we talk with economists and other academics to help us better understand whether and how economic inequality affects economic growth and…

Factsheet: Defining top U.S. income and wealth thresholds for tax policy (opens in a new tab)

Factsheets May 27, 2026

Federal and state policymakers in the United States, responding to high levels of income and wealth inequality and shrinking tax revenues, are increasingly interested in proposals to tax households with…

Defining top wealth and income thresholds for U.S. tax policy design and analysis (opens in a new tab)

Reports May 27, 2026

Wealth and income inequality are an ongoing area of interest for policymakers. In particular, the rise of the richest of the rich—not just the top 1 percent, but also the…

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

Navigating the research on the impacts of AI on work, workers, and the labor market (opens in a new tab)

Research Databases May 21, 2026

Artificial intelligence will have a largely unpredictable but potentially profound effect on the labor market. Individuals have speculated how AI will affect the workforce since its earliest developments. But public…

O*NET contains data on the abilities, skills, and actions needed to perform a job – revised (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 20, 2026

Barriers to Benefits: Unemployment Insurance Take-Up and Labor Market Effects (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers May 19, 2026

Unemployment insurance (UI) take-up is relatively low in the United States. We implement a large-scale field experiment among 50,000 likely unemployed individuals to study the causes and labor supply implications…

What is the relationship between inflation, interest rates, and economic growth, and what does it mean for the new Federal Reserve chair? (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs May 18, 2026

Since regaining the Oval Office in early 2025, President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for lower interest rates and severely criticized former Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell’s cautious approach…

The U.S. public is angry about economic conditions, and the middle class is losing ground. Are these trends connected? (opens in a new tab)

Essays May 14, 2026

A random sample of recent headlines likely would yield two fairly common stories about the U.S. economy. One is that the public is angry about the economy and the other…

Real U.S. income gains have been falling for successive generations (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 13, 2026

U.S. income growth for the middle class slowed substantially in the past four decades (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 13, 2026

Income growth rates used to be similar along the income distribution, but that changed in the 1980s (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 13, 2026

The middle is further from the top than it used to be—and the gap is growing (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 13, 2026

U.S. income at the middle is growing and is higher today than it used to be (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 13, 2026

Is Taxing Wealth Possible? Practical? Desirable? Yes, if we’re smart about it (opens in a new tab)

Essays May 7, 2026

While the American economy has outperformed much of the industrialized world in recent years, there are good reasons to be deeply concerned about its long-term prospects. It is dogged by…

Taxed capital gains are a tiny fraction of total capital gains, which have grown larger in recent decades (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

Top tax rates have been cut dramatically (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

Unrealized gains have grown substantially for richer, older Americans (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

The wealthiest 0.1 percent of households own one-in-seven dollars (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

Recent tax cuts have reduced revenue while economic growth has slowed (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

The United States is a relatively low-tax and low-spend country (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

Tax cuts are primarily responsible for the growing U.S. debt (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

Taxes have become less progressive over time in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

Income trend for the top 1% diverges from most Americans after 1980 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

Research shows unions dampen support for right-wing populism and help workers navigate technological transitions (opens in a new tab)

Essays May 1, 2026

On May 1, much of the world—though not the United States—celebrates International Workers Day to honor the social and economic contributions of workers and labor unions. The May Day holiday began in large part to mark…

Why the Iran war is bad for U.S. economic growth (opens in a new tab)

Essays Apr 23, 2026

The growth trajectory of the U.S. economy is highly dependent on its connections to the outside world through trade and investments, as well as foreign policy and geopolitical developments. That…

Research on climate change’s impact on U.S. workers underscores the benefits of workplace heat standards (opens in a new tab)

Essays Apr 22, 2026

This year’s Earth Day follows a record-breaking heat wave across much of the East Coast, which followed a record-breaking heat wave that took hold in much of the West and…

Factsheet: What the research says about early care and education in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Factsheets Apr 16, 2026

Research has long shown the importance and value of high-quality early childhood care and education. Child care offers working parents the ability to fully participate in the labor force and…

How does early childhood care and education affect U.S. families and workers, and which policies support child participation and boost the quality of care? (opens in a new tab)

