issue Inequality & Mobility

Equitable Growth supports research and policy analysis on how trends in economic inequality and mobility and changes in the economy have affected the concentration of wealth, income, and earnings, and how these distributional shifts have affected the promise of economic security and opportunity.

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During the mid-20th century, strong economic growth was broadly shared, as incomes increased and children could expect a better quality of life than their parents, though significant disparities across demographic groups remained. In recent decades, wealth, income, and earnings inequality have been rising and mobility declining, and demographic disparities persist. Better understanding these trends and their implications for economic growth will inform evidence-backed policies that improve growth and mobility for people across incomes, regions, and demographic groups.

Featured Research

In Conversation

In Conversation with Miles Corak

Inequality & Mobility
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U.S. economic mobility trends and outcomes

Inequality & Mobility
In Conversation

In conversation with Sasha Killewald

Inequality & Mobility
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GDP 2.0: Measuring who prospers when the U.S. economy grows

Inequality & Mobility
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Stratification economics: What it is and how it advances our understanding of inequality

Inequality & Mobility
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Six charts that explain how inequality in the United States changed over the past 20 years

Inequality & Mobility
TOPICS: 1
TOPICS: GDP 2.0

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Expert Focus

Expert Focus: Feminist economists studying women’s roles and contributions to the U.S. economy

Inequality & MobilityFamiliesLabor
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Retirement tax incentives supercharge the fortunes of wealthy Americans

Inequality & MobilityTax & Macroeconomics
Equitable Recovery

The American Rescue Plan helped U.S. families amid the coronavirus pandemic and provides a roadmap for policymakers today

Inequality & MobilityTax & Macroeconomics
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Revisiting timely research that explores U.S. intersectional wage gaps amid Women’s History Month

Inequality & MobilityFamiliesLabor
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Equitable Growth’s Jobs Day Graphs: February 2022 Report Edition

LaborInequality & Mobility
Equitable Recovery

The Economic State of the Union in 2022, presented in 11 charts, and what policymakers can do to make the recovery more equitable and resilient

Inequality & Mobility
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Stratification economics: What it is and how it advances our understanding of inequality

Inequality & Mobility
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More frequent disaggregated data on U.S. income inequality would improve economic research and inform policymaking

Inequality & Mobility
Expert Focus

Expert Focus: Scholars examining anti-racist ideas and proposals across U.S. economic policy areas

Inequality & Mobility
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How Black activists spurred the U.S. government to expand school meal programs, addressing child hunger and boosting future productivity

Inequality & MobilityFamilies
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Is moving to a new place key to upward mobility for U.S. workers and their families?

Inequality & MobilityFamilies
working paper

Can you move to opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration

Inequality & MobilityFamilies

Experts on the issue

Grantee

Heather Sarsons

University of Chicago

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Grantee

Katherine Thomas

New York University

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Guest Author

Naomi Zewde

University of California, Los Angels

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Grantee

Joan Williams

University of California, Hastings College of Law

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Grantee

Fenaba Addo

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

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