Resources

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)

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

Essays AUG 31, 2026

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

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

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

Visualizations AUG 31, 2026

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

Visualizations AUG 31, 2026

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

Essays AUG 14, 2026

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

By: Carlos Fernando Avenancio-Leon (opens in a new tab)

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

Working Papers AUG 14, 2026

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

By: Carlos F. Avenancio-León, Yutao He (opens in a new tab), Michael Reher (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)

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

Essays JUL 7, 2026

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

By: Neil Cholli (opens in a new tab), Derek Wu (opens in a new tab)

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

Working Papers JUL 7, 2026

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

By: Neil A. Cholli, Derek Wu (opens in a new tab)

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

Blog JUN 30, 2026

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

By: Lily Roberts (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)

Transfer income has fallen faster than other components of U.S. income over the past 3 months (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 25, 2026

Income declines over the past 3 months and the past 6 months are higher for low-income U.S. households (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 25, 2026

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

Visualizations JUN 25, 2026

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

Essays JUN 25, 2026

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

By: Austin Clemens (opens in a new tab)

U.S. income shares changed little due to the pandemic, with top decile and bottom half households making gains (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 24, 2026

In a reversal of 21st century trends, wages grew faster for lower-income U.S. households in the pandemic era (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 24, 2026

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)

Realized capital gains are highly volatile, leading to large swings in the top 0.1% U.S. income thresholds (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAY 26, 2026

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

Working Papers MAY 19, 2026

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

By: Casey McQuillan (opens in a new tab), Brendan Moore (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)

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

Essays MAY 14, 2026

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

By: Michael Linden (opens in a new tab)

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

Visualizations MAY 13, 2026

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

Visualizations MAY 13, 2026

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

Visualizations MAY 13, 2026

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

Visualizations MAY 13, 2026

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

Visualizations MAY 13, 2026

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

Essays MAY 1, 2026

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

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

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

Essays APR 23, 2026

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

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

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

Essays APR 22, 2026

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

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

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

Issue Briefs APR 14, 2026

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

By: Megan Rivera (opens in a new tab)

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

Essays MAR 19, 2026

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

By: Melissa Grober-Morrow (opens in a new tab)

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

Reports MAR 11, 2026

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

By: Jacob Leibenluft (opens in a new tab)

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

Factsheets MAR 10, 2026

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

By: Megan Rivera (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)

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

Essays FEB 12, 2026

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

By: Ilaria D’Angelis (opens in a new tab), Keren Horn (opens in a new tab)

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

Working Papers FEB 12, 2026

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

By: Ilaria D’Angelis (opens in a new tab), Keren Horn (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)

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

Blog JAN 4, 2026

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

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

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

Videos DEC 17, 2025

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

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

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

Essays DEC 2, 2025

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

By: Megan Rivera (opens in a new tab)

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

Essays DEC 1, 2025

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

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

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

Essays NOV 20, 2025

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

By: Nirupama Rao (opens in a new tab)

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

In Conversation NOV 18, 2025

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

By: Shayna Strom (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)

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

Visualizations NOV 13, 2025

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

Essays NOV 4, 2025

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

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

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

Visualizations NOV 3, 2025

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

Visualizations NOV 3, 2025

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

Visualizations NOV 3, 2025

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

Visualizations NOV 3, 2025

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

Essays OCT 23, 2025

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

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

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

Visualizations OCT 22, 2025

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

Visualizations OCT 22, 2025

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

Essays OCT 22, 2025

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

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

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

Essays OCT 9, 2025

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

By: Raven Shaw (opens in a new tab)

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

Working Papers OCT 9, 2025

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

By: Raj Chetty (opens in a new tab), Will Dobbie (opens in a new tab), Benjamin Goldman (opens in a new tab), Sonya R. Porter, Crystal S. Yang

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

Essays OCT 3, 2025

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

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

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

Essays OCT 1, 2025

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

By: Peter Norlander (opens in a new tab)

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

Working Papers OCT 1, 2025

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

By: Stephen Meisenbacher (opens in a new tab), Svetlozar Nestorov (opens in a new tab), Peter Norlander (opens in a new tab)