Reports Apr 16, 2026

As states consider policy action in early childhood care and education, there is an existing—and growing—evidence base from which to draw lessons. This report summarizes the rigorous evidence on program…

The U.S. child care industry was hit harder by COVID-19 than the rest of the economy (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 15, 2026

Higher-income U.S. families typically spend more on child care than families with less income (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 15, 2026

U.S. families pay more for infant care, center-based care, and for care in densely populated areas (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 15, 2026

The cost of child care in the United States has grown faster than other household necessities (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 15, 2026

The other two-tiered U.S. tax system: How pass-through businesses let the ultra-wealthy dodge federal taxes (opens in a new tab)

Essays Apr 15, 2026

Many Americans likely remember when the legendary value investor Warren Buffett drew attention to a glaring unfairness in the tax code by pointing out that he paid a lower effective…

Pass-through business owners account for a much larger share of people and income in the top 1 percent than public company executives (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 14, 2026

Pass-through business income is highly concentrated among the very rich (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 14, 2026

Federal policymakers can ensure Trump accounts do not exacerbate inequality in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Apr 14, 2026

In July 2025, Congress passed a federal budget bill (Public Law 119-21, also commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) that, among other things, established a new type…

A review of the state of child care in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Reports Apr 9, 2026

Affordable, available, high-quality child care is essential for sustained, broadly shared economic growth and equitable access to workforce opportunities. In most of the United States, however, child care fails this…

The U.S. child care sector recovered more slowly from the COVID-19 pandemic than the broader labor market (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 8, 2026

Wages for U.S. child care workers are low despite the high costs of care for families (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 8, 2026

Equitable Growth event covers tariffs, tariff uncertainties, and the limits of U.S. trade policy (opens in a new tab)

Videos Apr 1, 2026

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth recently hosted a webinar examining the economic, fiscal, and labor‑market effects of evolving U.S. tariff laws and regulations, particularly in the wake of the…

Tariff policies in 2025 increased input costs for key U.S. industries, threatening growth and investment (opens in a new tab)

Essays Mar 24, 2026

All tariffs are not created equal. Throughout U.S. history, policymakers have imposed import taxes for a variety of economic and ideological reasons, with varying impacts. Targeted tariffs have been effective…

Research-based perspectives on the connection between economic policy and rising support for authoritarian populism (opens in a new tab)

Essays Mar 19, 2026

In 2025, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth began to explore the evidence behind a link between the effects of economic policies and global support for authoritarian populist candidates for…

Midwest and Southern workers are more concentrated in tariff-exposed industries (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 17, 2026

Industries within the U.S. machinery manufacturing subsector faced different tariff costs in 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 17, 2026

Industries within the U.S. metals manufacturing subsector faced different tariff costs in 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 17, 2026

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

Construction faced the highest tariff rate of any U.S. sector in 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 17, 2026

The unintended macroeconomic effects of U.S. climate policy uncertainty (opens in a new tab)

Essays Mar 17, 2026

Recent policy developments in the United States highlight just how quickly climate policies can change. In January 2026, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would stop considering lives…

The Macroeconomic Effects of Climate Policy Uncertainty (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Mar 17, 2026

We develop a novel measure of climate policy uncertainty based on newspaper coverage. Our index spikes during key U.S. climate policy events—including presidential announcements on international agreements, congressional debates, and…

Climate policy uncertainty spikes around major U.S. policy events (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 17, 2026

Certain AMS contract provisions give workers a sense of influence over how technology is used in their workplaces (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 12, 2026

How union contracts are protecting U.S. workers from automated management and surveillance in the workplace (opens in a new tab)

Reports Mar 12, 2026

Employers are increasingly using electronic and automated tools to collect data on their workers on and off the job and then using that data to inform decisions about workers’ pay,…

Certain AMS contract provisions give workers a better understanding of how technology is used in their workplaces (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 12, 2026

Union members who know more about automated management and surveillance in their workplace also report more input over how it is used (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 12, 2026

Slightly more workers agree than disagree that they have input over AMS tools used in their workplaces (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 12, 2026

Most unionized workers know how automated management and surveillance are utilized in their workplaces (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 12, 2026

Certain groups of unionized workers are more likely to have a contract with automated management and surveillance provisions (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 12, 2026

