Resources

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…

By: Michael Linden (opens in a new tab)

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.…

By: Christopher Bangert-Drowns (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Megan Rivera (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Chiara Chanoi (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab), David S. Mitchell (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Christopher Bangert-Drowns (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Jacob Robbins (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Christopher Bangert-Drowns (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Christopher Bangert-Drowns (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Michael Linden (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Megan Rivera (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Daniel Acland (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Lenore Palladino (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Alan Blinder (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Ernie Tedeschi (opens in a new tab), Kevin Rinz (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Christopher Bangert-Drowns (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Republican reconciliation bill’s cuts to social programs will damage some congressional districts’ local economies (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUL 11, 2025

In a recent working paper, Equitable Growth grantee Robert Manduca of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor demonstrates that government transfers make sizable contributions to local economies in much of…

By: Chiara Chanoi (opens in a new tab)

Slow wage growth is the key to understanding U.S. inequality in the 21st century (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs JUL 8, 2025

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth today launched the U.S. Inequality Tracker, which tracks income and wealth inequality in the United States and highlights how particular components of income and…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Americans informed about the distributional effects of Republicans’ tax and budget bill overwhelmingly oppose it (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUL 3, 2025

Republicans in the U.S. Senate recently passed a version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, championed by President Donald Trump. The House of Representatives passed an earlier version of…

By: Jacob Hacker (opens in a new tab), Patrick Sullivan (opens in a new tab)

Congressional Republicans’ budget bill is the most regressive in at least 40 years (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUN 25, 2025

The U.S. Congress is in the midst of debating a budget bill that would make massive changes to U.S. tax and spending policy over the course of the next decade…

By: Jacob Hacker (opens in a new tab), Patrick Sullivan (opens in a new tab)

Medicaid and SNAP cuts in congressional Republicans’ budget bill will negatively impact local economies (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUN 24, 2025

The budget reconciliation bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives proposes to make large cuts to Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and other social programs to pay…

By: Robert Manduca (opens in a new tab)

Testimony by Michael Linden on “The Big Beautiful Betrayal—Working Folks Pay While The Mega Rich Profit” (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUN 17, 2025

Senator Kaine, Senator Murphy, and members of the Forum, thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I’m going to make three key points. First, the Republican budget bill…

By: Michael Linden (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)

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…

By: Michael Linden (opens in a new tab)

“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.…

By: Elena Patel (opens in a new tab)

Benchmarking the U.S. economy that President Donald Trump is set to inherit (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs JAN 16, 2025

When President Donald Trump takes the presidential oath of office again on January 20, he will be inheriting a very different economy, with a very different outlook, than the one…

By: Ernie Tedeschi (opens in a new tab)

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…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

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,…

By: Magne Mogstad (opens in a new tab), Tom Meling (opens in a new tab), Arnstein Vestre (opens in a new tab)

The unequal impact of the Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening and easing on firms in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 16, 2024

The easing of inflation in the U.S. economy beginning in 2022 and recent signs of weakness in the U.S. labor market over the past several quarters have led households and…

By: Ezgi Kurt (opens in a new tab)

A researcher’s guide to identifying policy-relevant research questions for the federal government (opens in a new tab)

Essays MAY 30, 2024

Social science researchers play an important role in the policymaking process. Researchers help policymakers at all levels of government to understand key trends and issues in the U.S. economy and…

By: Alexander Hertel-Fernandez (opens in a new tab)

New recommendations for an integrated system of U.S. inequality statistics chart a bold path forward (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 23, 2024

A new report from the National Academy of Science’s Committee on National Statistics is packed with recommendations for building an integrated system of national statistics that can provide accurate and…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Testimony by Michael Linden before the Joint Economic Committee (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 12, 2024

Chair Heinrich, Vice Chair Schweikert, Members of the Committee, thank you so much for extending me the opportunity to testify before you today. My testimony will broadly cover three important…

By: Michael Linden (opens in a new tab)

Ahead of President Biden’s State of the Union address, the U.S. economy is strong (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 21, 2024

On March 7, President Joe Biden will deliver the 2024 State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress and the American public, in which he will tout his economic…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Closing the billionaire borrowing loophole would strengthen the progressivity of the U.S. tax code (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs FEB 5, 2024

The vast majority of Americans are concerned that some wealthy people don’t pay their “fair share” of federal taxes. They’re right to be bothered: Loopholes in the U.S. tax code…

By: Edward Fox (opens in a new tab), Zachary Liscow (opens in a new tab)

New Circular A-4 offers opportunities for researchers interested in disaggregating the costs and benefits of U.S. regulations (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 1, 2024

This column is adapted from remarks I made at the Allied Social Sciences Associations 2024 annual meeting, held earlier this year in San Antonio, Texas, as part of a panel…

By: David S. Mitchell (opens in a new tab)

New research doesn’t overturn consensus on rising U.S. income inequality (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs JAN 10, 2024

New research from Gerald Auten at the U.S. Treasury Department and David Splinter at the U.S. Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation makes the counter-to-conventional-wisdom claim that U.S. income inequality has…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Doubling down on cuts to the IRS is bad for the federal budget and for tax fairness in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog JAN 9, 2024

The U.S. Congress recently announced a bipartisan budget deal for fiscal year 2024 appropriations for the U.S. federal government. The budget is largely consistent with the framework agreed to in…

By: David S. Mitchell (opens in a new tab)

New evidence shows that limiting a tax break for highly leveraged firms doesn’t hurt the U.S. economy (opens in a new tab)

Blog NOV 21, 2023

Does increasing taxes on businesses reduce private-sector investment? Most economists agree that investment in new projects and technologies is a key driver of economic growth. While the tax code plays…

By: David S. Mitchell (opens in a new tab)

Employment scarring research suggests benefits for aggressive U.S. fiscal policy in response to recessions (opens in a new tab)

Blog OCT 19, 2023

It can be difficult for the federal government to get its fiscal response to an economic downturn just right. Too much fiscal stimulus can create excess fiscal demand and inflation,…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

The role of private equity in the U.S. economy, and whether and how favorable tax policies for the sector need to be reformed (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs SEP 14, 2023

The increasing impact of private equity firms upon large swaths of the U.S. economy in recent decades is drawing more attention to the tax treatment of these firms as they…

By: Arpit Gupta (opens in a new tab), Sabrina Howell (opens in a new tab)

GDP 2.0: Measuring who prospers when the U.S. economy grows (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 11, 2023

This post was updated on July 11, 2023. Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, is the constant go-to economic indicator that news anchors and U.S. Members of Congress alike love to…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Equitable Growth delivers economist sign-on letter and comment letter to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on its Proposed Revisions to Circular A-4, Regulatory Analysis (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs JUN 20, 2023

This post has been updated to reflect that Equitable Growth’s economist sign-on letter, not our comment letter, was submitted to regulations.gov due to an administrative submission error. The Washington Center…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

What monetary and fiscal policy can tell us about the U.S. recovery from the COVID-19 recession (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 14, 2023

The Federal Reserve is at the center of the main story in the U.S. economy, and not just because there’s actual ambiguity around this week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting.…

By: Michael Madowitz (opens in a new tab)

Money for nothing: The Qualified Small Business Stock capital gains exclusion is a giveaway to wealthy investors, startup founders, and their employees (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs JUN 8, 2023

The Qualified Small Business Stock exclusion, enshrined in Section 1202 of the Internal Revenue Code, permits early-stage venture capital firms and angel investors in high-tech startups, those startups’ founders, and…

By: Manoj Viswanathan (opens in a new tab)

Proposed update to federal cost-benefit analysis guidelines correctly focuses on accounting for inequality in regulations (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs MAY 23, 2023

The White House last month unveiled a proposed update to an obscure but highly influential government document called the Circular A-4, which governs how the federal government conducts regulatory cost-benefit…

By: David S. Mitchell (opens in a new tab)

The rise of industrial policy means data synchronization is more critical than ever (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 12, 2023

Industrial policy is the hot new trend in D.C. policymaking circles, a Biden administration promise to radically transform the economy that is pouring federal dollars into green energy, infrastructure, and…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Maybe some Earth Day soon, we’ll know what nature is worth (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs APR 24, 2023

This past January, the Biden administration unveiled its “National Strategy to Develop Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions,” an effort to bring the health and sustainability of natural resources in the United…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Seven ways the inflation debate in the United States has changed since last year and how the Fed can now recalibrate its monetary policy (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 12, 2023

Inflation in the United States today is considerably cooler than at its peak in the first half of 2022, but it will remain at the center of the economic policy…

By: Michael Madowitz (opens in a new tab)

Why measuring inflation is surprisingly challenging (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 5, 2023

In spite of recent bank turmoil in the United States and abroad, reining in inflation remains very much at the top of the macroeconomic agenda for policymakers in advanced economies…

By: Michael Madowitz (opens in a new tab)

Summary of Equitable Growth’s March ‘Econ 101’ briefing on inflation for Capitol Hill staffers (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 23, 2023

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth hosted a briefing earlier this month—part of a series we call “Econ 101”—presenting the key points on inflation to congressional staffers in both the…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Executive actions to modernize federal data collection and improve measurements of U.S. economic inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 22, 2023

Relevant federal agencies U.S. Census Bureau U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor Relevant federal laws Internal Revenue Code…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Inflation, Federal Reserve policymaking, and liquidity traps (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 14, 2023

The Federal Reserve is fighting inflation, but more importantly, the Fed wants everyone to know that it is fighting inflationary expectations. This means, in the short term, that with inflation…

By: Michael Madowitz (opens in a new tab)

The importance of the American Rescue Plan for U.S. workers and families on the law’s second anniversary, in 8 charts (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 10, 2023

Tomorrow marks 2 years since the American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law. One year after the COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020 triggered enormous employment losses and…

By: Carmen Sanchez Cumming (opens in a new tab), Raksha Kopparam (opens in a new tab)

Data infrastructure and tribal sovereignty can help break down barriers for Native Americans to build wealth (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs MAR 2, 2023

For centuries, Indigenous communities in the United States have faced devastating poverty. American Indians and Alaska Natives today experience the highest rate of poverty, at 25 percent, of any major…

