“Delivering equitable growth” highlights challenges and opportunities facing current and future generations of U.S. policymakers

Washington, DC—The Washington Center for Equitable Growth released “Delivering equitable growth: strategies for the next Administration” on October 31, 2016, highlighting both new and existing research on the channels through which inequality affects growth. Sixteen scholars from institutions across the country present independent, evidence-based policy ideas on topics ranging from how inequality affects children’s outcomes to questions surrounding trade and worker welfare to help inform the economic policy choices of the two presidential transition teams, relevant agencies, and the next president’s Administration.

“Ideas about what makes the economy grow are at the core of our national economic debate, particularly at a time when too many Americans have not shared in the gains from growth,” says Elisabeth Jacobs, Senior Policy Director at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. “The diverse range of experts represented here illustrate key economic problems facing our society and propose solutions informed by that research. We hope this body of work can serve as a starting point for the next Administration’s engagement with questions related to whether and how economic inequality affects growth and inform an evidence-based conversation about the future of U.S. economic policy.”

Rather than a comprehensive guide to detailed policy design, the 14 essays provide an overview of the existing evidence based on each scholar’s respective expertise and recommendations for responding to the economic issues impacting families, businesses, capital and markets, and communities. Each essay represents the expertise and views of the respective scholar.

“Equitable Growth’s new resource is a must-read for both new government officials and lifelong public servants,” says Melody Barnes, an Equitable Growth Steering Committee Member and former Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. “From my own experience, I recognize firsthand the value of evidence-backed and policy relevant research and this set of recommendations fits the bill.” Barnes, now a Senior Fellow at the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University, adds that “…members of the next Administration should look to these ideas both as they come into office and in the years to come.”

For an overview of the project, see this summary and explanation from Equitable Growth’s Senior Director for Policy, Elisabeth Jacobs.

“Delivering equitable growth” includes the following sets of recommendations:

• How economic inequality affects children’s outcomes, Ariel Kalil, Professor of Public Policy, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago
• The “Silver Spoon” tax: how to strengthen wealth transfer taxation, Lily L. Batchelder, Professor of Law and Public Policy, New York University School of Law
• Two and a half decades: Still waiting for a change, Sylvia A. Allegretto, Co-chair, Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, University of California-Berkeley
• Expand Social Security, Jesse Rothstein, Professor of Public Policy and Economics and Director, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, University of California-Berkeley
• Labor mobility: Guidance for the next administration, Abigail Wozniak, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Notre Dame
• International trade and U.S. worker welfare: understanding the costs and benefits, David Autor, Ford Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Supply chains and equitable growth, Susan Helper, Frank Tracy Carlton Professor of Economics, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western University
• What new administrative data reveals about access to consumer credit and the U.S. economy, Kyle Herkenhoff and Gordon Phillips, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Minnesota; and C.V. Starr Foundation Professor and Faculty Director, Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College
• What to do about the Federal Reserve, Alan Blinder, Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton University, and former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
• Shared responsibility mortgages, Atif Mian and Amir Sufi, Professor of Economics and Public Affairs and Director, Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University; and Bruce Lindsay Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago
• Geography of economic inequality, Kendra Bischoff, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Cornell University
• Confronting neighborhood segregation, Patrick Sharkey, Associate Professor of Sociology, New York University
• Unemployment Insurance reform: a primer, Till von Wachter, Professor of Economics and Associate Director, California Center for Population Research, University of California-Los Angeles
• Addressing income volatility in the United States: flexible policy solutions for changing economic circumstances, Bradley L. Hardy, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration and Policy, American University

View each of the essays and an overview of “Delivering equitable growth: strategies for the next Administration” here.