Certain contract negotiation strategies are correlated having automated management and surveillance provisions included (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 12, 2026

Lessons from past trade adjustment policies to support displaced workers in the era of artificial intelligence (opens in a new tab)

Reports Mar 11, 2026

More than 60 years ago, U.S. policymakers, economists, and labor leaders alike agreed that the potential for new economic forces to strengthen U.S. prosperity and security was just over the…

Factsheet: Using asset limits in public benefit programs (opens in a new tab)

Factsheets Mar 10, 2026

A household’s assets, or its overall wealth, are the resources required to ensure its family members can weather the financial disruption when unexpected expenses emerge. Yet many U.S. households do…

New research examines the historical macroeconomic effects of tariffs and sheds light on current U.S. trade policies (opens in a new tab)

Essays Mar 4, 2026

U.S. policymakers have enacted tariffs for a variety of reasons over the course of the country’s history. Motivated by economic pressures to raise federal revenues or address balance-of-payment issues, or…

The Macroeconomic Effects of Tariffs: Evidence From U.S. Historical Data (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Mar 4, 2026

We study the macroeconomic effects of tariff policy using U.S. historical data from 1840–2024. We construct a narrative series of plausibly exogenous tariff changes–based on major legislative actions, multilateral negotiations,…

The state of the U.S. economy one year into the second Trump administration (opens in a new tab)

Essays Feb 23, 2026

President Donald Trump will soon give his annual State of the Union speech before Congress, one year into his second term in the White House. Ahead of his remarks, now…

Can remote work attenuate mothers’ mobility constraints in the U.S. labor force? (opens in a new tab)

Essays Feb 12, 2026

Women’s labor force participation increased dramatically over the course of the 20th century in the United States. Indeed, the labor force participation rate of women between the ages of 25…

Understanding the Congestion Child Penalty: Can Remote Work Attenuate It? (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Feb 12, 2026

We study the impact of commuting time on the labor supply of women with children in the United States. We show that congestion and long commutes discourage the labor force…

Why federal food assistance became politically polarizing—and what to do about it (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Feb 2, 2026

On January 31, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson requested that Congress pass federal legislation to make the Food Stamp Program permanent. Up to that point, the program had operated as…

Dissecting Racial Politicization: Long-Run Evidence from the Food Stamp Program (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Feb 2, 2026

We explore long-run racial polarization induced by the original Food Stamps Program: a major policy choice to expand the social safety net in the United States in the 1960s and…

Analyzing recent U.S. economic policies using Equitable Growth’s Inequality Tracker (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jan 22, 2026

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth’s Inequality Tracker is a data visualization tool designed to help policymakers and economic analysts examine and analyze U.S. income and wealth inequality in the…

U.S. businesses report that tariff policies will likely lead to price increases and labor market impacts in 2026 (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jan 15, 2026

As 2026 begins, U.S. manufacturers are contending with a varied and uncertain economic environment. Many are weighing growth driven by domestic investments in data centers and artificial intelligence against the…

ASSA 2026 Round-up: Day 3 (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jan 6, 2026

Yesterday was the third and final day of the 2026 annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations, which is organized by the American Economic Association. The 3-day conference, held…

ASSA 2026 Round-up: Day 2 (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jan 5, 2026

Yesterday was the second day of the 2026 annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations, which is organized by the American Economic Association. The 3-day conference, held in Philadelphia…

ASSA 2026 Round-up: Day 1 (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jan 4, 2026

Yesterday was the first day of the 2026 annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations, which is organized by the American Economic Association. The 3-day conference, held in Philadelphia…

Equitable Growth event highlights the path forward to rebuild the U.S. administrative state (opens in a new tab)

Videos Dec 17, 2025

Microsoft Copilot helped draft this column. The Washington Center for Equitable Growth recently convened scholars, practitioners, and advocates for an Equitable Growth Presents event, titled “Reimagining the Federal Government: Building…

Expanding eligibility for Unemployment Insurance helps low-income U.S. workers find better jobs (opens in a new tab)

Essays Dec 9, 2025

Unemployment Insurance serves as a critical income support program for U.S. workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. It is also a valuable tool to stabilize…

U.S. social insurance programs support workers and economic growth (opens in a new tab)