By: Raksha Kopparam (opens in a new tab)

U.S. income and wealth inequality are no longer increasing, but a return to the equitable levels of the mid-20th century isn’t likely anytime soon (opens in a new tab)

Blog JAN 17, 2023

Five or 6 years ago, economists and pundits frequently debated whether the incomes of low- and middle-class households in the United States were stagnating. I wrote about it, and I…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

A missed opportunity to expand the Child Tax Credit will affect U.S. families and the broader economy now and for years to come (opens in a new tab)

Blog DEC 21, 2022

Earlier this week, the U.S. Congress released its proposed omnibus bill that funds the federal government through September 2023 and makes various other reforms to the nation’s retirement system, antitrust…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

New digital tools demonstrate the promise of measuring well-being in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog DEC 21, 2022

This summer, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth partnered with New America, the Justice, Health & Democracy Impact Initiative at Harvard University, and the U.S. Departments of Commerce and the…

By: Elizabeth Garlow (opens in a new tab), Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab), Anthony Guidotti (opens in a new tab)

U.S. inflationary trends amid the COVID-19 pandemic (opens in a new tab)

Reports DEC 13, 2022

Fast facts The chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, and other members of the U.S. central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee, which sets monetary policies, are keenly aware of…

By: Michael Weber (opens in a new tab)

A review of federal lending to small business owners of color during the COVID-19 pandemic (opens in a new tab)

Reports DEC 13, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020 hammered small businesses across the globe. The number of active businesses declined precipitously, supply chain interruptions reduced business operations, and global trade…

By: Rachel Marie Brooks Atkins (opens in a new tab)

Early evidence on federal government income supports for U.S. individuals, workers, and families during the COVID-19 pandemic (opens in a new tab)

Reports DEC 13, 2022

This report focuses on preliminary research surrounding the three largest income support programs totaling $1.6 trillion that were paid directly to U.S. individuals, workers, and families amid the first two…

By: Alex Bell (opens in a new tab)

Factsheet: What the research says about the economics of the 2021 enhanced Child Tax Credit (opens in a new tab)

Factsheets NOV 29, 2022

The Child Tax Credit has historically provided income support to middle- and high-income taxpayers with children. In 2021, however, the U.S. Congress enacted a temporary enhanced Child Tax Credit with…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

How the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 is promoting sustainable U.S. economic growth and mitigating climate change (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs NOV 18, 2022

In an issue brief earlier this year, Equitable Growth discussed how the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 rests on sound economic principles and analyzed the ways that its…

By: Michael Madowitz (opens in a new tab), Shaun Harrison (opens in a new tab)

What are the distributional effects of monetary policy? (opens in a new tab)

Blog NOV 17, 2022

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth recently announced our 2023 Request for Proposals to support research investigating the various channels through which economic inequality, in all its forms, may or…

By: Shaun Harrison (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation with Lenore Palladino (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation NOV 16, 2022

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…

By: Kate Bahn (opens in a new tab)

The Fed is aggressively but perhaps deliberately playing catch-up on inflation (opens in a new tab)

Blog NOV 2, 2022

The members of the Federal Reserve Board’s interest-rate-setting committee are almost universally expected to raise interest rates by 0.75 percentage points this week, as they have at each of their…

By: Michael Madowitz (opens in a new tab)

What federal statistical agencies can do to improve survey response rates among Hispanic communities in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog OCT 14, 2022

Between 2010 and 2020, the Hispanic American population grew 23 percent, making it one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States. According to the 2020 decennial census, Hispanic Americans…

By: Raksha Kopparam (opens in a new tab)

Equitable Growth provides comments to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis on its new distributing personal income report (opens in a new tab)

Blog OCT 5, 2022

In December 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released a report that studied the feasibility of releasing its distributing personal income product on a quarterly basis. This feasibility study…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Policymakers can still use American Rescue Plan funds to bolster the U.S. child care system and ensure it has a strong future (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 20, 2022

In January, the 118th Congress will draw to a close following a productive session that saw legislative action on pandemic relief, infrastructure investments, manufacturing and research incentives, and critical investments…

By: Sam Abbott (opens in a new tab)

Better data collection can help lift the LGBTQ+ community out of economic hardship in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Videos SEP 15, 2022

Over the past 2-plus years amid the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread evidence has underscored the reality that various communities and demographic groups in the United States experience socioeconomic hardships differently. Numerous…

By: Raksha Kopparam (opens in a new tab)

Measuring spending inequality in the United States in real time (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 8, 2022

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting recession in 2020, followed by a swift U.S. economic recovery, offer lessons today about why real-time data are so crucial to…

By: Loujaina Abdelwahed (opens in a new tab), Jacob Robbins (opens in a new tab), Cole Campbell (opens in a new tab), Shogher Ohannessian (opens in a new tab), Todd Czurylo (opens in a new tab)

Why the Inflation Reduction Act is key to strong, broad-based U.S. economic growth (opens in a new tab)

Blog AUG 16, 2022

The Inflation Reduction Act spells good news for the U.S. economy. The newly signed legislation makes historic investments to combat climate change, lower healthcare costs, and crack down on tax…

By: David S. Mitchell (opens in a new tab)

How to stop a recession by strengthening income supports in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog AUG 15, 2022

Income support programs, such as Unemployment Insurance and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, are powerful tools to deploy when the threat of recession looms and unemployment climbs. By providing income…

By: Alix Gould-Werth (opens in a new tab)

Policymakers tackling inflation can’t overlook the impact of higher interest rates on the U.S. child care market (opens in a new tab)

Blog AUG 11, 2022

As families in the United States grapple with rising prices and ongoing supply shortages, fiscal and monetary policymakers are shifting their focus from the COVID-19 recession and recovery to the…

By: Sam Abbott (opens in a new tab)

Factsheet: Is the U.S. economy in a recession, and how does recession dating work? (opens in a new tab)

Factsheets AUG 10, 2022

As inflationary pressure continues to cause higher prices for U.S. families, policymakers and economists alike continue to debate whether the United States is entering—or already entered, or will soon enter—a…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

The economic evidence behind the Inflation Reduction Act and why it will boost strong, broad-based economic growth (opens in a new tab)

Blog AUG 5, 2022

The Inflation Reduction Act spells good news for the U.S. economy. The proposed legislation now before the U.S. Senate would make historic investments to combat climate change, lower healthcare costs,…

By: David S. Mitchell (opens in a new tab)

NBER Summer Institute 2022 Round-up: Week 3 (opens in a new tab)

Blog AUG 1, 2022

On July 11, the National Bureau of Economic Research kicked off its summer institute, an annual 3-week conference featuring discussions and paper presentations on various topics in economics, including environmental…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Taxing the rich: The effect of tax reform and the COVID-19 pandemic on tax flight among U.S. millionaires (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 28, 2022

Taxing the rich is one of the central policy debates in this time of rising inequality. Elite taxation can change the distribution of income in society, support equitable growth, and…

By: Cristobal Young (opens in a new tab), Ithai Lurie (opens in a new tab)

NBER Summer Institute 2022 Round-up: Week 2 (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 26, 2022

On July 11, the National Bureau of Economic Research kicked off its summer institute, an annual 3-week conference featuring discussions and paper presentations on various topics in economics, including disaggregating…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Equitable Growth welcomes R. Jisung Park as a visiting scholar to examine economic impacts of climate change (opens in a new tab)

Videos JUL 25, 2022

Wildfires are blazing across Europe and temperatures are soaring around the world, exemplifying new extremes that are set to become normal as a result of climate change. But the effects…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

NBER Summer Institute 2022 Round-up: Week 1 (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 18, 2022

On July 11, the National Bureau of Economic Research kicked off its summer institute, an annual 3-week conference featuring discussions and paper presentations on various topics in economics, including monopsony…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Canada is the first country to release subannual statistics on the distribution of income. Here’s how it was done. (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 7, 2022

Statistics Canada, the umbrella agency for national statistics in Canada, is the first statistical agency in the world to release subannual data on how economic growth is distributed among rich…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Why the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is good economics (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs JUN 30, 2022

President Joe Biden, in November 2021, signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law, providing $1.2 trillion in new government investments to create millions of jobs, increase U.S. economic…

By: Michelle Holder (opens in a new tab), Shaun Harrison (opens in a new tab)

The impact of different inflationary pressures due to income inequality and racial disparities in the United States today (opens in a new tab)

Videos MAY 26, 2022

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis recently hosted a conference, “Unequal Inflation Impacts,” at which an illuminating set of presentations and additional research sources explored “the ways inflation puts different…

By: Jonathan Fisher (opens in a new tab)

Three observations from the kick-off of a new consensus study by the National Academy of Sciences on measuring U.S. economic inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 19, 2022

A new National Academy of Sciences panel convened publicly for the first time this week to discuss how statistical agencies should unify and improve the measurement of inequality in income,…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Child care costs are going to rise, but policymakers can help U.S. families manage these increases (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 18, 2022

For decades, the U.S. child care market has been on the verge of a crisis. As any parent knows, child care in the United States has long been too expensive,…

By: Sam Abbott (opens in a new tab)

Jobs report: Amid continued job gains, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander workers experience the U.S. labor market in different and often hidden ways (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 6, 2022

Between mid-March and mid-April, the U.S. economy added a strong 428,000 jobs, making it the 12th consecutive month in which employment growth surpasses 400,000 jobs. In addition, according to the…

By: Carmen Sanchez Cumming (opens in a new tab), Kathryn Zickuhr (opens in a new tab)

Testimony by Michelle Holder before the Joint Economic Committee on robust government investments (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 27, 2022

Thank you, Chair Beyer, Ranking Member Lee, Vice Chair Heinrich, and members of the Joint Economic Committee, for inviting me to speak today. It’s an honor to be here virtually.…

By: Michelle Holder (opens in a new tab)

Modeling future economic damages from climate change is an important and underdeveloped area of research (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 22, 2022

This year’s Earth Day celebrations come on the heels of yet another devastating UN report detailing the consequences of climate change—and the global lack of action to mitigate its effects—for…

By: Michael Garvey (opens in a new tab)

The American Rescue Plan helped U.S. families amid the coronavirus pandemic and provides a roadmap for policymakers today (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 11, 2022

