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

report

U.S. economic mobility trends and outcomes

Inequality & Mobility
In Conversation

In conversation with Sasha Killewald

Inequality & Mobility
post

New research doesn’t overturn consensus on rising U.S. income inequality

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 & Mobility2530

Reset
post

How government reliance on fines and fees harms communities across the United States

Inequality & Mobility
Past Event

Getting on the GRID: Accessing and using statistics from the Global Repository of Income Dynamics

Inequality & Mobility
TOPICS: 1
TOPICS: GDP 2.0
post

Maybe some Earth Day soon, we’ll know what nature is worth

Tax & MacroeconomicsInequality & Mobility
TOPICS: Climate, GDP 2.0
post

Police in public schools harm students, leading to far-reaching socioeconomic inequalities alongside less safe schools

FamiliesInequality & Mobility
post

Equitable Growth’s Jobs Day Graphs: March 2023 Report Edition

LaborInequality & Mobility
post

Summary of Equitable Growth’s March ‘Econ 101’ briefing on inflation for Capitol Hill staffers

Inequality & MobilityTax & Macroeconomics
Executive action to spur equitable growth

Executive actions to modernize federal data collection and improve measurements of U.S. economic inequality

Inequality & Mobility
TOPICS: 1
TOPICS: GDP 2.0
Past Event

Equitable Growth 2022: People and Research Advancing Economic Evidence

Inequality & Mobility
post

Equitable Growth’s Jobs Day Graphs: February 2023 Report Edition

LaborInequality & Mobility
post

Ahead of new U.S. jobs data releases, here’s what employment growth and job switching mean for wage disparities in the U.S. labor market

LaborInequality & Mobility
post

Access to paid family leave improves U.S. women’s labor market outcomes following a spouse’s health shock

Inequality & MobilityLabor
TOPICS: Gender, Paid Leave
working paper

The Impact of Paid Family Leave on Families with Health Shocks

Inequality & MobilityLabor
TOPICS: Gender, Paid Leave

Experts on the issue

Guest Author

Michael Ettlinger

University of New Hampshire

Learn More
Grantee

Greg Duncan

University of California, Irvine

Learn More
Grantee

Andrew Garin

Carnegie Mellon University

Learn More
Scholar

Lauren Russell

Harvard University

Learn More
Grantee

Leah Hamilton

Appalachian State University

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