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

Essays SEP 8, 2026

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

By: Alexander Bick (opens in a new tab), Adam Blandin (opens in a new tab), David Deming (opens in a new tab), Tyler Schumacher (opens in a new tab)

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

Working Papers SEP 8, 2026

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

By: Alexander Bick (opens in a new tab), Adam Blandin (opens in a new tab), David Deming (opens in a new tab), Tyler Schumacher (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)

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

Issue Briefs AUG 24, 2026

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

By: Mary Beech (opens in a new tab)

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

Essays AUG 20, 2026

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

By: Chiara Chanoi (opens in a new tab)

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

Working Papers AUG 20, 2026

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

By: John M. Newman, Andres Sawicki (opens in a new tab)

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)

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

Essays AUG 5, 2026

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

By: Equitable Growth (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)

Whether data from the Fed or from WID.world are used, U.S. debt-to-wealth measures show similar trends (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 22, 2026

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

Visualizations JUL 22, 2026

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

Visualizations JUL 22, 2026

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

Visualizations JUL 22, 2026

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

Visualizations JUL 22, 2026

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

Visualizations JUL 22, 2026

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

Essays JUL 14, 2026

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

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

Certain U.S. manufacturing subsectors have experienced more tariff relief since the Supreme Court IEEPA ruling (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 13, 2026

The U.S. Supreme Court IEEPA ruling reduced tariffs unevenly across key U.S. economic sectors (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 13, 2026

U.S. trade with China has largely been supplanted by trade with other countries suspected of transshipment (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 13, 2026

U.S. imports are up and tariff rates are down since the U.S. Supreme Court IEEPA ruling (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 13, 2026

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

Essays JUL 8, 2026

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

By: Megan Rivera (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

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

Essays JUN 17, 2026

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

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

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

Videos JUN 12, 2026

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

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

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

In Conversation JUN 2, 2026

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

By: Shayna Strom (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)

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

Visualizations MAY 26, 2026

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

Research Databases MAY 21, 2026

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

By: Chiara Chanoi (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)

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

Essays MAY 7, 2026

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

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

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

Visualizations MAY 6, 2026

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

Visualizations MAY 6, 2026

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

Visualizations MAY 6, 2026

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

Visualizations MAY 6, 2026

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

Visualizations MAY 6, 2026

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

Visualizations MAY 6, 2026

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

Visualizations MAY 6, 2026

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

Visualizations MAY 6, 2026

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

Visualizations MAY 6, 2026

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

Essays MAY 1, 2026

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

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)

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

Essays APR 15, 2026

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

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

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

Visualizations APR 14, 2026

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

Visualizations APR 14, 2026

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

Videos APR 1, 2026

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

By: Christopher Bangert-Drowns (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)

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)

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

Visualizations MAR 17, 2026

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

Visualizations MAR 17, 2026

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

Visualizations MAR 17, 2026

Certain subsectors of the U.S. economy were more exposed to tariff costs than others in 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAR 17, 2026

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

Visualizations MAR 17, 2026

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

Essays MAR 17, 2026

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

By: Diego Känzig (opens in a new tab)

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

Working Papers MAR 17, 2026

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

By: Konstantinos Gavriilidis (opens in a new tab), Diego R. Känzig, Ramya Raghavan (opens in a new tab), James H. Stock (opens in a new tab)

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

Visualizations MAR 17, 2026

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

Visualizations MAR 12, 2026

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

Reports MAR 12, 2026

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

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

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

Visualizations MAR 12, 2026

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

Visualizations MAR 12, 2026

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

Visualizations MAR 12, 2026

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

Visualizations MAR 12, 2026

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

Visualizations MAR 12, 2026

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

Visualizations MAR 12, 2026

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

Reports MAR 11, 2026

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

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)

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

Working Papers MAR 4, 2026

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

By: Tamar den Besten (opens in a new tab), Diego Känzig (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)

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

Essays JAN 15, 2026

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

By: Christopher Bangert-Drowns (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)

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)

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)

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

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)

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

Working Papers OCT 23, 2025

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

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

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)

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

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)

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

Issue Briefs AUG 21, 2025

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

By: Veena Dubal (opens in a new tab), Wilneida Negrón (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)

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)