When the coronavirus pandemic began to spread across the United States in March 2020 its impact was immediate and severe. The U.S. unemployment rate skyrocketed from a 50-year low of…

By: Michelle Holder (opens in a new tab)

More frequent disaggregated data on U.S. income inequality would improve economic research and inform policymaking (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs FEB 24, 2022

Once a year, since March 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis releases its data series on the distribution of growth in personal income with updated annual…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Six charts that explain how inequality in the United States changed over the past 20 years (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 1, 2022

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, in late 2021, updated its data series on income inequality in the United States. This update adds data for 2019 and extends the data…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

The U.S. economy is in its fourth decade of rising inequality amid the need for more accurate data on its consequences (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs JAN 27, 2022

Economic inequality in the United States continued to rise over the first two decades of the 21st century, according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis—a trend…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Fostering academic research on U.S. economic impact payments that goes beyond the marginal propensity to consume (opens in a new tab)

Blog JAN 18, 2022

Direct government payments to individuals are now a standard part of U.S. fiscal policymakers’ recession-fighting toolkit. Three rounds of so-called economic impact payments from the federal government have been paid…

By: Karen Dynan (opens in a new tab)

Austerity policies in the United States caused ‘stagflation’ in the 1970s and would do so again today (opens in a new tab)

Blog JAN 11, 2022

In the current debate among economists and policymakers in the United States about the causes of inflation, one of the most persistent and most deeply rooted questions is whether today’s…

By: Andrew Elrod (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation with Jonathan Fisher (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation DEC 16, 2021

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…

By: Kate Bahn (opens in a new tab), Jonathan Fisher (opens in a new tab)

Addressing the ‘double gap’ faced by Black women in the U.S. economy (opens in a new tab)

Blog NOV 30, 2021

In my testimony before the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress this past summer, I presented some of the findings from my 2020 report, “The “Double Gap” and the…

By: Michelle Holder (opens in a new tab)

U.S. disability programs provide valuable benefits to low-income recipients across a range of health conditions (opens in a new tab)

Blog NOV 22, 2021

The three components of the U.S. social insurance system serve retirees and those recipients facing challenging health conditions. But all three programs have grown in recent decades, sparking various calls…

By: Manasi Deshpande (opens in a new tab)

Testimony by Jonathan Fisher before the House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth (opens in a new tab)

Videos NOV 17, 2021

Statement for the Roundtable Meeting of the Committee on “Measuring Economic Disparity” House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth November 17, 2021 I am Jonathan Fisher, the…

By: Jonathan Fisher (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation with Erica Groshen (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation OCT 25, 2021

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…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Dispatch from EconCon 2021: Addressing racial and gender stratification in the U.S. economy is key to an equitable and sustainable recovery (opens in a new tab)

Blog OCT 21, 2021

The 2-day EconCon 2021 conference, held virtually from October 6–7, featured speakers, panelists, and moderators from across the progressive policy and academic landscape. They were tasked by the co-hosts of…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Supporting American Indian tribal sovereignty boosts economic outcomes for those on reservation lands (opens in a new tab)

Videos OCT 21, 2021

American Indian communities over the past 30 years experienced more economic growth and improved well-being than during any other point in the more than five centuries since European colonists and…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Measuring economic outcomes for all U.S. workers and their families will hold policymakers accountable to creating broad-based growth (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs OCT 7, 2021

U.S. Gross Domestic Product is one of the most-cited economic statistics and is regularly regarded as shorthand for measuring the economic outcomes of the entire nation. Although it once represented…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Racial equity in U.S. data collection improves the accuracy of research, policy evaluation, and subsequent policymaking (opens in a new tab)

Videos SEP 28, 2021

The U.S. economy and society are rife with racial and ethnic inequalities, from wealth and income divides to disparities in health and well-being, education, and employment outcomes. These racial and…

By: Randall Akee (opens in a new tab)

Diversity in economics and data disaggregation can improve our understanding of the U.S. economy (opens in a new tab)

Videos SEP 27, 2021

Economics as a field is beleaguered by a diversity problem. This is not a new phenomenon, but diversity-related issues are now more widely discussed within many organizations and professional disciplines,…

By: Marie T. Mora (opens in a new tab)

A cost-benefit analysis of The American Families Plan’s proposed investment in a nationwide public preschool program (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs SEP 22, 2021

President Joe Biden asked the U.S. Congress to consider investing $200 billion over 10 years in “a national partnership with states to offer free, high-quality, accessible, and inclusive preschool to…

By: Robert Lynch (opens in a new tab)

The value of racial and gender diversity at the Federal Reserve (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 16, 2021

The Federal Reserve’s so-called dual mandate to maintain overall price stability and maximum sustainable growth in U.S. employment is always on the minds of the U.S. central bank’s Federal Open…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

The coming public debt scare should not spook U.S. policymakers from investing in physical and social infrastructure (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 7, 2021

Public debt scaremongering is back in fashion on Capitol Hill. Republican legislators, from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on down, are invoking the high level of federal government debt—currently…

By: Barry Eichengreen (opens in a new tab)

Completing the unfinished New Deal to overcome 21st century U.S. economic inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog AUG 31, 2021

President Joe Biden wants Congress to enact his two signature legislative packages—the $1 trillion bipartisan physical infrastructure plan passed by the U.S. Senate earlier in August and a $3.5 trillion…

By: David S. Mitchell (opens in a new tab)

NBER Summer Institute 2021 Round-up: Week 2 (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 26, 2021

On July 12, the National Bureau of Economic Research kicked off its summer institute, an annual 3-week conference featuring discussions and paper presentations on specific subfields of economics, including wealth…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

NBER Summer Institute 2021 Round-up: Week 1 (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 19, 2021

On July 12, the National Bureau of Economic Research kicked off its summer institute, an annual 3-week conference featuring discussions and paper presentations on specific subfields of economics, including inequality…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Fiscal austerity intensifies the increase in inequality after pandemics (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 13, 2021

(This column is reprinted with the permission of the authors. It was first published by voxeu.org on June 3, 2021) In the aftermath of past pandemics, fiscal policy played an…

By: Davide Furceri (opens in a new tab), Prakash Loungani (opens in a new tab), Jonathan Ostry (opens in a new tab), Pietro Pizzuto (opens in a new tab)

Average inflation targeting by the Federal Reserve and U.S. consumer expectations (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 13, 2021

In August 2020, the Federal Open Market Committee published an amended version of its “Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy.” In this revised statement, the FOMC reaffirmed its…

By: Carola Binder (opens in a new tab)

A temporary increase in inflation is not a long-run threat to U.S. economic growth and prosperity (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 9, 2021

After a decade of below-target rates of inflation and the widespread fear of a Japanese-style prolonged economic stagnation with low inflation and zero growth, the incipient economic recovery in the…

By: Francesco D’Acunto (opens in a new tab), Michael Weber (opens in a new tab)

The economic benefits of equal opportunity in the United States by ending racial, ethnic, and gender disparities (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs JUN 29, 2021

Racial, ethnic, and gender disparities across the U.S. economy are a personal tragedy for the millions of individuals who suffer from the emotional, psychological, and social consequences. These disparities also…

By: Robert Lynch (opens in a new tab)

A new report lays out the path forward for faltering U.S. Unemployment Insurance system (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 24, 2021

Today, experts from seven organizations released a fortuitously timed report charting a path forward for the U.S. Unemployment Insurance program. Unemployment Insurance is the main social insurance program designed to…

By: Alix Gould-Werth (opens in a new tab)

The imperative of focusing on racial equity in U.S. economic statistics (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 11, 2021

The coronavirus pandemic and resulting sharp recession put a glaring spotlight on the importance of data disaggregation. During the early stages of the pandemic, most states were not reporting coronavirus…

By: Shaun Harrison (opens in a new tab)

Sustained U.S. economic recovery depends on major equitable economic investments (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 11, 2021

When President Joe Biden made the case before a joint session of Congress in the spring for two new economic investment packages—a $2 trillion American Jobs Plan and a $1.8…

By: Michael Garvey (opens in a new tab)

The American anti-austerity tradition (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 20, 2021

The financialization of the U.S. economy has directed U.S. savings into more and more unproductive speculative investments. Consumption has become increasingly buoyed by unsustainable “indebted demand.” And the threat of…

By: Robert Manduca (opens in a new tab)

Overheating is not a concern for the U.S. economy (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 26, 2021

Critics of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and further public investments financed through a combination of tax increases and deficit spending—such as his administration’s proposed American Jobs…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Policy workshop addressed promises and challenges of using carbon pricing to combat climate change (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 15, 2021

Climate change might be the world’s most complex public policy problem. It is more global, more long-term, more irreversible, and more uncertain than most other policy challenges and probably unique…

By: Gernot Wagner (opens in a new tab)

Investing in an equitable future (opens in a new tab)

Videos APR 14, 2021

The United States faces four converging and overlapping challenges—a public health crisis and resulting economic one, a reckoning over structural racism, and the worsening effects of climate change—all of which…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Uncertainty about the size of annual tax refunds hinders the effectiveness of tax-based U.S. redistribution (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 8, 2021

Each tax season, many families in the United States receive additional income through refundable tax credits, among them the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. These two tax…

By: Sydnee Caldwell (opens in a new tab), Scott Nelson (opens in a new tab), Daniel Waldinger (opens in a new tab)

The latest economic research demonstrates why concerns about federal budget deficits and U.S. debt levels are overblown (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs APR 1, 2021

A growing number of economists are reconsidering long-held views about the appropriate level of public borrowing and the consequences of federal budget deficits and debt on U.S. economic growth and…

By: Shaun Harrison (opens in a new tab)

New Great Recession data suggest Congress should go big to spur a broad-based, sustained U.S. economic recovery (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs MAR 4, 2021

As federal policymakers debate President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, critics now argue that it will “overshoot,” meaning it would boost economic activity beyond the desired level.…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Executive actions to improve U.S. economic measurements (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 3, 2021

Relevant federal offices and agencies White House Office of Management and Budget Interagency Working Group on Equitable Data Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce Office of Tax Policy, Department…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Executive actions to coordinate federal countercyclical regulatory policy (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 17, 2021

