Over the last 30 years, economic inequality in the United States has returned to levels last seen in the 1920s. Today, the United States is in the top quarter of the world's most unequal countries. Economic mobility-a child's likelihood to occupy a different position on the income ladder than their parents did-has fallen well behind Canada, Britain, and other advanced economies. Inequality has worsened over the course of the economic recovery, with economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty finding that the top 1 percent of earners took home 95 percent of all income gains since the recession ended in 2009.
Economists have documented these changes extensively, but we need to know more about the effects, if any, of rising economic inequality on America's overall economic growth. If, as some research suggests, worsening inequality erodes our economy's ability to function efficiently and at full potential, we are faced with a second question: What are the best ways to promote more equitable economic growth?
The Washington Center for Equitable Growth is a new, nonpartisan organization, housed at the Center for American Progress, that will explore these important questions.
About The Washington Center for Equitable Growth
The Washington Center for Equitable Growth is a new research and grantmaking organization founded to accelerate cutting-edge analysis into whether and how structural changes in the U.S. economy, particularly related to economic inequality, affect economic growth.