New wealth data show that the economic expansion after the Great Recession was a wealthless recovery for many U.S. households
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Overview The Federal Reserve’s 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, or SCF, released last week, shows that the wealth of many U.S. households never recovered from the shock of the Great Recession more than a decade ago. Although mean (average) wealth of all households in 2019 exceeded mean wealth in 20…
What the coronavirus recession means for U.S. public-sector employment
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According to the latest Employment Situation report released by Bureau of Labor Statistics today, the U.S. economy in September added 661,000 nonfarm payroll jobs, reflecting an important slowdown in employment growth. Also known as the Jobs Report, the release shows that the share of 25- to 54-year…
Structural racism and the coronavirus recession highlight why more and better U.S. data need to be widely disaggregated by race and ethnicity
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Overview The enduring legacy of structural racism in the United States is not news to the multihued communities of color across our nation. And in these Black, Latinx, Native American, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities, it comes as little surprise that many of these c…
Main Street’s workers, families, and small businesses are now suffering as Wall Street prospers from policies to fight the coronavirus recession
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Overview In San Antonio, 10,000 cars lined up to get bags of groceries from a local food bank, waiting hours in the heat for help.376 In New Orleans, advocates chained themselves together outside of the city courthouse to prevent landlords from finalizing evictions.377 In New York City, more than on…
College football’s inequality dilemma amid the coronavirus recession
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Before the coronavirus pandemic and the recession it caused, the economics of college sports, particularly college football, took a backseat to game-day coverage of tens of millions of fans spending freely on eating, drinking, and cheering in tightly packed stadiums and bars, tail-gate parties, and…
Get more money immediately to U.S. families and help them out of the coronavirus recession
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The costs of the deepening coronavirus recession and the benefits of the federal government providing another round of direct economic aid to families are clear. Let’s begin with the mounting costs of the public health and economic crisis before turning to what Congress must do now, and why another…
Revamping U.S. small business rescue programs amid the coronavirus recession
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The coronavirus economic rescue programs enacted by Congress this past spring failed to prevent layoffs and firm bankruptcies among the smallest employers in the United States. Existing resources, such as the Paycheck Protection Program, helped firms that needed a marginal boost to get through the w…
Combating the market power of U.S. corporations over workers and consumers
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Recent economic research establishes that the United States suffers from a growing market power problem. Market power, often referred to as monopoly power, means consumers pay more for the goods and services they need. Workers earn less. Small businesses have a harder time succeeding. Innovation slo…
Taxing wealth and investment income in the United States
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The federal income tax does a poor job of taxing income derived from wealth. The root cause of this problem is that the tax code allows taxpayers to defer (without interest) paying tax on investment gains until assets are sold. Moreover, even when assets are sold, the investment gains are taxed at p…
Achieving universal paid family and medical leave in the United States
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The coronavirus pandemic and the recession it caused lay bare a familiar challenge for U.S. workers—balancing family and job responsibilities without access to paid family and medical leave. When a new child arrives, loved ones get sick, or a serious illness strikes, people need time away from work.…