This factsheet has been adapted from Yair Listokin’s Vision 2020 essay and his 2019 book, Law and Macroeconomics: Legal Remedies to Recessions. Overview Traditional macroeconomic tools—fiscal policy from the U.S.…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

How to replace COVID relief deadlines with automatic ‘triggers’ that meet the needs of the U.S. economy (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 11, 2021

To strengthen the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic downturn, President Joe Biden seeks to enact his American Rescue Plan to stop the spread of…

By: David S. Mitchell (opens in a new tab), Corey Husak (opens in a new tab)

Sovereignty and improved economic outcomes for American Indians: Building on the gains made since 1990 (opens in a new tab)

Blog JAN 14, 2021

This essay is part of Boosting Wages for U.S. Workers in the New Economy, a compilation of 10 essays from leading economic thinkers who explore alternative policies for boosting wages…

By: Randall Akee (opens in a new tab)

Public investments in education can spur equitable growth, pay for themselves, and create jobs for a stronger economic recovery (opens in a new tab)

Reports OCT 27, 2020

Public investments in education, in both physical structures and in services, are key to long-run economic growth and human well-being. Some of these investments are especially effective in promoting more…

By: Robert Lynch (opens in a new tab)

The rising number of U.S. households with burdensome student debt calls for a federal response (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs OCT 21, 2020

Today, about 43 million adults in the United States collectively hold $1.5 trillion in federal student loan debt and an additional $119 billion in private student loans not backed by…

By: Raksha Kopparam (opens in a new tab), Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Can policymakers reverse the unequal decline in middle-age U.S. homeownership rates? (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs OCT 13, 2020

Homeownership in the United States has long functioned as a wealth equalizer, allowing middle-class families to build wealth while they pay for their housing costs. Because houses have generally appreciated…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab), John Sabelhaus (opens in a new tab)

Policy prescriptions for the flawed and unequal retirement savings systems that perpetuate U.S. economic inequality (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs OCT 7, 2020

Outside of homeownership, retirement savings are the most important way middle-class workers and their families build wealth in the United States. But this second pillar of wealth creation is woefully…

By: David S. Mitchell (opens in a new tab), John Sabelhaus (opens in a new tab)

New wealth data show that the economic expansion after the Great Recession was a wealthless recovery for many U.S. households (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs OCT 5, 2020

The Federal Reserve’s 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, or SCF, released last week, shows that the wealth of many U.S. households never recovered from the shock of the Great Recession…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Structural racism and the coronavirus recession highlight why more and better U.S. data need to be widely disaggregated by race and ethnicity (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs SEP 24, 2020

The enduring legacy of structural racism in the United States is not news to the multihued communities of color across our nation. And in these Black, Latinx, Native American, Asian…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab), Michael Garvey (opens in a new tab)

The hidden costs of stock-market-first U.S. economic policies (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 22, 2020

The idea that sound U.S. economic policy begins and ends with a strong stock market is becoming pervasive. Advocates of what I call the stock-market-first approach want you to focus…

By: John Sabelhaus (opens in a new tab)

Main Street’s workers, families, and small businesses are now suffering as Wall Street prospers from policies to fight the coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs SEP 17, 2020

In San Antonio, 10,000 cars lined up to get bags of groceries from a local food bank, waiting hours in the heat for help. In New Orleans, advocates chained themselves…

By: Amanda Fischer (opens in a new tab)

What is Gross Domestic Product, and what does it measure? (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 2, 2020

Gross Domestic Product growth may once have indicated good fortune for the vast majority of Americans, but over the past several decades, many Americans were left increasingly behind. This reality…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Get more money immediately to U.S. families and help them out of the coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 1, 2020

The costs of the deepening coronavirus recession and the benefits of the federal government providing another round of direct economic aid to families are clear. Let’s begin with the mounting…

By: Michael Garvey (opens in a new tab), Claudia Sahm (opens in a new tab)

Revamping U.S. small business rescue programs amid the coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Blog AUG 27, 2020

The coronavirus economic rescue programs enacted by Congress this past spring failed to prevent layoffs and firm bankruptcies among the smallest employers in the United States. Existing resources, such as…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Taxing wealth and investment income in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs AUG 25, 2020

The federal income tax does a poor job of taxing income derived from wealth. The root cause of this problem is that the tax code allows taxpayers to defer (without…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Achieving universal paid family and medical leave in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog AUG 24, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic and the recession it caused lay bare a familiar challenge for U.S. workers—balancing family and job responsibilities without access to paid family and medical leave. When a…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Disaggregated data on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders is crucial amid the coronavirus pandemic (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs AUG 20, 2020

The novel coronavirus pandemic and the recession it caused lay bare the clear links between racial and ethnic economic inequities, structural racism, and the outsized harm of these crises on…

By: Christian Edlagan (opens in a new tab), Raksha Kopparam (opens in a new tab)

Building worker power in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs AUG 20, 2020

Wages have stagnated for most U.S. workers over the past 40 years while the labor market institutions that promote worker power have faltered in a pro-business and anti-worker policy environment.…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Improving automatic stabilizers to combat U.S. economic recessions (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs AUG 19, 2020

The new coronavirus pandemic and the recession it caused show that the typical set of economic policies used to fight recessions in the United States should be designed to automatically…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Reforming Unemployment Insurance across the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog AUG 17, 2020

Longstanding problems with the Unemployment Insurance system in the United States are immediately evident amid the coronavirus recession and echo the problems experienced during the Great Recession more than a…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Restoring the federal estate tax is a proven way to raise revenue and address wealth inequality (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs AUG 14, 2020

Wealth inequality in the United States is rising more steeply to the already very rich, even more than the well-known rise in income inequality. The wealthiest 1 percent of families…

By: John Sabelhaus (opens in a new tab)

Gaps in U.S. rural and urban economic growth widened in the post-Great Recession economy, with implications amid the coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Blog AUG 6, 2020

Prior to the current coronavirus recession, most U.S. economic metrics pointed to a slow but steady nationwide recovery amid an 11-year post-Great Recession run of economic growth. But prosperity was…

By: Raksha Kopparam (opens in a new tab)

Testimony by Heather Boushey before the Joint Economic Committee on the Coronavirus Recession (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 30, 2020

Thank you, Vice Chair Beyer and Chairman Lee, for inviting me to speak today. It’s an honor to be here. My name is Heather Boushey, and I am president and…

By: Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

Congress must act to help U.S. families facing an income crisis (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 29, 2020

We now have 4.3 million confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the United States. The virus moves fast, and policymakers in Washington move slow. Families across the country face…

By: Claudia Sahm (opens in a new tab)

Broken plumbing: How systems for delivering economic relief in response to the coronavirus recession failed the U.S. economy (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs JUL 29, 2020

Sudden economic contractions are dangerous. Individuals experience income shocks that leave them hungry, sick, and frightened. And if left unchecked, these shocks spread. When people lose income, they stop spending,…

By: Amanda Fischer (opens in a new tab), Alix Gould-Werth (opens in a new tab)

A generational perspective on recent U.S. homeownership divergence by income and race (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs JUL 27, 2020

Between the end of 2012 and the end of 2019, the Federal Reserve Board estimates that the total value of U.S. owner-occupied housing increased nearly 60 percent, from $18.5 trillion…

By: John Sabelhaus (opens in a new tab), Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Sleepwalking into depression: The economic response to COVID-19 in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 24, 2020

Almost five months into our country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing recession, policymakers seem to have lost the urgency that characterized the initial days of dramatic, bipartisan action.…

By: Jacob Robbins (opens in a new tab)

New research on the Great Recession shows extended unemployment benefits insignificantly affect U.S. unemployment rates (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 21, 2020

Unemployment rates in the United States are currently higher than they were at height of the Great Recession, standing at 11.1 percent in June after declining from a record high…

By: Kate Bahn (opens in a new tab)

Did the Paycheck Protection Program work for small businesses across the United States? (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs JUL 15, 2020

Across the United States over the past few weeks, we’ve all seen advertisements, received emails, or heard from friends about small businesses trying to inch back to some semblance of…

By: Amanda Fischer (opens in a new tab)

Americans want green spending in federal coronavirus recession relief packages (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 7, 2020

Coronavirus recession relief packages now under discussion on Capitol Hill present an opportunity to power an economic rebound and address climate change at the same time. This approach would save…

By: Matto Mildenberger (opens in a new tab), Leah Stokes (opens in a new tab)

The coronavirus recession highlights the importance of automatic stabilizers (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs JUN 30, 2020

In February 2020, the U.S. unemployment rate was 3.5 percent. In May 2020, it stood at 13.3 percent. The unemployment rate for Black workers was a still-higher 16.8 percent. Unemployment…

By: Greg Leiserson (opens in a new tab)

The coronavirus recession is an opportunity to cancel all U.S. student loan debt (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 24, 2020

This past March, as a coronavirus relief measure, Congress suspended payments on a lion’s share of federally owned student loans for 6 months. When this temporary loan forbearance expires on…

By: Darrick Hamilton (opens in a new tab), Naomi Zewde (opens in a new tab)

Equitable Growth webinar will explore bold policies to ensure a broad-based economic recovery (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 23, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic recession have exposed and exacerbated many systemic inequalities in U.S. society, especially for Black and Latinx families. Even after a decade of growth…

By: David S. Mitchell (opens in a new tab)

Equitable Growth and The Hamilton Project bring together policymakers and academics to discuss how to fight the coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Videos JUN 11, 2020

At a June 8 online event sponsored by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and The Brookings Institution’s The Hamilton Project, key policymakers and academics discussed how the coronavirus recession…

By: David S. Mitchell (opens in a new tab)

Moving from Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation to a job losers’ stimulus program amid the coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs JUN 5, 2020

The coronavirus recession is shattering businesses and dramatically increasing unemployment, which hit 14.7 percent in April 2020, the highest level since 1948. So far, the federal government has delivered a…

By: Ioana Marinescu (opens in a new tab)

One year later: Recession Ready and the coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Videos JUN 1, 2020

Proposals put forth can help support communities, stabilize the economy amid coronavirus recession One year ago, long before the risks of the new coronavirus and the ensuing recession enveloped our…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Policy options for building resilient U.S. medical supply networks (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs MAY 29, 2020

