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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.
973 Results
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…
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…
Accounting for capital gains in income significantly increases U.S. inequality (opens in a new tab)
Blog Jul 15, 2025
The Washington Center for Equitable Growth’s recently launched U.S. Inequality Tracker uses data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to show how income and wealth inequality have evolved in…
Equitable Growth responds to passage of the federal budget bill (opens in a new tab)
Blog Jul 7, 2025
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed the 2025 federal budget bill, cementing into law the most regressive piece of tax and budget legislation to be passed in the United States…
Business owners often use their firms as tax shelters, reducing government revenue and reported income inequality (opens in a new tab)
Blog May 22, 2025
Picture this scene: After sharing a meal with friends, someone in the group grabs the check and says, “I’ll take this so I can expense it through my company.” It…
The political implications of bad jobs and the decline of unions (opens in a new tab)
Blog May 13, 2025
Bad jobs have become a distinctive feature of the U.S. economy over the past few decades. Globally, a lack of adequate demand, or what economists call “secular stagnation,” has meant…
Federal and state governments can help solve the employment problems of people in distressed places to spur equitable growth (opens in a new tab)
Blog May 13, 2025
Places in the United States differ greatly in their residents’ access to jobs, including access to good jobs. In economically distressed places, these job problems can be addressed by creating…
More accurately measuring economic sentiment will help build a U.S. economy—and democracy—that works for all (opens in a new tab)
Blog May 13, 2025
When politicians and members of the media discuss the state of “the economy” in the United States, they often use a small handful of data points. Of all the indicators…
Understanding the role of immigration and economic factors in boosting support for far-right political parties (opens in a new tab)
Blog May 13, 2025
Far-right and right-wing populist political parties differ in many respects, but nearly all share one common thread: strong opposition to immigration. These parties often push for stricter border controls and,…
America’s job-quality crisis and how to revive workers’ pay, dignity, job advancement, and economic well-being (opens in a new tab)
Blog May 13, 2025
The poor quality of jobs in the United States is a slow-burning crisis that has been underway for many decades and has eroded many workers’ quality of life. Too many…
How the China trade shock impacted U.S. manufacturing workers and labor markets, and the consequences for U.S. politics (opens in a new tab)
Blog May 13, 2025
In the early 2000s, manufacturing-intensive communities in the United States entered a period of economic upheaval that would reshape their labor markets over the next two decades. China’s dramatic rise…
Housing insecurity and U.S. economic policies: Lessons from tenant organizing (opens in a new tab)
Blog May 13, 2025
The destructive force of authoritarian power has become a prominent feature of U.S. political life. In just the first few months of 2025, we’ve seen unprecedented moves to use the…
Countering right-wing populism: Identifying its cultural roots and charting a path forward (opens in a new tab)
Blog May 13, 2025
Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election set off an animated debate among Democrats over what went wrong with their policymaking, messaging, and campaigning. Specifically, Democrats puzzled over…
How the economic and political geography of the United States fuels right-wing populism—and what the Democratic Party can do about it (opens in a new tab)
Blog May 13, 2025
In wealthy nations around the world, the rise of the knowledge economy has increased political and economic divides that fuel right-wing populism. These divides generally have a strong geographic dimension,…
Tariffs pose real risks to the U.S. labor market (opens in a new tab)
Blog May 12, 2025
Uncertainty around trade policy makes it difficult to discuss the current state of the U.S. labor market. Businesses, workers, and policymakers at all levels make decisions based on both what…
Testimony by Michael Linden before the House Budget Committee (opens in a new tab)
Blog May 8, 2025
Chairman Arrington, Ranking Member Boyle, members of this committee, thank you for the opportunity to be here. Today, I’d like to make three main points. First, the main culprit responsible…
Advancing economic research on the Inflation Reduction Act: Q&A with Susan Helper (opens in a new tab)
Blog May 1, 2025
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is the most significant economic and clean energy jobs program the United States has ever initiated. To improve overall understanding of whether the new…
Evaluating the Inflation Reduction Act: Job quality, spillovers, and place-based policymaking (opens in a new tab)
Blog Apr 16, 2025
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is the most significant economic and clean energy jobs program the United States has ever initiated. To improve overall understanding of whether the new…
Improving economic outcomes for single mothers and their children across the United States (opens in a new tab)
Blog Apr 16, 2025
Single-mother households are becoming more and more common in the United States. Over the past 50 years, the number of children raised by single mothers has more than doubled. It…
“Econ 101” briefing on taxing multinationals brings Hill staffers up to speed on U.S. role in coordinating global crack-down on tax avoidance (opens in a new tab)
Blog Apr 3, 2025
The Washington Center for Equitable Growth last week hosted a briefing for Capitol Hill staffers on multinational corporate tax trends and policies—another in our “Econ 101” series for Hill staffers.…
Analogies for AI policymaking (opens in a new tab)
Blog Mar 27, 2025