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

In Conversation SEP 24, 2025

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

By: Sanjay Supan (opens in a new tab)

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

Working Papers SEP 23, 2025

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

By: Tanya Byker (opens in a new tab), Elena Patel (opens in a new tab), Kristin Smith (opens in a new tab)

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

Essays SEP 18, 2025

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

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

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

Essays SEP 11, 2025

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

By: Justin Gest (opens in a new tab)

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

Essays SEP 11, 2025

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

By: Tarik Abou-Chadi (opens in a new tab)

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

Essays SEP 11, 2025

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

By: Gbenga Ajilore (opens in a new tab)

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

Essays SEP 11, 2025

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

By: Andrea Louise Campbell (opens in a new tab)

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

Essays SEP 11, 2025

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

By: Lenore Palladino (opens in a new tab)

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

Visualizations SEP 10, 2025

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

Visualizations SEP 9, 2025

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

Visualizations SEP 8, 2025

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

Visualizations SEP 5, 2025

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

Visualizations SEP 4, 2025

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

Visualizations SEP 4, 2025

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

Visualizations SEP 4, 2025

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

Working Papers SEP 4, 2025

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

By: Laura Brugger (opens in a new tab), Shadonna Davis (opens in a new tab), Desha Elliott (opens in a new tab), Leah Hamilton (opens in a new tab), Stephen Roll (opens in a new tab), Latrice Rollins (opens in a new tab), Simone Smith (opens in a new tab), Aaron Quick (opens in a new tab), Naomi Zewde (opens in a new tab)

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

Essays AUG 20, 2025

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

By: Equitable Growth (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)

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

Visualizations AUG 12, 2025

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

Visualizations AUG 12, 2025

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

Visualizations AUG 12, 2025

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

Visualizations AUG 12, 2025

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

Visualizations AUG 7, 2025

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

Visualizations AUG 7, 2025

Why Financial Crises Recur (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers AUG 5, 2025

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

By: Gary B. Gorton (opens in a new tab), Jeffery Y. Zhang (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)

With capital gains, the share of income earned by the wealthiest households went up 5 percentage points since 2002 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 14, 2025

Pure capital gains are highly volatile and can turn negative in recessions (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 14, 2025

The 10 worst policies for equitable economic growth in the 2025 budget reconciliation law (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUL 14, 2025

The 2025 budget reconciliation law that was enacted earlier this month is a sprawling piece of legislation, touching almost every corner of the federal budget and the U.S. economy. It…

By: David S. Mitchell (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)

In some U.S. congressional districts, cuts from the reconciliation bill are bigger than multiple local industries combined (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 10, 2025

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)

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)

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act disproportionately harms lower-income Americans (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 3, 2025

Wages have grown much slower in the 21st century than in previous eras of the U.S. economy (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 25, 2025

Wages have grown relatively similarly across income deciles, while business and asset income is strongly skewed to the wealthiest households (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 25, 2025

Wages are the slowest-growing component of U.S. income for households across the income distribution (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 25, 2025

Wages and government transfers are the primary source of income for most U.S. households (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 25, 2025

The upper-middle class has lost income share, while low-income and extremely wealthy households have grown their share of income (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 25, 2025

U.S. inequality has decreased slightly since 2000, with the upper-middle class seeing the weakest gains (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 25, 2025

U.S. income inequality dropped sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic before returning to pre-pandemic levels by 2023 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 25, 2025

Americans Informed About the Distributional Effects of Republicans’ Budget Bill Overwhelmingly Oppose It (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers JUN 25, 2025

Republicans in the Senate are currently considering the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which, if enacted, would be the most regressive U.S. tax and budget law in at least the…

By: Jacob S. Hacker, 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)

Millions of Americans, including children, will lose nutrition assistance due to proposed SNAP cuts – updated (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 24, 2025

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)

Financial and Transfer Income as Components of the Regional Economic Base (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers JUN 24, 2025

Economists and geographers have long divided industries into “basic” and “nonbasic” sectors depending on whether they bring money into a region from outside or serve local demand. Traditionally, the regional…

By: Robert Manduca (opens in a new tab)

Reducing IRS funding by half could cost the same amount of the Republican budget bill in noncompliance increases (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 23, 2025