U.S. policymakers in Congress across the political spectrum, from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), all agree that the United States is…

By: David Adler (opens in a new tab), Dan Breznitz (opens in a new tab), Susan Helper (opens in a new tab)

U.S. income inequality is worse and rising faster than policymakers probably realize (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs MAY 27, 2020

The use of U.S. administrative income tax data for research purposes over the past two decades has led to an ongoing debate about levels and trends in U.S. income inequality.…

By: John Sabelhaus (opens in a new tab), Somin Park (opens in a new tab)

Coronavirus recession: How to get the U.S. economy back on track (opens in a new tab)

Videos MAY 26, 2020

Amid our nation’s health and economic crises, government officials must do more. They must use research and evidence-based polices to support people today and strengthen our economic future. The Washington…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Green stimulus, not dirty bailouts, is the smart investment strategy during the coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs MAY 18, 2020

In March, the federal government passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security bill, more commonly known as the CARES Act. The law aims to provide relief for businesses and…

By: Leah Stokes (opens in a new tab), Matto Mildenberger (opens in a new tab)

Data will provide accountability to ensure the U.S. economic recovery is shared broadly (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 15, 2020

The U.S. economy is a long way from experiencing a recovery from the coronavirus recession. But the actions Congress takes now will determine just how deep the recession gets and…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

For an equitable recovery, federal relief to deal with the coronavirus recession must be transparent to the U.S. public (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 13, 2020

U.S. policymakers’ decisions are only as good as the data they have to inform them, and the public’s trust in institutions is only as good as the information available to…

By: Amanda Fischer (opens in a new tab)

The coronavirus recession is severe, and the damage to the U.S. economy will last years (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 29, 2020

I shared my views on the coronavirus recession on March 24, at a virtual conference that economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman at the University of California, Berkeley organized. My…

By: Claudia Sahm (opens in a new tab)

Good U.S. fiscal policy could have made us stronger before the coronavirus recession and can make us stronger afterward (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 28, 2020

When U.S. policymakers seek to restore the U.S. economy in the wake of the coronavirus recession, what will constitute success? Returning the economy to its prepandemic state is not sufficient.…

By: John Sabelhaus (opens in a new tab)

Where should the marginal dollar go in U.S. fiscal policy—to testing or to the safety net—amid a pandemic-induced economic downturn? (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 27, 2020

In our recent working paper, “An SEIR Infectious Disease Model with Testing and Conditional Quarantine,” the two of us and Simon Mongey, an assistant professor of economics at the University…

By: David Berger (opens in a new tab), Kyle Herkenhoff (opens in a new tab)

Early lessons learned from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s first round of lending from its Paycheck Protection Program (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 23, 2020

Underscoring the direness of the coronavirus recession, Congress just reached an agreement to provide another $380 billion in rescue funding for small businesses, just one month after the passage of…

By: Amanda Fischer (opens in a new tab)

Three important questions to answer about global financial stabilization policies amid the coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 20, 2020

On March 24, my colleagues Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman at the University of California, Berkeley asked me to present to a teleconference of about 100 economists and other experts…

By: Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas (opens in a new tab)

The coronavirus pandemic highlights the importance of disaggregating U.S. data by race and ethnicity (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 17, 2020

“We are all in this together” has been the refrain over the past four weeks, but it is far from the reality. Some of us still have jobs, while millions…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Dealing with the U.S. economic and public health effects of the coronavirus recession compassionately and with an eye on a strong recovery (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 17, 2020

On March 24, I presented to a teleconference of about 100 economists and other experts gathered by my colleagues Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman of the University of California, Berkeley…

By: Jason Furman (opens in a new tab)

The coronavirus recession and economic inequality: A roadmap to recovery and long-term structural change (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs APR 16, 2020

This post reflects our organization’s overall guiding policy principles for confronting the coronavirus recession and its relationship to U.S. economic inequality as detailed on April 16. These principles still hold…

By: Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab), Somin Park (opens in a new tab)

Two significant U.S. macroeconomic needs to consider amid the coronavirus pandemic (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 15, 2020

Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman of the University of California, Berkeley organized a teleconference in late March of more than 100 economists and other experts at which I, along with…

By: N. Gregory Mankiw (opens in a new tab)

Rescuing small businesses to fight the coronavirus recession and prevent further economic inequality in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs APR 14, 2020

The U.S. Congress last month mobilized trillions of dollars in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act to help workers and businesses survive while mandatory COVID-19 public health measures…

By: Amanda Fischer (opens in a new tab)

The three ways fiscal policy can be used to fight COVID-19 and the coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 14, 2020

Late in March, before the U.S. Congress passed the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and President Donald Trump signed it into law, economists Emmanuel Saez and…

By: Olivier Blanchard (opens in a new tab)

U.S. economic policy principles for confronting the coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 8, 2020

This post reflects our organization’s overall guiding policy principles for confronting the coronavirus recession as detailed on March 24. These principles still hold as there remains much to be done…

By: Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab), Somin Park (opens in a new tab)

The most exposed workers in the coronavirus recession are also key consumers: Making sure they get help is key to fighting the recession (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs APR 8, 2020

The United States is currently facing the fastest economic downturn in its history, which, without strong action, could also become one of the most severe that it has ever seen.…

By: Christina Patterson (opens in a new tab)

Three important questions to answer about U.S. financial stabilization policies amid the coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 7, 2020

The Federal Reserve Board last month took extraordinary actions to deal with the financial shocks delivered by the coronavirus pandemic. And Fed action, in a number of ways, will determine…

By: J. Nellie Liang (opens in a new tab)

The latest research on the public health and economic costs and benefits of containing the coronavirus pandemic (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 6, 2020

Scientists around the world are scrambling to find and test anti-viral drugs and a new vaccine for COVID-19, the disease behind the coronavirus pandemic now sweeping the planet. Economists and…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

U.S. Census Day 2020: The history and the challenges amid the coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs APR 1, 2020

April Fool’s Day usually marks a day filled with well-planned pranks and practical jokes, but this year’s April 1 commemorates a very special occasion: the 2020 Census Day. Census Day…

By: Raksha Kopparam (opens in a new tab)

The importance of an expanded U.S. Unemployment Insurance system during the coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 31, 2020

On March 24, my colleagues Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman at the University of California, Berkeley, gathered some 100 fellow economists and other experts online to discuss the actions the…

By: Arindrajit Dube (opens in a new tab)

The long-term consequences of recessions for U.S. workers (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 30, 2020

Policymakers have asked—in some cases, demanded—that people stay home and businesses shutter as a public health crisis has unfolded across the United States, inducing an economic downturn. Despite positive developments…

By: Liz Hipple (opens in a new tab)

Getting money urgently to low-wage U.S. workers (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 30, 2020

To cushion the blow of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Congress last week passed and President Donald Trump signed the $2.2 trillion emergency stimulus package, including provisions to send checks…

By: Lisa Cook (opens in a new tab)

Congress fights back, and it’s absolutely necessary (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 27, 2020

(This piece was updated on April 1, 2020 to reflect the IRS guidance on the economic impact payments related to the coronavirus recession.) The coronavirus is killing people at a…

By: Claudia Sahm (opens in a new tab)

To prevent a long-term recession, make the U.S. government the payor of last resort now (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 27, 2020

The United States is facing an unprecedented economic crisis. With a public health-driven, government-ordered shutdown of vast sectors of the economy to slow the spread of the coronavirus, we’ve never…

By: Emmanuel Saez (opens in a new tab), Gabriel Zucman (opens in a new tab)

Economic experts propose policy responses to coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 24, 2020

University of California, Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, in cooperation with Economics for Inclusive Prosperity, are hosting an invitation-only online conference today to discuss economic policy responses to…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Creative economic solutions could help us avoid the next Great Depression (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 21, 2020

Policymakers across the United States are imposing ever more stringent restrictions on economic and social activities to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. “Flattening the curve” to lower the…

By: Susan Helper (opens in a new tab)

In joint letter, Equitable Growth asks Congress to ‘stanch economic bleeding’ in COVID-19 legislative package (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 19, 2020

Heather Boushey, the president and CEO of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, along with the leaders of three other Washington-based economic think tanks—the Center for American Progress, the Economic…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

New distributional snapshot of U.S. personal income is a landmark federal statistical product (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 16, 2020

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis recently released new estimates of how growth in personal income has been divided among high- and low-income earners between 2007 and…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

The U.S. economy is in a tailspin—policymakers must do everything they can to protect workers and their families (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 13, 2020

This is not a drill. The infections and deaths from the new coronavirus are climbing rapidly. Public events that bring us together are being cancelled or postponed every day to…

By: Claudia Sahm (opens in a new tab)

A coronavirus recession is a real threat that U.S. policymakers must address now to avoid it becoming reality (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 11, 2020

Four days ago, I wrote in The Hill about how the federal government could fight the rapidly spreading new coronavirus. So much has happened since then. Today, public health officials…

By: Claudia Sahm (opens in a new tab)

U.S. economic policymakers need to fight the coronavirus now (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 4, 2020

The human tragedy of the coronavirus is now here in the United States. Nine deaths from the coronavirus have been reported in Washington state so far. Each day, more and…

By: Claudia Sahm (opens in a new tab)

The never-ending cycle: Incarceration, credit scores, and wealth accumulation in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 4, 2020

There are many events in people’s lives that can suddenly change the course of their future. Being incarcerated, or having a history of incarceration, is one significant event that research…

By: William Darity Jr. (opens in a new tab), Sarah Elizabeth Gaither (opens in a new tab), Monica Garcia-Perez (opens in a new tab)

Gross Domestic Product sets the tone of the U.S. economic debate while leaving working- and middle-class families behind (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 3, 2020

In a now-infamous incident in 2016, social scientist Anand Menon of King’s College London was discussing the economics of Brexit at a public forum. Upon noting that Brexit was likely…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Equitable Growth launches Vision 2020 book with discussion of research and policy ideas (opens in a new tab)

Videos FEB 24, 2020

The need for systemic change, the power of government to improve the U.S. economy and society, and the importance of connecting research, evidence, and data to the U.S. policymaking process…

