Resources
From peer-reviewed research to accessible policy briefs, explore the scholarship that’s shaping debates and driving change.
16 Results
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…
By: Melissa Grober-Morrow (opens in a new tab)
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…
By: Justin Gest (opens in a new tab)
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…
By: Tarik Abou-Chadi (opens in a new tab)
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…
By: Gbenga Ajilore (opens in a new tab)
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…
By: Andrea Louise Campbell (opens in a new tab)
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…
By: Lenore Palladino (opens in a new tab)
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…
By: Adam Dean (opens in a new tab), Jamie McCallum (opens in a new tab)
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…
By: Timothy Bartik (opens in a new tab)
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…
By: Jonathan Cohen (opens in a new tab), Katherine Cramer (opens in a new tab)
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,…
By: Sirus H. Dehdari (opens in a new tab)
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…
By: Erin Kelly (opens in a new tab)
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…
By: David Autor (opens in a new tab), David Dorn (opens in a new tab), Gordon Hanson (opens in a new tab)
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…
By: Jamila Michener (opens in a new tab)
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…
By: Yotam Margalit (opens in a new tab)
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,…
By: Jacob Hacker (opens in a new tab), Paul Pierson (opens in a new tab)
Designing economic policy that strengthens U.S. democracy and incorporates people’s lived experiences (opens in a new tab)
Videos APR 30, 2025
Around the globe, people are increasingly dissatisfied with the state of democratic capitalism. In the United States and other rich democracies, economic policy has too often in recent decades produced…
By: Alexander Hertel-Fernandez (opens in a new tab), Shayna Strom (opens in a new tab)
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