Essays Dec 2, 2025

Since coming to power in early 2025, Republican majorities in Congress have shifted resources away from the nation’s social insurance programs, most notably to offset the cost of H.R. 1,…

Equitable Growth hosts Econ 101 virtual event on how U.S. social insurance programs boost economic mobility (opens in a new tab)

Essays Dec 1, 2025

Microsoft Copilot helped draft this event recap. The Washington Center for Equitable Growth recently hosted its latest Econ 101 briefing aimed at providing in-depth evidence for policymakers on how U.S.…

Uncertainty created by ever-changing tariff policies harms U.S. economic growth (opens in a new tab)

Essays Nov 20, 2025

The approaches to international trade taken by the first and now second Trump administrations have been an endless jumble of tariff negotiations and ever-changing policies. Since 2018, duties have been…

In Conversation with Sabeel Rahman (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation Nov 18, 2025

Equitable Growth in Conversation is a recurring series where we talk with economists and other academics to help us better understand whether and how economic inequality affects economic growth and…

What impact is artificial intelligence having on the U.S. labor market and the nation’s economy? (opens in a new tab)

Essays Nov 14, 2025

As new and groundbreaking technologies emerge, they can function as a blank canvas onto which people project both aspirations and anxieties. Artificial intelligence—despite its quick uptake in broader society and…

Distributional weighting in benefit-cost analysis is practical and effective at assessing government rulemaking without bias against low-income individuals (opens in a new tab)

Reports Nov 13, 2025

Distributional weighting in benefit-cost analysis is a tool for overcoming bias against lower-income individuals in economists’ measurements of the net benefit of government policies that affect populations at different levels…

Population weights reveal that the distribution of cost and benefits of policies are skewed differently (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Nov 13, 2025

Tariff costs impact industries with mostly White, male, and noncitizen workers (opens in a new tab)

Essays Nov 4, 2025

The U.S. economy is flying blind, with most economic-data publications paused indefinitely due to the shutdown of the federal government amid a general U.S. labor market slowdown and just as…

Workers in the Midwest and South tend to work in more tariff-exposed industries (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Nov 3, 2025

Workers with less than a college education are overrepresented in the most tariff-exposed industries (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Nov 3, 2025

White, Hispanic, and noncitizen men are overrepresented in the most tariff-exposed industries (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Nov 3, 2025

U.S. manufacturing is particularly vulnerable to tariff costs (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Nov 3, 2025

Risks escalate for U.S. retirement plans due to unregulated private credit funds and new rules opening them up to retirement savings accounts (opens in a new tab)

Essays Oct 29, 2025

When the privately owned auto parts manufacturer First Brands Group earlier this month began to be unable to service its $6.1 billion debt load, the financial press began to pick…

Workplace exposure to artificial intelligence is higher among U.S. workers with higher wages, depending on how AI is used (opens in a new tab)

Essays Oct 23, 2025

Recent advances using artificial intelligence in workplaces, particularly large language models such as Claude.ai and ChatGPT, are increasingly disrupting the U.S. labor market. The cognitive power of AI has the…

AI exposure by U.S. occupations and work tasks and the effect on wages (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Oct 23, 2025

This analysis of labor market AI exposure builds on previous work from the Pew Research Center and the AI firm Anthropic as well as Equitable Growth’s own job quality series,…

AI exposure is greatest among higher-paid workers regardless of age, race and education status (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 22, 2025

Asian American and highly educated workers are most exposed to AI (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 22, 2025

Equitable Growth supports scholars studying the economics of the energy transition (opens in a new tab)

Essays Oct 22, 2025

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth today announced a new cohort of grantees. These nine scholars will study how the design and implementation of federal policy influences how businesses and…

The Benefits of Unemployment Insurance For Marginally Attached Workers (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Oct 21, 2025

Existing research consistently finds that UI benefits delay job finding with limited effects on job quality, but focuses on changes in unemployment insurance (UI) generosity while holding fixed access to…

Payment for schedule changes under Fair Workweek laws in three U.S. cities (opens in a new tab)

Essays Oct 16, 2025

Fair Workweek laws set new standards for scheduling U.S. workers in jobs and industries characterized by fluctuating and unpredictable work hours, such as jobs in retail and food service. A…