No tax on tips or overtime provisions cost less than the more regressive proposals in the Republican tax bill (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 23, 2025

Americans have heard more about the no tax on tips and overtime provisions of the Republican bill than its more regressive provisions (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 23, 2025

Many of the wealthiest U.S. individuals do not pay any estate taxes (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 23, 2025

16 million Americans will lose health care coverage if the House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act becomes law (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 23, 2025

Factsheet: U.S. economic mobility and policies to increase upward mobility (opens in a new tab)

Factsheets JUN 17, 2025

The United States often has been touted as a land of opportunity, where hard work leads to success and children do better than their parents. But increasingly, these notions of…

By: Shira Markoff (opens in a new tab), Melissa Grober-Morrow (opens in a new tab)

The hidden trade-offs of nonwage job amenities for U.S. workers (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUN 10, 2025

When workers choose jobs with predictable schedules, safer conditions, or greater autonomy, they are often paying a price: lower wages. In some cases, these hidden trade-offs are considerable. Indeed, my…

By: Alex Bell (opens in a new tab)

The costliness of nonwage job amenities explains two-thirds of the gender wage gap in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 10, 2025

U.S. women workers at all levels of compensation are more concentrated in jobs with predictable schedules, which pay less, than men (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 10, 2025

The anti-instrument method of estimating the cost of nonwage amenities produces the most plausible results (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 10, 2025

U.S. labor market data reveal that different job characteristics contribute to the gender wage gap (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUN 5, 2025

In 2003, women in the United States earned on average approximately 80 percent as much as U.S. men did per hour. By 2024, the gender pay gap had grown to…

By: Chiara Chanoi (opens in a new tab)

Returns to job characteristics impact the gender wage gap, but these returns have changed over time (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 4, 2025

Different work activities affect wages for U.S. women and men differently, and these effects have changed over time (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 4, 2025

Different skills affect wages for U.S. women and men differently, and these effects have changed over time (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 4, 2025

The gender gaps in the importance of job characteristics have not changed much since 2003 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 4, 2025

U.S. employment is now less concentrated in male-dominated jobs than it was in 2003 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 4, 2025

The U.S. hourly gender wage gap has narrowed since 2003 – updated (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 4, 2025

Different abilities affect wages for U.S. women and men differently, and these effects have changed over time – updated (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 4, 2025

Equitable Growth event brings together scholars and the policy community to discuss the rise of right-wing populism and the future of economic policy (opens in a new tab)

Videos MAY 29, 2025

This article was drafted with assistance from Perplexity AI. The Washington Center for Equitable Growth in mid-May hosted an event on “The rise of populism and the future of economic…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

The political implications of bad jobs and the decline of unions (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 13, 2025

Bad jobs have become a distinctive feature of the U.S. economy over the past few decades. Globally, a lack of adequate demand, or what economists call “secular stagnation,” has meant…

By: Adam Dean (opens in a new tab), Jamie McCallum (opens in a new tab)

Federal and state governments can help solve the employment problems of people in distressed places to spur equitable growth (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 13, 2025

Places in the United States differ greatly in their residents’ access to jobs, including access to good jobs. In economically distressed places, these job problems can be addressed by creating…

By: Timothy Bartik (opens in a new tab)

More accurately measuring economic sentiment will help build a U.S. economy—and democracy—that works for all (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 13, 2025

When politicians and members of the media discuss the state of “the economy” in the United States, they often use a small handful of data points. Of all the indicators…

By: Jonathan Cohen (opens in a new tab), Katherine Cramer (opens in a new tab)

Understanding the role of immigration and economic factors in boosting support for far-right political parties (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 13, 2025

Far-right and right-wing populist political parties differ in many respects, but nearly all share one common thread: strong opposition to immigration. These parties often push for stricter border controls and,…

By: Sirus H. Dehdari (opens in a new tab)

America’s job-quality crisis and how to revive workers’ pay, dignity, job advancement, and economic well-being (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 13, 2025

The poor quality of jobs in the United States is a slow-burning crisis that has been underway for many decades and has eroded many workers’ quality of life. Too many…

By: Erin Kelly (opens in a new tab)