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

Visualizations JUL 28, 2025

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

Visualizations JUL 28, 2025

U.S. employment is dropping in industries with high tariff exposure (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 28, 2025

Manufacturing and other key U.S. sectors are particularly exposed to tariffs on inputs (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 28, 2025

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

Visualizations JUL 28, 2025

Equity Prices, Market Power, and Optimal Corporate Tax Policy (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers JUL 22, 2025

We study the optimal design of corporate tax policy in a textbook life-cycle model featuring two key deviations: (i) firms are imperfectly competitive and (ii) households save by purchasing equity…

By: Ignacio González (opens in a new tab), Juan A. Montecino (opens in a new tab), Joseph E. Stiglitz

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

Adoption of generative AI will have different effects across jobs in the U.S. logistics workforce (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUL 10, 2025

Generative artificial intelligence promises to profoundly reshape labor markets, much like previous automation waves did, but with clear differences. Unlike earlier technologies, such as computerization, which primarily automated routine administrative…

By: Christophe Combemale (opens in a new tab), Dustin Ferrone (opens in a new tab), Andrew Barber (opens in a new tab), Laurence Ales (opens in a new tab)

Dispatchers and related fields are highly exposed to automation and AI (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 10, 2025

U.S. dispatchers earn around the same wage as other, similar occupations (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 10, 2025

Workers in customer service and related fields are highly exposed to automation and AI (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 10, 2025

U.S. customer service workers earn around the same wage as other, similar occupations (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 10, 2025

More frequent tasks tend to be more important, but many exceptions exist (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUL 9, 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)

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)

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

Visualizations JUL 3, 2025

Optimal Monetary Policy Under Menu Costs (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers JUL 1, 2025

We analytically characterize optimal monetary policy in a multisector economy with menu costs and contrast it with the textbook New Keynesian model based on Calvo pricing. Following a sectoral productivity…

By: Daniele Caratelli (opens in a new tab), Basil Halperin (opens in a new tab)

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

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)

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 ‘funny math’ of top U.S. tax rates (opens in a new tab)

Essays JUN 11, 2025

The current reconciliation bill now before Congress won’t correct for the low tax rates paid by the richest Americans Overview Calculating the effective tax rate of the richest Americans can…

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

Studies find overall tax rates among the highest-income Americans skew regressive (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 10, 2025

Studies find U.S. individual income tax is primary driver of top-end regressivity (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 10, 2025

Tax-deductible business expenses spike around owner-operators’ and their spouses’ birthdays – updated (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JUN 5, 2025

Business owners often use their firms as tax shelters, reducing government revenue and reported income inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 22, 2025

Picture this scene: After sharing a meal with friends, someone in the group grabs the check and says, “I’ll take this so I can expense it through my company.” It…

By: David Leite (opens in a new tab)

The Firm as Tax Shelter (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers MAY 22, 2025

I present evidence that firms serve as tax-free consumption vehicles. Drawing on a unique combination of data from an electronic invoicing program in Portugal (e-Fatura), I show that individuals who…

By: David Leite (opens in a new tab)

Mischaracterization of personal expenses as tax-deductible business expenses erroneously reduces reported income inequality (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAY 22, 2025

Business owners and operators reduce their personal household consumption upon taking stakes in firms (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAY 21, 2025

Tax-deductible business expenses spike around owner-operators’ and their spouses’ birthdays (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations MAY 21, 2025

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)

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)

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

Blog MAY 1, 2025

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

By: Susan Helper (opens in a new tab)

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

Videos APR 30, 2025

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

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

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)

Factsheet: What we know about the federal employer-provided child care credit and how can it be better used by businesses (opens in a new tab)

Factsheets APR 22, 2025

The employer-provided child care credit, also referred to as Section 45F in the Internal Revenue Code, provides a limited subsidy to businesses in the United States that provide child care…

By: Megan Rivera (opens in a new tab)

Evaluating the Inflation Reduction Act: Job quality, spillovers, and place-based policymaking (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 16, 2025

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

By: Equitable Growth (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)

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)

Analogies for AI policymaking (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 27, 2025

As a suite of technologies under the label of artificial intelligence increasingly take center stage, policymakers recognize the need to develop deep technical expertise about the deployment of evolving technologies…

By: Sorelle Friedler (opens in a new tab), Marc Aidinoff (opens in a new tab)