By: David S. Mitchell (opens in a new tab)

When will everyone who wants to work have a job in the United States? (opens in a new tab)

Videos FEB 20, 2020

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) prefaced her questions directed to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at last week’s semiannual Humphrey-Hawkins congressional hearings with a history of the full employment mandate. In…

By: Claudia Sahm (opens in a new tab)

Reforming U.S. antitrust enforcement and competition policy (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 18, 2020

This essay is part of Vision 2020: Evidence for a stronger economy, a compilation of 21 essays presenting innovative, evidence-based, and concrete ideas to shape the 2020 policy debate. The…

By: Fiona M. Scott Morton (opens in a new tab)

A modest tax reform proposal to roll back federal tax policy to 1997 (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 18, 2020

This essay is part of Vision 2020: Evidence for a stronger economy, a compilation of 21 essays presenting innovative, evidence-based, and concrete ideas to shape the 2020 policy debate. The…

By: Owen Zidar (opens in a new tab), Eric Zwick (opens in a new tab)

Good U.S. monetary policy can’t fix bad U.S. fiscal policy (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 18, 2020

This essay is part of Vision 2020: Evidence for a stronger economy, a compilation of 21 essays presenting innovative, evidence-based, and concrete ideas to shape the 2020 policy debate. The…

By: John Sabelhaus (opens in a new tab)

Fighting the next recession in the United States with law and regulation, not just fiscal and monetary policies (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 18, 2020

This essay is part of Vision 2020: Evidence for a stronger economy, a compilation of 21 essays presenting innovative, evidence-based, and concrete ideas to shape the 2020 policy debate. The…

By: Yair Listokin (opens in a new tab)

Race and the lack of intergenerational economic mobility in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 18, 2020

This essay is part of Vision 2020: Evidence for a stronger economy, a compilation of 21 essays presenting innovative, evidence-based, and concrete ideas to shape the 2020 policy debate. The…

By: Bradley Hardy (opens in a new tab), Trevon Logan (opens in a new tab)

The logistics of a reparations program in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 18, 2020

This essay is part of Vision 2020: Evidence for a stronger economy, a compilation of 21 essays presenting innovative, evidence-based, and concrete ideas to shape the 2020 policy debate. The…

By: Dania Francis (opens in a new tab)

A plan for equitable climate policy in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 18, 2020

This essay is part of Vision 2020: Evidence for a stronger economy, a compilation of 21 essays presenting innovative, evidence-based, and concrete ideas to shape the 2020 policy debate. The…

By: Leah Stokes (opens in a new tab), Matto Mildenberger (opens in a new tab)

New measurement for a new economy (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 18, 2020

This essay is part of Vision 2020: Evidence for a stronger economy, a compilation of 21 essays presenting innovative, evidence-based, and concrete ideas to shape the 2020 policy debate. The…

By: Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

Encouraging banks to serve the credit needs of everyone (opens in a new tab)

Videos FEB 3, 2020

“Steady as she goes” could sum up the news from the Federal Reserve last week—that is, if we are talking about its interest-rate decision. Monetary policy is a key mandate…

By: Claudia Sahm (opens in a new tab)

Why Americans need to know more about the Federal Reserve (opens in a new tab)

Blog JAN 28, 2020

What is the most important policy decision about the U.S. economy this week? Arguably, it won’t be made in Congress or by the Trump administration. It’s the vote at the…

By: Claudia Sahm (opens in a new tab)

President and CEO Heather Boushey shares insights on inequality and growth via Medium (opens in a new tab)

Blog JAN 24, 2020

Washington Center for Equitable Growth President and CEO Heather Boushey today posted her debut article, “Why we need an economy that works for everyone — and how to get it,”…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

To move beyond GDP, put alternatives front and center (opens in a new tab)

Blog JAN 23, 2020

Economists increasingly believe it is important to do more to measure the economic well-being of the families who make up the economy and to deemphasize Gross Domestic Product growth, the…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Nobel laureates, former Fed chair, two former CEA chairs–58 scholars endorse the Measuring Real Income Growth Act of 2019 (opens in a new tab)

Blog DEC 18, 2019

Fifty-eight economists and other social scientists, including Nobel laureates Robert Solow and Joseph Stiglitz, former chair of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen, and former chairs of the Council of Economic…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

New measure of county-level GDP gives insight into local-level U.S. economic growth (opens in a new tab)

Blog DEC 16, 2019

Since the 1930s and ‘40s, the United States has primarily relied on Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, as the main measure of economic growth and activity. For decades, analysts viewed…

By: Raksha Kopparam (opens in a new tab)

Equitable Growth joins 10 other organizations in endorsing the Measuring Real Income Growth Act (opens in a new tab)

Blog DEC 11, 2019

For decades, the approach to economic policymaking in the United States has been conducted under the presumption that “a rising tide lifts all boats,” and that we can therefore rely…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Great Recession’s ‘lost generation’ shows importance of policies to ease next downturn (opens in a new tab)

Blog DEC 10, 2019

There is considerable research showing that recessions hit young college graduates harder than older graduates. Based on the evidence from research I’ve done for a new working paper, the damage…

By: Jesse Rothstein (opens in a new tab)

To fight falling U.S. intergenerational mobility, tackle economic inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog DEC 5, 2019

Economic inequality—on the rise since the 1980s—is occurring at the same time that intergenerational mobility is on the decline. Intergenerational mobility measures the relationship between children and their parents’ incomes.…

By: Raksha Kopparam (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation with Fabian Pfeffer (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation NOV 13, 2019

“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…

By: Liz Hipple (opens in a new tab)

Public Policy Implications of the Millennial Wealth Gap (opens in a new tab)

Blog OCT 24, 2019

The essay below by Senior Policy Advisor Liz Hipple was published today by New America as part of a collection of essays in its new book, “The Emerging Millennial Wealth…

By: Liz Hipple (opens in a new tab)

Equitable Growth CEO Talks All Things Economic Inequality in Recent Reddit “Ask Me Anything” series (opens in a new tab)

Blog OCT 21, 2019

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth President and CEO Heather Boushey earlier this month answered questions from across the world on economic inequality via the social networking platform Reddit as…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Testimony by Heather Boushey before the Joint Economic Committee (opens in a new tab)

Videos OCT 16, 2019

Thank you, Chairman Lee and Vice Chair Maloney, for inviting me to speak today. It’s an honor to be here. My name is Heather Boushey and I am President and…

By: Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

Equitable Growth event highlights Boushey’s new book Unbound about how inequality obstructs, subverts, and distorts economic growth (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 20, 2019

Drawing lessons from data and the need to rebuild governing institutions to address structural problems in the U.S. economy were key themes at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth’s most…

By: Somin Park (opens in a new tab)

Testimony by Heather Boushey before the House Budget Committee (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 19, 2019

Thank you, Chairman Yarmuth and Ranking Member Womack, for inviting me to speak today. It’s an honor to be here. My name is Heather Boushey and I am President and…

By: Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

Economic inequality matters for Federal Reserve monetary policymaking (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 17, 2019

After the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates at the end of July, Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that inequality concerns influenced the decision when he underscored the importance of…

By: Somin Park (opens in a new tab)

Low interest rates can dampen competition and hurt productivity growth (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 16, 2019

U.S. interest rates hovered near zero for 7 years after the Federal Reserve slashed rates in 2008 during the Great Recession, with a gradual series of rate hikes then carrying…

By: Somin Park (opens in a new tab)

Newly released U.S. poverty statistics show that recent economic growth is not broadly shared (opens in a new tab)

Essays SEP 11, 2019

The U.S. Census Bureau yesterday released the 2018 poverty rate alongside information on the 2018 median household income in the United States. The takeaway? Things are not improving that much.…

By: Alix Gould-Werth (opens in a new tab)

The death of the Phillips Curve is the time to lift up new economic indicators (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 4, 2019

The U.S. Federal Reserve Board’s “dual mandate” of achieving maximum employment and stable prices is based on an economic rule of thumb known as the Phillips Curve. First postulated in…

By: Kate Bahn (opens in a new tab), Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

The Federal Reserve’s new Distributional Financial Accounts provide telling data on growing U.S. wealth and income inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog AUG 22, 2019

Wealth disparities between the rich and the poor in the United States have broadened over the past 30 years, according to a new dataset released earlier this month by researchers…

By: Raksha Kopparam (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation with Gabriel Zucman (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation AUG 7, 2019

“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…

By: Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

Perceived fiscal space and the case for automatic stabilizers (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUL 22, 2019

Why do policymakers around the world often place limits—often ill-advised ones—on their fiscal responses to financial crises? Do they act because of economic concerns about deficits and debt, or are…

By: David S. Mitchell (opens in a new tab)

New data reveal how U.S. economic growth is divided (opens in a new tab)

Videos JUL 1, 2019

New estimates of U.S. economic growth released this morning by Gabriel Zucman and Emmanuel Saez at the University of California, Berkeley tell us, for the first time, how growth was…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Wealthier individuals receive higher returns to wealth (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 11, 2019

Wealth inequality has soared in the United States over the past three decades. Today, the top 1 percent own about 40 percent of the nation’s wealth, levels last seen during…

By: Somin Park (opens in a new tab)

Inflation inequality in the United States is due to imbalanced product innovation (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 20, 2019

A recent study finds an intriguing link between different levels of inflation for products that are purchased by the wealthy, compared to items bought by everyone else in the United…

By: Raksha Kopparam (opens in a new tab)

Alice Rivlin: An inspiration for generations of women economists (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 16, 2019

As a young woman aspiring to be an economist who could make my mark on national policy and help make our country better, I had relatively few role models to…

By: Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

Planning for the next recession by reforming U.S. automatic stabilizers (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 16, 2019

When the U.S. economy is cruising down the road in high gear, as it is these days, it can be hard to focus on the next engine failure. Having occurred…

By: Alyssa Fisher (opens in a new tab)

The effects of disability programs on financial outcomes in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 26, 2019

In his Pulitzer-Prize-winning book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Matthew Desmond documents the instability in the lives of low-income tenants in Milwaukee, who are frequently uprooted due…

By: Manasi Deshpande (opens in a new tab), Tal Gross (opens in a new tab)

U.S. Congress asks Bureau of Economic Analysis to disaggregate GDP growth data (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 6, 2019

The U.S. Congress recently took an important step toward having the federal government measure economic inequality in the United States by reporting on how households at all income levels are…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

State of the Union speech highlights the need for more precise data on U.S. economic growth (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 7, 2019

Every president uses the State of the Union address to tout positive economic developments (when they exist), and this week’s speech by President Donald Trump was no different. In doing…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Progress toward consensus on measuring U.S. income inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog JAN 16, 2019

A panel discussion at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association earlier this month in Atlanta highlighted recent research on the measurement of income and inequality in the United…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation with Atif Mian (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation JAN 14, 2019

“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…

By: Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

U.S. economic policies that are pro-work and pro-worker (opens in a new tab)

Blog JAN 2, 2019

The start of the new U.S. Congress tomorrow is an opportunity for new economic policy ideas to be introduced and considered. As the 116th Congress gets underway, prime-age employment rates…

By: Liz Hipple (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation with Karen Dynan (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation DEC 12, 2018

Equitable Growth Executive Director and Chief Economist Heather Boushey talks with Equitable Growth Steering Committee member Karen Dynan, a professor of the practice of economics at Harvard University.