Rethinking U.S. economic mobility to study change within a generation (opens in a new tab)

Essays Oct 9, 2025

When most people think about intergenerational mobility, they often assume it unfolds gradually over long periods of time. Historical patterns have reinforced this perception, shaping a widespread belief that meaningful…

Changing Opportunity: Sociological Mechanisms Underlying Growing Class Gaps and Shrinking Race Gaps in Economic Mobility (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Oct 9, 2025

We show that intergenerational mobility changed rapidly by race and class in recent decades and use these trends to study the causal mechanisms underlying changes in economic mobility. For white…

The status of U.S. labor market data amid the government shutdown (opens in a new tab)

Essays Oct 3, 2025

The federal government ground to a halt earlier this week as Congress was unable to reach a bipartisan agreement on continuing funding after annual appropriations ran out at the end…

U.S. workers’ and managers’ experiences with Fair Workweek laws can inform enforcement and education (opens in a new tab)

Essays Oct 2, 2025

Fair Workweek laws are intended to set new standards for scheduling workers in jobs and industries characterized by fluctuating and unpredictable work hours, such as jobs in retail and food…

How Are Workers Experiencing Fair Workweek Laws? Evidence for policymakers and advocates (opens in a new tab)

Essays Oct 2, 2025

This factsheet, “How Are Workers Experiencing Fair Workweek Laws? Evidence for policymakers and advocates,” originally appeared on WorkRise at https://www.workrisenetwork.org/sites/default/files/2025-08/howareworkersexperiencingfairworkweeklaws.pdf. New laws that regulate employer scheduling practic…

Federal data is under attack, but data users can work together to preserve and democratize it (opens in a new tab)

Essays Oct 1, 2025

Staffing shortages, political interference, and a federal government shutdown are all disrupting the routine operations of the nonpartisan federal statistical agencies that reliably gather facts and publish data about the…

Extracting O*NET Features from the NLx Corpus to Build Public Use Aggregate Labor Market Data (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Oct 1, 2025

Data from online job postings are difficult to access and are not built in a standard or transparent manner. Data included in the standard taxonomy and occupational information database (O*NET)…

In Conversation with Omari Swinton (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation Sep 24, 2025

Equitable Growth in Conversation is a recurring series where we talk with economists and other academics to help us better understand whether and how economic inequality affects economic growth and…

Emergency paid leave benefits increased leave-taking among vulnerable workers by more than 200 percent – Final (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 23, 2025

U.S. workers took time off work at higher rates in April 2020 as COVID-19 spread (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 23, 2025

Emergency paid leave during the COVID-19 pandemic offered essential protections for U.S. workers (opens in a new tab)

Essays Sep 23, 2025

When the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the United States in early 2020, it didn’t just bring about a public health emergency. It also exposed a longstanding weakness in the U.S.…

Fitting the Bill? The First Federal Paid Leave Mandate (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Sep 23, 2025

We find that the first federal paid leave mandate in the US, enacted under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, increased paid leave taking by nearly 200% for eligible workers,…

Equitable Growth announces funding for research on the impact of AI on U.S. workers and competition (opens in a new tab)

Essays Sep 18, 2025

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth today announced a new cohort of grantees studying how artificial intelligence and new technology can support workers and promote competition across the U.S. economy.…

Populist voters feel a sense of loss that is reshaping democracies around the world (opens in a new tab)

Essays Sep 11, 2025

Across Europe, populist parties—once relegated to the political fringe—are now mainstays of national politics. Some are even winning power in the Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Austria, and beyond. Whether left-wing or…

Threats to social status and support for far-right political parties (opens in a new tab)

Essays Sep 11, 2025

Once on the political fringes, far-right parties have become established actors in many democracies. The European Parliament election in 2024, for example, resulted in far-right parties receiving more than 20…

A place-based economic development strategy to foster rural U.S. prosperity (opens in a new tab)

Essays Sep 11, 2025

Whether one lives in a city of 2 million people or a town of 2,000, we all want to live in healthy and thriving communities, to have the chance to…

How U.S. tax policies have fueled right-wing populism (opens in a new tab)