Equitable Growth hosts Hill briefing on proliferation and taxation of U.S. pass-through businesses (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 13, 2025

On March 7, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth hosted a briefing—part of a series we call “Econ 101”—for Hill staffers curious about the proliferation of pass-through businesses and how…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Tackling AI, taxation, and the fair distribution of AI’s benefits (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAR 5, 2025

Artificial intelligence poses significant challenges to income growth, inequality, and meaningful work. At the same time, AI has geopolitical significance, with many national and supranational governments shying away from intervening…

By: Mona Sloane (opens in a new tab), Ekkehard Ernst (opens in a new tab)

New research finds capital gains are highly concentrated and hardly taxed, underscoring widespread U.S. inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 26, 2025

For two decades, booming stock, housing, and private business markets have driven large capital gains in the United States. Real capital gains, which are the inflation-adjusted appreciation of a financial…

By: Jacob Robbins (opens in a new tab), Cole Campbell (opens in a new tab), Sam Wylde (opens in a new tab)

The distribution of capital gains in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers FEB 26, 2025

Booming stock, housing, and private business markets have driven large capital gains in the United States, averaging 20% of national income over the past two decades. Using internal IRS tax…

By: Cole Campbell (opens in a new tab), Jacob A. Robbins, Sam Wylde (opens in a new tab)

Capital gains are highly concentrated among the wealthy in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations FEB 26, 2025

Boosting U.S. worker power and voice in the AI-enabled workplace (opens in a new tab)

Blog FEB 19, 2025

The deployment of Artificial Intelligence in the workplace has grown rapidly in the United States. Labor unions have been at the forefront of efforts to encourage more productive and sustainable…

By: Virginia Doellgast (opens in a new tab), Nell Geiser (opens in a new tab)

Tax avoidance among large, complex partnerships in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Reports FEB 12, 2025

Decades-old conventional wisdom held that businesses organized as partnerships in the United States were mostly small enterprises with a handful of active individuals sharing personal liability for the businesses they…

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

The Spiderweb of Partnership Tax Structures (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers FEB 12, 2025

U.S. partnerships control more than $40 trillion in assets, vastly outnumber U.S. public firms, and contribute significantly to the U.S. tax non-compliance of pass-through entities, which is larger than the…

By: Ryan Hess (opens in a new tab), Emily Black (opens in a new tab), Zaynah Javed (opens in a new tab), Jonathan Hennessy (opens in a new tab), Rebecca Lester (opens in a new tab), Jacob Goldin (opens in a new tab), Daniel E. Ho, Annette Portz (opens in a new tab)

Understanding market concentration in the AI supply chain (opens in a new tab)

Blog JAN 28, 2025

Artificial intelligence is more than just the applications we use, such as chatbots and predictive algorithms. Beneath the surface of AI lies a technology stack that is increasingly concentrated at…

By: Tejas Narechania (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)

New U.S. Treasury Department research shows that it pays to be an S corporation (opens in a new tab)

Blog DEC 16, 2024

Businesses that are organized as so-called pass-through entities for tax purposes—meaning their profits show up on the owners’ personal tax returns rather than on an entity-based tax return—pay a lower…

By: Michael Linden (opens in a new tab)

At all income levels, S corporations get a tax benefit from being S corporations (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations DEC 16, 2024

Who Gains from Corporate Tax Cuts? (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers NOV 27, 2024

Goods producers increase their capital expenditure and employment in response to a cut in marginal corporate income tax rates or an increase in investment tax credits. In contrast, companies in…

By: James Cloyne (opens in a new tab), Ezgi Kurt (opens in a new tab), Paolo Surico (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)

Crypto Tax Evasion (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers NOV 21, 2024

We quantify the extent of crypto tax noncompliance and evasion, and assess the efficacy of alternative tax enforcement interventions. The context of the study is Norway. This context allows us…

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

Cryptocurrency tax noncompliers tend to be young, male, and urban residents-similar to crypto investors more broadly (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations NOV 20, 2024

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)

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)

Equitable Growth virtual event details how tax policies affect U.S. economic growth and could combat income and wealth inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog OCT 23, 2024

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth recently held the second in a two-part event series on tax policies for congressional staffers interested in learning more about using persuasive, evidence-backed arguments…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