How the China trade shock impacted U.S. manufacturing workers and labor markets, and the consequences for U.S. politics (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 13, 2025

In the early 2000s, manufacturing-intensive communities in the United States entered a period of economic upheaval that would reshape their labor markets over the next two decades. China’s dramatic rise…

By: David Autor (opens in a new tab), David Dorn (opens in a new tab), Gordon Hanson (opens in a new tab)

Housing insecurity and U.S. economic policies: Lessons from tenant organizing (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 13, 2025

The destructive force of authoritarian power has become a prominent feature of U.S. political life. In just the first few months of 2025, we’ve seen unprecedented moves to use the…

By: Jamila Michener (opens in a new tab)

Countering right-wing populism: Identifying its cultural roots and charting a path forward (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 13, 2025

Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election set off an animated debate among Democrats over what went wrong with their policymaking, messaging, and campaigning. Specifically, Democrats puzzled over…

By: Yotam Margalit (opens in a new tab)

How the economic and political geography of the United States fuels right-wing populism—and what the Democratic Party can do about it (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 13, 2025

In wealthy nations around the world, the rise of the knowledge economy has increased political and economic divides that fuel right-wing populism. These divides generally have a strong geographic dimension,…

By: Jacob Hacker (opens in a new tab), Paul Pierson (opens in a new tab)

Tariffs pose real risks to the U.S. labor market (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 12, 2025

Uncertainty around trade policy makes it difficult to discuss the current state of the U.S. labor market. Businesses, workers, and policymakers at all levels make decisions based on both what…

By: Kevin Rinz (opens in a new tab)

rinz fig 1 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAY 9, 2025

Small adjustments in response to tariffs could push U.S. unemployment up slightly in the short run but become more meaningful the longer they remain in place (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAY 9, 2025

rinz fig 3 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAY 9, 2025

The China trade shock caused a steep decline in manufacturing employment in trade-exposed local labor markets in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAY 8, 2025

The China trade shock’s effect on total U.S. employment and the employment-to-population ratio in the first two decades the 21st century (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAY 8, 2025

The China trade shock increased places’ employment in retail, health care, and education in the first two decades of the 21st century (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAY 8, 2025

The China trade shock increased places’ employment in low-paying jobs in the first two decades of the 21st century (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAY 8, 2025

U.S.-born White noncollege men lost labor market share in trade-shocked places in the first two decades of the 21st century (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAY 8, 2025

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)

Why do some jobs pay better than others? Think about what workers do. (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs MAY 6, 2025

Most U.S. labor market data characterize jobs by describing the categories of industry and occupation to which the jobs belong. But to understand why some types of jobs tend to…

By: Kevin Rinz (opens in a new tab), Chiara Chanoi (opens in a new tab), Christopher Bangert-Drowns (opens in a new tab)

Professional licenses and telework are more common in occupations in which actual wages exceed wages predicted by job-content measures (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAY 6, 2025

playfair (2) (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAY 6, 2025

playfair (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAY 6, 2025

Designing economic policy that strengthens U.S. democracy and incorporates people’s lived experiences (opens in a new tab)

Videos APR 30, 2025

Around the globe, people are increasingly dissatisfied with the state of democratic capitalism. In the United States and other rich democracies, economic policy has too often in recent decades produced…

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

European democracies have seen a surge of support for right-wing populism in the past decade (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations APR 29, 2025

Advancing economic research on the Inflation Reduction Act: Q&A with Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs APR 23, 2025

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is the most significant economic and clean energy jobs program the United States has ever initiated. To improve overall understanding of whether the new…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Improving economic outcomes for single mothers and their children across the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 16, 2025

Single-mother households are becoming more and more common in the United States. Over the past 50 years, the number of children raised by single mothers has more than doubled. It…

By: Megan Rivera (opens in a new tab)

Request for Proposals: The economic effects of the Inflation Reduction Act (opens in a new tab)

RFPs APR 2, 2025

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

The qualified small business stock exclusion overwhelmingly benefits the wealthy and should be reformed in 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs APR 1, 2025

This year’s debate over the expiring personal income and estate tax provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provides an opportunity for reforming the qualified small business stock…

By: Jean Ross (opens in a new tab)

