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

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Why the Iran war is bad for U.S. economic growth

Inequality & Mobility
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Federal policymakers can ensure Trump accounts do not exacerbate inequality in the United States

Inequality & MobilityFamilies
The Rise of Populism

Research-based perspectives on the connection between economic policy and rising support for authoritarian populism

Inequality & Mobility
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Analyzing recent U.S. economic policies using Equitable Growth’s Inequality Tracker

Inequality & Mobility
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Factsheet: U.S. economic mobility and policies to increase upward mobility

Inequality & MobilityTax & Macroeconomics
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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

Explore Content in Inequality & Mobility2796

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Labor Markets

Equitable Growth’s Jobs Day Graphs: April 2020 Report Edition

FamiliesInequality & MobilityLabor
Coronavirus Recession

More resilient small U.S. restaurants and their workers can exit the coronavirus recession and sustain an equitable economic recovery

LaborCompetitionInequality & Mobility
Coronavirus Recession

Global medical trade in the time of the coronavirus pandemic

Tax & MacroeconomicsInequality & Mobility
working paper

Redistribution with Performance Pay

Tax & MacroeconomicsInequality & Mobility
Coronavirus Recession

New congressional reports underscore structural inequalities driving U.S. racial disparities in coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths

Inequality & MobilityFamilies
Expert Focus

Expert Focus: Equity and Well-Being During the Coronavirus Recession

Inequality & MobilityFamiliesLabor
Coronavirus Recession

Fool Me Once: Investing in Unemployment Insurance systems to avoid the mistakes of the Great Recession during COVID-19

Inequality & MobilityLabor
Coronavirus Recession

The coronavirus recession is severe, and the damage to the U.S. economy will last years

Tax & MacroeconomicsInequality & MobilityLabor
Coronavirus Recession

Good U.S. fiscal policy could have made us stronger before the coronavirus recession and can make us stronger afterward

Inequality & MobilityTax & Macroeconomics
Coronavirus Recession

Early lessons learned from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s first round of lending from its Paycheck Protection Program

Tax & MacroeconomicsInequality & MobilityLabor
Coronavirus Recession

The coronavirus pandemic highlights the importance of disaggregating U.S. data by race and ethnicity

Inequality & Mobility
Coronavirus Recession

Dealing with the U.S. economic and public health effects of the coronavirus recession compassionately and with an eye on a strong recovery

Inequality & MobilityFamiliesTax & Macroeconomics

Experts on the issue

Grantee

E. Mark Curtis

Wake Forest University

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Grantee

Andrew Baker

University of California, Berkeley

Assistant Professor

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Grantee

Jacob Bastian

Rutgers University

Assistant Professor

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Grantee

Heather Sarsons

University of Chicago

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Guest Author

Matto Mildenberger

University of California, Santa Barbara

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