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.

Photo credit: Monster Ztudio/shutterstock.com

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
report

U.S. economic mobility trends and outcomes

Inequality & Mobility
In Conversation

In conversation with Sasha Killewald

Inequality & Mobility
post

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

Inequality & Mobility
post

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

Inequality & Mobility
post

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 & Mobility2587

Reset
report

Allowing the 2017 estate tax changes to expire will reduce U.S. inequality and promote economic growth and opportunity

Inequality & MobilityTax & Macroeconomics
post

Equitable Growth renews collective bargaining agreement with Nonprofit Professional Employees Union

LaborInequality & Mobility
post

New data show significant changes in racial and class mobility gaps in the United States

Inequality & Mobility
In Conversation

In Conversation with Mishaela Durán

Inequality & MobilityFamilies
Past Event

Evaluating the Economic Policy Stakes for 2025

Inequality & Mobility
post

Early career scholars to receive Equitable Growth funding to study economic inequality

Inequality & Mobility
post

Equitable Growth invests in new research to better understand the effects of the fiscal response to the COVID-19 recession

Inequality & Mobility
grant

Skill and spatial mismatch in the energy transition

Inequality & MobilityLabor
grant

The Highway to Displacement: Interstate 10 and Black Communities in New Orleans

Inequality & MobilityFamilies
grant

The Distributional Effects of Firm Productivity Changes: Evidence from U.S. Linked Worker-Owner Data

Inequality & MobilityLabor
grant

The Effect of Wealth on Descendants of the Enslaved

Inequality & MobilityFamilies
grant

Worker Led Lawsuits: The Effects of California’s Private Attorney Generals Act

LaborInequality & Mobility

Experts on the issue

Grantee

Fabian Pfeffer

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Learn More
Grantee

Stephie Fried

Arizona State University

Learn More
Grantee

Kassandra Hernandez

University of California, Berkeley

Learn More
Grantee

Kristin Smith

Dartmouth College

Learn More
Scholar

Matthew Staiger

Opportunity Insights

Research Scientist

Learn More
Connect with us!

Explore the Equitable Growth network of experts around the country and get answers to today's most pressing questions!

Get in Touch