What makes a job ‘good’? How U.S. labor market data can provide insight to improve workers’ economic conditions (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 26, 2025

Since the Great Recession of 2007–2009, a great deal of U.S. economic policymaking has been dedicated to creating jobs. The tools used to do so vary widely, from awarding grants…

By: Kevin Rinz (opens in a new tab), Chiara Chanoi (opens in a new tab)

The U.S. House of Representatives’ budget resolution threatens social infrastructure programs, putting families’ well-being at risk (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 10, 2025

In late February, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget resolution that calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and $2 trillion in federal spending cuts. This resolution provides…

By: Priyanka Anand (opens in a new tab), Robert Moffitt (opens in a new tab)

As the U.S. labor market stabilizes, is nominal wage growth now too hot? (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 13, 2025

After the tumultuous swings of the early COVID-19 pandemic period and years of normalization since then, economic data from the past several months suggest that the U.S. labor market may…

By: Kevin Rinz (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)

Pro-growth tax reform in 2025 would boost the U.S. economy for years to come (opens in a new tab)

Videos JAN 15, 2025

In the aftermath of the presidential election in 2024, it’s clear that many Americans feel like the U.S. economy is not working for them. Even though policymakers on both sides…

By: Shayna Strom (opens in a new tab)

ASSA 2025 Round-up: Day 3 (opens in a new tab)

Blog JAN 6, 2025

Yesterday was the third and final day of the 2025 annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations, which is organized by the American Economic Association. The 3-day conference, held…

By: Equitable Growth (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)

ASSA 2025 Round-up: Day 1 (opens in a new tab)

Blog JAN 4, 2025

Yesterday was the first day of the 2025 annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations, which is organized by the American Economic Association. The 3-day conference, held in San…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Accelerating research can help fill the AI knowledge gaps for U.S. policymakers (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs DEC 17, 2024

It is hard for policymakers to ignore today’s “AI arms race” and the public debate on the economic and social significance of generative artificial intelligence. The discourse is fueled in…

By: Rohini Kosoglu (opens in a new tab), Christian Edlagan (opens in a new tab)

Recent research shows how paid leave impacts women’s employment and financial security in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog DEC 13, 2024

During the first several months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government ensured that all U.S. workers had access to at least 2 weeks of paid sick leave and up…

By: Shira Markoff (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation with Fenaba Addo (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation DEC 12, 2024

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: Shira Markoff (opens in a new tab)

New research highlights the impact of COVID-era unconditional cash benefits for U.S. workers and families (opens in a new tab)

Blog DEC 10, 2024

The breadth of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in sweeping, albeit temporary, changes to income support programs and tax policies in the United States. These changes include…

By: Shira Markoff (opens in a new tab)

Request for Proposals: Promoting competition and supporting workers in an era of AI innovation (opens in a new tab)

RFPs NOV 20, 2024

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

The U.S. labor market keeps beating projections (opens in a new tab)

Blog NOV 5, 2024

No single economic indicator fully describes the state of the U.S. labor market. Yet a range of commonly used measures, from the unemployment rate and the prime-age employment-population ratio to…

By: Kevin Rinz (opens in a new tab)

U.S. unemployment remains below projections despite recent participation-driven increases (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations NOV 5, 2024

U.S. labor force participation continues to be strong despite demographic headwinds (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations NOV 5, 2024

U.S. payroll employment has surpassed CBO projections (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations NOV 5, 2024

The U.S. labor market has cooled since last year but remains strong (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations NOV 4, 2024

Request for proposals: Research grants for early career scholars (opens in a new tab)

RFPs OCT 30, 2024

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Allowing the 2017 estate tax changes to expire will reduce U.S. inequality and promote economic growth and opportunity (opens in a new tab)

Reports OCT 9, 2024

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made deep cuts to the personal income, estate, and corporate income taxes that were costly and heavily skewed toward the very wealthy. The…

By: Jean Ross (opens in a new tab)

The number of U.S. taxable estates has declined due to the larger estate tax exemption (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations OCT 8, 2024

Under current U.S. law, high-income earners pay most of the federal estate tax (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations OCT 8, 2024