The promise of equitable and pro-growth tax reform (opens in a new tab)

Reports OCT 16, 2024

The impending expiration of large portions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act at the end of 2025 presents federal policymakers with a significant opportunity to reform the federal…

By: Michael Linden (opens in a new tab), David S. Mitchell (opens in a new tab), Shayna Strom (opens in a new tab)

Growth in the United States fell as taxes fell – updated (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations OCT 15, 2024

There is no obvious relationship between top tax rate and growth rate (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations OCT 15, 2024

IRS audits of higher-income taxpayers deliver larger revenue returns to the government (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations OCT 15, 2024

Tax cuts are to blame for increasing U.S. debt ratio (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations OCT 15, 2024

Recent U.S. tax cuts have reduced revenue (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations OCT 15, 2024

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

Visualizations OCT 15, 2024

U.S. corporate tax cuts largely benefit the rich and foreign investors (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations OCT 15, 2024

Payroll taxes exceed income taxes for most U.S. families (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations OCT 15, 2024

The Tax burden of the ultra-rich in the United States has declined in recent decades, driven by reduced estate and corporate taxes (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations OCT 15, 2024

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

Visualizations OCT 15, 2024

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

Visualizations OCT 15, 2024

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

U.S. wealth disparities have widened substantially over the past 35 years (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations OCT 8, 2024

Wealth is more concentrated in the United States than in other economically advanced nations (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations OCT 8, 2024

A majority of assets are owned by the wealthiest 10 percent of U.S. households (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations OCT 8, 2024

End Ineffective Business Tax Breaks Before Creating New Ones (opens in a new tab)

Blog OCT 7, 2024

(This opinion piece first appeared in Tax Notes Federal on September 23, 2024.) Vice President Kamala Harris recently proposed an expanded tax benefit for start-up businesses, aimed at helping fledgling…

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

Equitable Growth’s ‘Econ 101’ offered congressional staffers a rundown of the contours of U.S. tax policy (opens in a new tab)

Blog OCT 2, 2024

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth recently hosted a congressional briefing—part of a series we call “Econ 101”—for Hill staffers interested in learning more about the ins and outs of…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Estimating the prevalence of automated management and surveillance technologies at work and their impact on workers’ well-being (opens in a new tab)

Reports OCT 1, 2024

Evidence from a new national survey and implications for U.S. federal policy U.S. employers are deploying artificial-intelligence-powered and automated tools to monitor and manage workers, including tracking workers’ locations, activities,…

By: Alexander Hertel-Fernandez (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)

Asymmetric Effects of Monetary Policy on Firms (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers SEP 16, 2024

This paper documents firm-level evidence on the asymmetric effects of monetary policy in the US. Focusing on the 1980q3-2019q4 period, I find that monetary tightenings show larger effects on firms’…

By: Ezgi Kurt (opens in a new tab)

Firms’ rate of investment rose and fell less markedly due to changing U.S. monetary policies enacted by the Federal Reserve (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations SEP 15, 2024

Firms’ sales fell and remained down but recovered only slowly due to changing U.S. monetary policies enacted by the Federal Reserve (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations SEP 15, 2024

The number of firms’ employees dropped sharply but rose modestly due to changing U.S. monetary policies enacted by the Federal Reserve (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations SEP 15, 2024

Negative worker health and well-being associations are highest when electronic monitoring is used to discipline workers or suppress worker voice (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations SEP 12, 2024

Association between monitoring and unsafe or unhealthy work speeds persists, independent of worker and workplace characteristics (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations SEP 12, 2024

Workers experiencing automated task management technology report more workplace injuries (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations SEP 12, 2024

Workers experiencing automated task management technology work faster than they say is healthy or safe (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations SEP 12, 2024

More heavily monitored workers report more workplace injuries (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations SEP 12, 2024

More heavily monitored workers are more anxious at work (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations SEP 12, 2024

More heavily monitored workers works faster than they say is healthy or safe (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations SEP 12, 2024

Workers at larger employers report higher rates of automated management and surveillance technologies (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations SEP 12, 2024

Black and Hispanic workers report higher rates of electronic monitoring at work (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations SEP 12, 2024

Black and Hispanic workers report higher rates of automated management technologies at work (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations SEP 12, 2024