By: Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

New financial health survey shows that traditional metrics of economic growth don’t apply to most U.S. households’ incomes and savings (opens in a new tab)

Blog DEC 5, 2018

Headlines regarding the state of the U.S. economy often tout statistics that indicate robust economic expansion and a booming stock market. High Gross Domestic Product growth rates and low unemployment…

By: Raksha Kopparam (opens in a new tab)

Measurement matters. An equitable economy is impossible without it. (opens in a new tab)

Blog NOV 29, 2018

“What we measure affects what we do. If we measure the wrong thing, we will do the wrong thing. If we don’t measure something, it becomes neglected, as if the…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

U.S. income growth has been stagnant. To what degree depends on how you measure it. (opens in a new tab)

Blog NOV 28, 2018

A recent Congressional Budget Office report on the distribution of incomes in the United States back in 2015 has sparked debate over whether Americans are actually experiencing good income growth.…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Equitable Growth releases 2019 Request for Proposals (opens in a new tab)

Blog NOV 8, 2018

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth is mission-driven to advance evidence-based ideas and policies that promote strong, stable, and broad-based economic growth. One of the core ways we further that…

By: Korin Davis (opens in a new tab)

How not to help distressed mortgage borrowers: Evidence from the Great Recession in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog OCT 4, 2018

The federal government has been criticized by many for failing to provide adequate assistance to U.S. homeowners who were financially devastated by the housing crisis and subsequent Great Recession and…

By: Corey Husak (opens in a new tab)

Equitable Growth hosts the 2nd Grantee Conference (opens in a new tab)

Blog OCT 3, 2018

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth last week hosted our second grantee conference, where we showcased research funded through our competitive grants program. This year, Equitable Growth awarded 24 grants…

By: Raksha Kopparam (opens in a new tab)

Testimony by Heather Boushey before the Joint Economic Committee (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 26, 2018

Thank you, Chairman Paulsen, Vice Chairman Lee, and Ranking Member Heinrich for inviting me to speak here today. It’s an honor to be here. My name is Heather Boushey and…

By: Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

In an age of inequality, aggregate and mean economic statistics don’t tell us enough (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 12, 2018

The U.S. Census Bureau today released its report on “Income and Poverty in the United States for the year 2017.” This is one of the most important economic data releases…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth applauds the introduction of the “Measuring Real Income Growth Act of 2018” (opens in a new tab)

Blog AUG 28, 2018

Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) introduced the “Measuring Real Income Growth Act of 2018” today, which directs the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to report on how…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Measuring U.S. economic growth (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 16, 2018

Each quarter, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis releases its Gross Domestic Product report, which measures the value of goods and services produced in the United States. These numbers drive…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Supreme Court decision on credit cards undermines competition, celebrates price increases, and will contribute to economic inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 28, 2018

After a court approved AT&T Inc.’s acquisition of Time Warner Inc. earlier this month, a spirited discussion erupted about its implications for future vertical mergers, in which the acquisition involves…

By: Michael Kades (opens in a new tab)

Karen Dynan joins Equitable Growth Steering Committee (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 27, 2018

Washington, D.C.—Karen Dynan, a former assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy and current Harvard University economics professor, has joined the Washington Center for Equitable Growth’s Steering Committee, the…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

The lack of Federal Reserve maneuvering room is very worrisome (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 26, 2018

This column for Bloomberg by the very sharp Tim Duy strikes me as simply wrong. Contrary to what the professor of practice and the senior director of the Oregon Economic…

By: Brad DeLong (opens in a new tab)

Policymakers can’t tackle inequitable growth if it isn’t measured (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 25, 2018

Quarterly reports of Gross Domestic Product growth are among the most publicized products of our federal statistical agencies. For journalists, policymakers, and pundits alike, these reports are read as barometers…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

The surprisingly constant “housing wealth effect” in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 20, 2018

What was new about the housing bubble experienced across most of the United States from 2002 to 2006? The common story of the housing bubble and the resulting crash is…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Unemployment and inflation once again… (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 15, 2018

The public discussion about inflation and unemployment appears to me to be substantially awry. It appears to incorporate two, and only two, lessons from history. The first of these lessons…

By: Brad DeLong (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation with Michael Strain (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation JUN 14, 2018

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

By: Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

What are the macroeconomic policy tools to counter secular stagnation in the United States? (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs JUN 12, 2018

The U.S. economy seems quite healthy these days. Overall economic growth, as measured by the Gross Domestic Product, has been growing at close to a 3 percent inflation-adjusted pace over…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Why macroeconomics should further embrace distributional economics (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 11, 2018

Ten years ago, some of the failings of macroeconomics models were made quite bare as the Great Recession ripped through the global economy. Economists were—and continue to be—criticized because their…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Getting on the level with the Fed’s targeting of prices (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 6, 2018

For a bit more than a year now, the Federal Open Market Committee—the policy committee of the Federal Reserve—has made it clear that its inflation target for the U.S. economy…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Issue Brief: Household insecurity matters for U.S. macroeconomic stability (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs MAY 16, 2018

Households are economically insecure when they’re unable to plan for expenses, save or invest for their future economic security, and pay down debts. Household insecurity in the United States can…

By: Nisha Chikhale (opens in a new tab)

Household insecurity matters for U.S. macroeconomic stability (opens in a new tab)

Reports MAY 16, 2018

Household income in the United States became significantly more volatile beginning in the 1970s despite relatively stable overall economic growth during the 1980s. Macroeconomists called this period of stable aggregate…

By: Nisha Chikhale (opens in a new tab)

Disaggregating growth (opens in a new tab)

Reports MAR 28, 2018

The National Income and Product Accounts, or NIPA (also referred to as System of National Accounts, or SNA, outside of the United States), were a radical advance in economic measurement…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab), Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

The flat Phillips Curve and U.S. labor’s share of income (opens in a new tab)

Essays MAR 27, 2018

How flat is the Phillips Curve—the relationship between unemployment and inflation? This question is very much on the minds of U.S. central bankers because over the past several years the…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

The productivity slowdown and labor’s income share (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 8, 2018

Many countries have experienced both a slowdown in aggregate productivity growth and a decline in labor’s share of national income in recent years. This column argues that the productivity slowdown…

By: Ezra Oberfield (opens in a new tab)

What would lead to monetary overshooting by the Fed? (opens in a new tab)

Essays MAR 6, 2018

After years of dormancy, inflation in the U.S. economy just might be heading upward. The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation-the personal consumption expenditures price index-is still growing below the…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Understanding the importance of household credit in high-income economies (opens in a new tab)

Essays FEB 28, 2018

In the wake of the Great Recession, it was clear that policymakers and economists alike needed to pay more attention to household debt. The dramatic rise in household debt prior…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Credit card competition case before U.S. Supreme Court leaves consumers and competition in the balance (opens in a new tab)

Essays FEB 22, 2018

The U.S. Supreme Court next week will hear oral arguments in Ohio v. American Express, an antitrust case involving competition in the credit card industry. The U.S. Department of Justice…

By: Michael Kades (opens in a new tab)

How income inequality may affect U.S. interest rates (opens in a new tab)

Essays FEB 19, 2018

Long-term U.S. interest rates have been rising this year, with the yield on a 10-year Treasury bond increasing about half a percentage point since the beginning of the year. The…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Income inequality and aggregate demand in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 19, 2018

Income inequality has been rising for decades in the United States. While there are many reasons why this trend may be concerning, one particular worry for economists and policymakers is…

By: Adrien Auclert (opens in a new tab), Matthew Rognlie (opens in a new tab)

How the rise of market power in the United States may explain some macroeconomic puzzles (opens in a new tab)

Essays FEB 12, 2018

The U.S. macroeconomic data of the past 40 years have produced a number of surprising, and indeed puzzling, facts about economic growth and rising income and wealth inequality. Five of…

By: Jacob Robbins (opens in a new tab)

Can the financial benefit of lobbying be quantified? (opens in a new tab)

Essays JAN 16, 2018

In a new working paper for the Washington Center for Equitable Growth’s Working Paper series, Equitable Growth grantee Daniel Carpenter and his co-author Brian Libgober at Harvard University seek to…

By: Liz Hipple (opens in a new tab)

Ten years after the beginning of the Great Recession, is it time to abandon the natural rate hypothesis? (opens in a new tab)

Essays DEC 1, 2017

How far into the future will the aftershocks of the Great Recession be felt? According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Great Recession began in December 2007, meaning…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

What if we took equity into account when measuring economic growth? (opens in a new tab)

Blog NOV 27, 2017

Featured image from Flickr user Charles & Hudson. Image has been cropped. Jason Furman’s provocatively titled new paper, “Should Policymakers Care Whether Inequality is Helpful or Harmful for Growth,” poses…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab), Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

Policy rules and central bank independence (opens in a new tab)

Essays OCT 31, 2017

When explaining the need for central bank independence, economists and central bankers often turn to the metaphor of Odysseus and the Sirens. In order to hear the song of the…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Here’s why you should interpret tomorrow’s GDP growth estimate skeptically (opens in a new tab)