Essays Sep 11, 2025

Among the many factors fueling support for right-wing populism in the United States is federal tax policies. The nation’s tax system confuses, frustrates, and angers many citizens in ways that…

To restore democracy, end shareholder primacy at U.S. corporations and on Wall Street (opens in a new tab)

Essays Sep 11, 2025

Workers in the United States have no say over business decisions made in their workplaces by corporate America. Unions, of course, are important for workers’ ability to exercise power over…

The overall U.S. tax system today is only mildly progressive (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 10, 2025

Even health care, the strongest sector of the U.S. jobs market, cannot deliver the wages its workers deserve without unionization (opens in a new tab)

Essays Sep 10, 2025

The growth of jobs in the U.S. health care industry is the linchpin to a strong U.S. labor market in 2025 and beyond. Health care is one of only a…

Racially resentful White Americans are more opposed to progressive taxation (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 9, 2025

Almost half of rural U.S. counties are at risk or distressed (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 8, 2025

Unemployment risk significantly affects the probability of voting for the far right (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 5, 2025

Europe’s far-left and far-right parties have room to grow in the future (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 4, 2025

Eastern European nations are far more vulnerable to right-wing populist appeals (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 4, 2025

Nostalgic deprivation is widespread among citizens of European nations (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 4, 2025

In Her Hands: A Guaranteed Income Initiative (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Sep 4, 2025

In Her Hands (IHH) is a guaranteed income (GI) initiative aimed at addressing persistent economic insecurity among women in neighborhoods with some of Georgia’s highest poverty rates. Co-designed with local…

The Federal Reserve must maintain its independence for the U.S. economy to thrive (opens in a new tab)

Essays Aug 28, 2025

President Donald Trump is attempting to fire Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to serve in that role. He probably lacks the legal authority to do…

States can support children and their economies using direct cash assistance from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant program (opens in a new tab)

Reports Aug 28, 2025

Efficient, effective, and responsive income support programs can reduce economic inequality and support economic mobility. If targeted effectively, these programs can help children, families, and workers meet their needs and…

TANF benefit amounts vary widely by state, but are overall small – updated (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Aug 26, 2025

A majority of states spend less than 20 percent of TANF funds on basic assistance (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Aug 26, 2025

TANF access varies widely by state (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Aug 26, 2025

Direct cash assistance to low-income families has decreased dramatically over time (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Aug 26, 2025

How artificial intelligence uncouples hard work from fair wages through ‘surveillance pay’ practices—and how to fix it (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Aug 21, 2025

Correction: Freddie Mac and Udemy contacted the Washington Center for Equitable Growth on March 18, 2026 and April 2, 2026, respectively, to say they no longer had business relationships with…

Equitable Growth awards funding to early career scholars studying the effects of economic inequality (opens in a new tab)

Essays Aug 20, 2025

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth announced today that it has awarded funding to seven scholars seeking to better understand the effects of economic inequality in the United States and…

What is austerity, and how does it affect the broader U.S. economy? (opens in a new tab)

Reports Aug 12, 2025

With the passage into law of the Republican budget reconciliation bill last month and the recent work of the Department of Government Efficiency under Elon Musk, austerity is once again…

Cutting government transfer programs has broad effects on the U.S. economy (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Aug 12, 2025

Cutting government transfer programs has broad effects on the U.S. economy (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Aug 12, 2025

The economic effects of austerity policies under a nonreactive Federal Reserve – Final (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Aug 12, 2025

The economic effects of austerity policies under a reactive Federal Reserve (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Aug 12, 2025

Recessions coincide with periods of higher policy uncertainty – updated (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Aug 7, 2025

States dependent on federal grants tend to be poorer or more rural (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Aug 7, 2025

Why Financial Crises Recur (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Aug 5, 2025

Financial crises have occurred around the world for over two centuries. These crises have been so costly and frequent that one wonders why governments cannot prevent them from recurring despite…

Tariffs impact U.S. industries differently, with manufacturing the most exposed (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Jul 29, 2025

Estimates in this brief were generated July 21, before the announcement of trade deals with Japan and the European Union. All data and code used in the Equitable Growth tariff…

Workers in many midwestern U.S. states are more exposed to tariffs (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 28, 2025

U.S. manufacturing industries are particularly exposed to tariff costs (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 28, 2025