Workers all along the earnings distribution report experiencing surveillance in the workplace (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations SEP 12, 2024

Workers report similar levels of automated management and surveillance regardless of their educational attainment (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations SEP 12, 2024

The upcoming U.S. election’s most important policy effects are under the radar (opens in a new tab)

Blog SEP 3, 2024

Although the old maxim that Labor Day marks the true beginning of U.S. presidential campaigns may no longer hold, the end of summer and beginning of fall remain a period…

By: Kevin Rinz (opens in a new tab)

New economic analyses of the 2017 Trump tax cuts find mixed effects that policymakers should consider when those tax cuts expire in 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Blog AUG 22, 2024

Former President Donald Trump’s hallmark economic policy was a swathe of tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations in 2017. His Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA, supercharged…

By: Rakeen Mabud (opens in a new tab), Janelle Jones (opens in a new tab), Michael Linden (opens in a new tab)

New federal heat standard will protect U.S. workers from the ill effects of high temperatures amid intensifying climate change (opens in a new tab)

Blog AUG 1, 2024

U.S. workers are more vulnerable than ever to the ill effects of high and rising temperatures as the world continues to shatter heat records this year. Climate-related deaths and injuries…

By: Equitable Growth (opens in a new tab)

Bonus Question: How Does Flexible Incentive Pay Affect Wage Rigidity? (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers JUL 17, 2024

We introduce dynamic incentive contracts into a model of inflation and unemployment dynamics. Our main result is that wage cyclicality from incentives neither affects the slope of the Phillips curve…

By: Meghana Gaur (opens in a new tab), John Grigsby (opens in a new tab), Jonathon Hazell (opens in a new tab), Abdoulaye Ndiaye (opens in a new tab)

New federal heat standard offers novel distributional analysis to determine which workers benefit and how (opens in a new tab)

Blog JUL 16, 2024

The U.S. Department of Labor recently released a much-anticipated proposed rule that promises to protect workers from on-the-job injuries and deaths that result from toiling in the heat. The timing…

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

Equitable Growth hosts event featuring Sen. Elizabeth Warren on pro-growth tax reform in 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Videos JUN 20, 2024

Several provisions of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts are set to expire next year, providing an opportunity to reimagine how federal taxes can both raise additional revenue for…

By: Equitable Growth (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)

Behavioral Responses to Wealth Taxation: Evidence from Colombia (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers MAY 14, 2024

We study behavioral responses to personal wealth taxes in Colombia. We utilize tax microdata from 1993 to 2016 linked with the leaked Panama Papers to investigate offshoring to the country’s…

By: Juliana Londoño-Vélez (opens in a new tab), Javier Avila-Mahecha (opens in a new tab)

U.S. workers, generative AI, and the future of work (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 9, 2024

The launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 captured the world’s attention and illustrated the potential of generative Artificial Intelligence to instantly perform tasks long considered quintessentially “human.” Already, the technology…

By: Molly Kinder (opens in a new tab)

New workplace surveillance bill would protect U.S. workers and address new technological risks (opens in a new tab)

Blog MAY 2, 2024

Across the U.S. economy, the risks posed by unchecked automated surveillance and management technologies are widespread—and growing. These technologies can sometimes be beneficial for workers, customers, and businesses alike. For…

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

2017 tax cut for pass-through business owners exacerbated inequality and failed to deliver economic benefits (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs MAY 1, 2024

Among the many regressive and ineffective elements of the Trump administration’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, one provision stands out as the most convoluted, unfair, and ripe for…

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

Shareholders of U.S. S-corporations artificially modified their wages to maximize their qualified business income deduction (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations APR 30, 2024

U.S. partners artificially reduced their salaries in order to maximize their pass-through deduction (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations APR 30, 2024

Trump tax bill’s pass-through deduction overwhelmingly benefits the top 1% of U.S. income earners (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations APR 30, 2024

Trump tax bill’s pass-through deduction overwhelmingly benefits White taxpayers in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations APR 30, 2024

Underreporting of pass-through income is the major driver of the U.S. tax gap (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations APR 30, 2024

Large partnerships mostly escape IRS scrutiny (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations APR 30, 2024

Factsheet: What the research says about taxing pass-through businesses (opens in a new tab)