Essays OCT 26, 2017

Tomorrow morning, the Bureau of Economic Analysis will announce its first estimate for third quarter gross domestic product growth in 2017. A lot of time and energy will be spent…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Just how tight is the U.S. labor market? (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs OCT 12, 2017

Is the U.S. unemployment rate as low as it can go? After years of a very weak labor market, during which many jobless workers gave up trying to find employment…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Why is the federal business-level tax rate on capital so low? (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs OCT 5, 2017

The “Unified Framework for Fixing Our Broken Tax Code” recently released by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans proposes sharp reductions in the corporate tax rate (from 35 percent to…

By: Greg Leiserson (opens in a new tab)

An update on the state of wealth inequality in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Essays SEP 28, 2017

The Federal Reserve yesterday released the 2016 version of its triennial Survey of Consumer Finances. The SCF reports data on income, assets, and debts for families in the United States.…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Another lesson from the 1930s for the Federal Reserve (opens in a new tab)

Essays SEP 19, 2017

The disoriented series of economic events over the past decade may seem unprecedented, but there are very few new things under the macroeconomic sun. Not even the upcoming unwinding of…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Markups, macroeconomics, and the changing U.S. economy (opens in a new tab)

Essays SEP 14, 2017

Over the past several decades, the U.S. economy experienced changes in key economic metrics that don’t bode well for the welfare of most people. The labor share of income is…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Latest official estimates underreport extent of inequality in the U.S. (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 12, 2017

The release today of the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report on income and poverty underscores why better official measures of economic inequality are sorely needed. Official measures released by the…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab), Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

New report on evidence-based policymaking boasts recommendations that Congress must take seriously (opens in a new tab)

Essays SEP 7, 2017

The bipartisan, congressionally mandated Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking released its final report today, advocating for a number of sound changes to the way the federal government collects, manages, and makes…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

When the next recession hits, how will fiscal stimulus affect government debt sustainability? (opens in a new tab)

Essays AUG 31, 2017

There’s a strain of thinking that argues any options for fighting the next recession are bound by the response to the past recession and other previous policy decisions. Take, for…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Issue brief: Alleviating financial distress and its economic consequences in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs AUG 15, 2017

Debt-stressed workers and consumers contribute more to U.S. economic growth when offered delayed but long-term debt write-downs instead of short-term debt relief Overview Financial distress is extraordinarily common in the…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Measuring potential GDP in the United States, and the case for emphasizing demand in monetary policy (opens in a new tab)

Essays AUG 7, 2017

A recent study casts some doubts about the decline in estimates of potential gross domestic product in recent years.

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Will the United States give up on data collection? (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUL 26, 2017

The federal statistical agencies that collect important data are being threatened by insufficient funding proposals.

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Debt ≠ deficits: Why higher state and local government debt isn’t necessarily a result of higher spending (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 21, 2017

Over the past 50 years, there has been substantial growth in both public and private debt relative to U.S. gross domestic product, or GDP. The increases in federal and household…

Are economic boom-and-bust cycles stronger when capital is more available? (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUL 12, 2017

A new Equitable Growth working paper illustrates the potential downsides for an economy when credit growth jumps upward.

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Explaining the “What is equitable growth?” essay series (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 12, 2017

What is “equitable growth” and how do we measure it? This new recurring series asks economists, other researchers, and practitioners to explore these questions. Equitable growth means an economy that…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Why current definitions of family income are misleading, and why this matters for measures of inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 12, 2017

What is “equitable growth” and how do we measure it? The following essay, part of a series, asks economists, other researchers, and practitioners to explore these questions. Equitable growth means…

By: Nancy Folbre (opens in a new tab)

Improving the measurement and understanding of economic inequality in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 12, 2017

What is “equitable growth” and how do we measure it? The following essay, part of a series, asks economists, other researchers, and practitioners to explore these questions. Equitable growth means…

By: Robert Solow (opens in a new tab)

Is the Fed being misguided by the Phillips curve? (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUN 21, 2017

Looking at the numbers, there’s some reason to be skeptical of the Federal Reserve’s implicit Philips curve.

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Time for the Fed to look beyond 2 percent target inflation? (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUN 13, 2017

The Federal Reserve’s 2 percent inflation target might have been the right target at a certain point in time, but it looks like its time has passed.

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Is growing inequality hurting our economies? (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUN 7, 2017

The debate over the legitimacy of powerful elites seizing a bigger share of the national income and wealth pie year after year has been gaining prominence in the public conversation.…

By: Salvatore Morelli (opens in a new tab)

Monetary policy via income redistribution (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUN 5, 2017

Traditionally, central bankers haven’t considered income and wealth inequality much when they conduct monetary policy. Perhaps some of them think about the impact of monetary policy on the levels of…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

What unconventional policies are likely to stay in central bankers’ toolkits? (opens in a new tab)

Essays MAY 30, 2017

According to a recent paper from four economists, monetary policy innovations of the financial crisis era are likely to remain in central bankers’ toolkits.

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation with Sandra Black (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation MAY 24, 2017

John Schmitt, then Equitable Growth’s research director, talks to Sandra Black about her experience as a member of former President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, her transition from academia…

By: John Schmitt (opens in a new tab)

Will the Trump administration double-count its magic asterisk? (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 22, 2017

Press reports indicate that President Donald Trump’s budget, scheduled for release tomorrow, will assert that administration policies can deliver a balanced budget in 10 years by combining sharp cuts to…

By: Greg Leiserson (opens in a new tab)

Just how big does the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet need to be? (opens in a new tab)

Essays MAY 18, 2017

For the past couple of years, the big question in U.S. monetary policy has been when the Federal Reserve will raise short-term interest rates. After raising short-term rates 0.25 percentage…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Home is where the government subsidy is (opens in a new tab)

Essays MAY 16, 2017

In a piece in The New York Times Magazine, Harvard University sociologist Matthew Desmond outlines how U.S. government policy toward housing has become a source of inequality rather than a…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

How the opening to China may have partially fueled the U.S. housing bubble (opens in a new tab)

Essays MAY 11, 2017

The U.S. housing bubble burst more than 10 years ago, but the exact reasons for its inflation are still under debate. Consider the timing of the bubble (roughly 2002 to…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

After Piketty: “A Political Economy Take on W/Y” (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 10, 2017

The following is an excerpt from chapter five of After Piketty: The Agenda for Economics and Inequality, entitled “A Political Economy Take on W/Y” by Suresh Naidu: In her “Open…

By: Suresh Naidu (opens in a new tab)

“Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” Three Years Later (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 4, 2017

The following is an excerpt from After Piketty: The Agenda for Economics and Inequality, edited by J. Bradford DeLong, Heather Boushey, and Marshall Steinbaum and published by Harvard University Press:…

By: Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab), Brad DeLong (opens in a new tab), Marshall Steinbaum (opens in a new tab)

Should policymakers worry about the level of debt or the pace of credit growth? (opens in a new tab)

Essays MAY 1, 2017

Concern that a buildup in debt around the globe is going to cause some problems for financial and economic stability isn’t controversial. The bursting of the U.S. housing bubble in…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Equitable Growth in Conversation: Brad DeLong and Marshall Steinbaum (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation APR 27, 2017

In this installment, Equitable Growth’s Executive Director and Chief Economist Heather Boushey talks to Brad DeLong of the University of California, Berkeley and Marshall Steinbaum of the Roosevelt Institute, her…

By: Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

The student loan crisis is fueled by a weak labor market (opens in a new tab)

Essays APR 26, 2017

The student debt crisis in the United States continues to escalate. Over the past 17 years, the outstanding student loan balance has nearly quadrupled, reaching $1.4 trillion, and between 2000…

By: Kavya Vaghul (opens in a new tab)

Macro-prudential financial regulations versus capital controls (opens in a new tab)

Essays APR 25, 2017

A recent speech by the Bank of International Settlements’ head of research, Hyun Song Shin, could not be more timely. Shin argues that a recent re-evaluation of capital controls on…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

What would rules-based monetary policy look like? (opens in a new tab)

Essays APR 20, 2017

Governments in the leading economies of the world, including the United States, have given their central banks operational control of monetary policy over the past several decades. These seemingly more…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Equitable Growth’s Jobs Day Graphs: March 2017 Report Edition (opens in a new tab)

Essays APR 7, 2017

Earlier this morning, The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released new data on the U.S. labor market during the month of March. Below are five graphs compiled by Equitable Growth…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Time for an inflation rethink? (opens in a new tab)

Essays APR 5, 2017

Has the time come for central bankers to rethink their policy goals for inflation? In the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, David Harrison writes that just such a reconsideration…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

The once and future measurement of economic inequality in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Essays MAR 30, 2017

A slew of research into economic inequality replete with serious looking graphs may give the impression that measuring inequality in the United States is a solved problem. This is misleading.…

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

Another take on declining productivity growth in high-income countries (opens in a new tab)

Essays MAR 28, 2017

By now, the slowdown in productivity growth in the United States and other high-income countries is a well-known and much lamented trend. A slightly less appreciated aspect of productivity growth…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

What kind of fiscal policy works best at the zero lower bound? (opens in a new tab)

Essays MAR 23, 2017

When central banks can no longer push down short-term interest rates, what are macroeconomic policymakers to do? Policymakers and researchers had a wide-ranging debate about the kinds of unconventional monetary…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

How life experiences affect the views of U.S. monetary policymakers (opens in a new tab)

Essays MAR 21, 2017

The minutes of meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee are full of considerations of the latest economic data and deliberations about economic models. Data are parsed and the stability…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Changing sources of inflationary pressures in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Essays MAR 15, 2017

What drives inflation in the United States today is a $19 trillion question. The Federal Open Markets Committee is wrapping up its March meeting and is almost certain to announce…

By: Nick Bunker (opens in a new tab)

Equitable Growth’s Jobs Day Graphs: February 2017 Report Edition (opens in a new tab)

Essays MAR 10, 2017

Earlier this morning, The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released new data on the U.S. labor market during the month of February. Below are five graphs compiled by Equitable Growth…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)