As a suite of technologies under the label of artificial intelligence increasingly take center stage, policymakers recognize the need to develop deep technical expertise about the deployment of evolving technologies…
What makes a job ‘good’? How U.S. labor market data can provide insight to improve workers’ economic conditions (opens in a new tab)
Blog Mar 26, 2025
Since the Great Recession of 2007–2009, a great deal of U.S. economic policymaking has been dedicated to creating jobs. The tools used to do so vary widely, from awarding grants…
Do not abandon the care agenda (opens in a new tab)
Blog Mar 19, 2025
This column, co-authored by Equitable Growth President and CEO Shayna Strom and former Deputy Director of the White House Gender Policy Council Shilpa Phadke, first appeared in Democracy Journal in…
Equitable Growth hosts Hill briefing on proliferation and taxation of U.S. pass-through businesses (opens in a new tab)
Blog Mar 13, 2025
On March 7, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth hosted a briefing—part of a series we call “Econ 101”—for Hill staffers curious about the proliferation of pass-through businesses and how…
The U.S. House of Representatives’ budget resolution threatens social infrastructure programs, putting families’ well-being at risk (opens in a new tab)
Blog Mar 10, 2025
In late February, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget resolution that calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and $2 trillion in federal spending cuts. This resolution provides…
Tackling AI, taxation, and the fair distribution of AI’s benefits (opens in a new tab)
Blog Mar 5, 2025
Artificial intelligence poses significant challenges to income growth, inequality, and meaningful work. At the same time, AI has geopolitical significance, with many national and supranational governments shying away from intervening…
New research finds capital gains are highly concentrated and hardly taxed, underscoring widespread U.S. inequality (opens in a new tab)
Blog Feb 26, 2025
For two decades, booming stock, housing, and private business markets have driven large capital gains in the United States. Real capital gains, which are the inflation-adjusted appreciation of a financial…
Boosting U.S. worker power and voice in the AI-enabled workplace (opens in a new tab)
Blog Feb 19, 2025
The deployment of Artificial Intelligence in the workplace has grown rapidly in the United States. Labor unions have been at the forefront of efforts to encourage more productive and sustainable…
As the U.S. labor market stabilizes, is nominal wage growth now too hot? (opens in a new tab)
Blog Feb 13, 2025
After the tumultuous swings of the early COVID-19 pandemic period and years of normalization since then, economic data from the past several months suggest that the U.S. labor market may…
Testimony by Michael Linden House Oversight Subcommittee on Healthcare and Financial Services (opens in a new tab)
Blog Feb 11, 2025
Chairman Grothman, Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi, and members of the Committee – thank you for the opportunity to be here. Today, I’d like to make three main points. First, federal investments…
Understanding market concentration in the AI supply chain (opens in a new tab)
Blog Jan 28, 2025
Artificial intelligence is more than just the applications we use, such as chatbots and predictive algorithms. Beneath the surface of AI lies a technology stack that is increasingly concentrated at…
ASSA 2025 Round-up: Day 3 (opens in a new tab)
Blog Jan 6, 2025
Yesterday was the third and final day of the 2025 annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations, which is organized by the American Economic Association. The 3-day conference, held…
ASSA 2025 Round-up: Day 2 (opens in a new tab)
Blog Jan 5, 2025
Yesterday was the second day of the 2025 annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations, which is organized by the American Economic Association. The 3-day conference, held in San…
ASSA 2025 Round-up: Day 1 (opens in a new tab)
Blog Jan 4, 2025
Yesterday was the first day of the 2025 annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations, which is organized by the American Economic Association. The 3-day conference, held in San…
New U.S. Treasury Department research shows that it pays to be an S corporation (opens in a new tab)
Blog Dec 16, 2024
Businesses that are organized as so-called pass-through entities for tax purposes—meaning their profits show up on the owners’ personal tax returns rather than on an entity-based tax return—pay a lower…
Recent research shows how paid leave impacts women’s employment and financial security in the United States (opens in a new tab)
Blog Dec 13, 2024
During the first several months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government ensured that all U.S. workers had access to at least 2 weeks of paid sick leave and up…
New research highlights the impact of COVID-era unconditional cash benefits for U.S. workers and families (opens in a new tab)
Blog Dec 10, 2024
The breadth of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in sweeping, albeit temporary, changes to income support programs and tax policies in the United States. These changes include…
Addressing pervasive tax evasion by cryptocurrency users (opens in a new tab)
Blog Nov 21, 2024
The price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies reached record highs last week, buoyed by the U.S. election of Donald Trump, who is seen as friendly to this novel asset class,…
The U.S. labor market keeps beating projections (opens in a new tab)
Blog Nov 5, 2024
No single economic indicator fully describes the state of the U.S. labor market. Yet a range of commonly used measures, from the unemployment rate and the prime-age employment-population ratio to…
Changing earnings requirements for Unemployment Insurance could improve access and better support U.S. workers (opens in a new tab)
Blog Oct 24, 2024
Temporary changes to the Unemployment Insurance program played an enormous role in the U.S. policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting sharp-but-short recession in 2020. Typically, Unemployment Insurance replaces…
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