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 & Mobility2595

Reset
post

New research shows that reductions in air pollution have intergenerational consequences

Inequality & MobilityFamilies
working paper

The Grandkids Aren’t Alright: The Intergenerational Effects of Prenatal Pollution Exposure

Inequality & MobilityFamilies
Coronavirus Recession

Jobs report: Coronavirus recession hits workers in low-wage service industries who need access to the social safety net and effective labor protection enforcement

Inequality & MobilityLabor
post

The wage divide for Black and Latinx workers goes deeper than a ‘skills gap’ or requiring more credentials

Inequality & MobilityFamiliesLabor
post

How combating voter suppression can help close the economic divides between Black and White Americans and spur U.S. economic growth

Inequality & Mobility
report

The consequences of political inequality and voter suppression for U.S. economic inequality and growth

LaborInequality & MobilityFamilies
Expert Focus

Expert Focus: Understanding the economic impacts of climate change

Inequality & MobilityFamiliesTax & Macroeconomics
Boosting Wages

New Equitable Growth book presents broad structural changes to boost U.S. wages for more equitable and sustainable economic growth

Inequality & MobilityFamiliesLabor
Boosting Wages

Foreword: Boosting Wages for U.S. Workers in the New Economy

Inequality & MobilityFamiliesLabor
Boosting Wages

Broad structural change is needed to boost wages in a U.S. economy that is more equitable to produce strong, sustainable economic growth

LaborInequality & MobilityFamilies
Boosting Wages

Boosting wages when U.S. labor markets are not competitive

CompetitionLaborInequality & Mobility
Boosting Wages

U.S. labor markets require a new approach to higher education

Inequality & MobilityFamiliesLabor

Experts on the issue

Grantee

Morris Kleiner

University of Minnesota

Learn More
Grantee

Heather Sarsons

University of Chicago

Learn More
Grantee

Leah Stokes

University of California, Santa Barbara

Learn More
Grantee

Joan Williams

University of California, Hastings College of Law

Learn More
Grantee

Martina Jasova

Barnard College

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