Factsheets APR 30, 2024

In recent years, so-called pass-through businesses have taken center stage in a number of crucial tax policy debates. This large and growing category of U.S. business—which includes sole proprietorships, partnerships…

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

Pass-throughs are the preferred vehicle through which the top 1 percent hold wealth in tax havens (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations APR 30, 2024

Rise of pass-throughs contributed to a large increase in U.S. inequality (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations APR 30, 2024

The top 1 percent of U.S. income earners captures a disproportionate share of pas-through income (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations APR 29, 2024

Not all pass-through businesses are small businesses (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations APR 29, 2024

Growth in income of pass-through businesses has outpaced traditional C-corporations over recent decades (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations APR 29, 2024

Pass-through businesses are increasingly common in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations APR 29, 2024

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)

Children from higher-wealth families are more upwardly mobile (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations APR 19, 2024

Combating market power through a graduated U.S. corporate income tax (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs APR 15, 2024

Editor’s note: This version has been updated from the original publication on April 15, 2024. The update corrects a prior underestimate of the revenue potential from graduated corporate tax rates…

By: Kimberly Clausing (opens in a new tab)

Enhanced Child Tax Credit helped U.S. families afford life-enhancing necessities and cope with inflation (opens in a new tab)

Blog APR 2, 2024

Amid ongoing congressional debate over expanding the Child Tax Credit for U.S. families, it’s important to understand why the fears about the expansion of that tax credit in 2021 were…

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

Spending Responses to the Child Tax Credit Expansions (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers APR 2, 2024

This article summarizes the literature that studied how people used the 2021 advance Child Tax Credit. Four primary findings emerged. Families more frequently reporting paying down debt during the first…

By: Jonathan Fisher (opens in a new tab), Jake Schild (opens in a new tab), David S. Johnson

Request for Proposals: How effective was the fiscal response to the COVID-19 recession for workers? (opens in a new tab)

RFPs MAR 18, 2024

By: Equitable Growth (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)

Personal loan delinquency is low or within normal levels for all major loan types (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations FEB 20, 2024

Production and nonsupervisory workers now have higher real wages than the pre-pandemic trend (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations FEB 20, 2024

The gap in unemployment between White and Black workers is at historic lows (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations FEB 20, 2024

Wage growth for 16- to 24-year-old workers is higher than at any point in the previous expansion (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations FEB 20, 2024

Unemployment for 16- to 24-year-old workers is at low levels not seen in decades (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations FEB 20, 2024

Real U.S. GDP now exceeds pre-pandemic projections by the Congressional budget Office (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations FEB 20, 2024

The Great Recession of 2007-2009 caused permanent damage to U.S. GDP (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations FEB 20, 2024

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)

Distributional weighting in regulatory cost-benefit analysis reflects state of the science and would even the playing field for low-income Americans (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JAN 31, 2024

The Biden administration’s new regulatory cost-benefit guidelines encourage agencies to better account for inequality (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JAN 31, 2024

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)

IRS audits of higher-income taxpayers deliver larger revenue returns to the government (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JAN 9, 2024

Auten and Splinter assign more and more in-kind transfers to the bottom 50 percent’s income (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JAN 9, 2024

Fiscal income, the income that is visible in individual tax data, has become much more concentrated (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JAN 9, 2024

Auten and Splinter find lower levels of top 1% income share over time when compared to Piketty, Saez, and Zucman (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations JAN 9, 2024

Six years later, more evidence shows the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act benefits U.S. business owners and executives, not average workers (opens in a new tab)

Blog DEC 20, 2023

When policymakers were debating the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, many proponents claimed that average U.S. workers would benefit via wage increases. These adherents of trickle-down economic theory…

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

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

RFPs NOV 30, 2023

By: Equitable Growth (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)

Investment Rate EG Graph 04 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations NOV 20, 2023

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 Rise of Pass-Throughs: an Empirical Investigation (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers SEP 26, 2023

Pass-through entities have emerged as the leading U.S. business organization form in recent decades. Using comprehensive confidential administrative data, this paper highlights five core findings: (1) the rise in pass-throughs…

By: Sebastian Dyrda (opens in a new tab), Benjamin Pugsley (opens in a new tab)