Archives: Press

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2019
CONTACT:
Erica Handloff, 202-545-3354
ehandloff@equitablegrowth.org

WASHINGTON – Today, at its Vision 2020 conference, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth announced that in January, it will release a compilation of 20 innovative, evidence-based, and concrete ideas to shape the 2020 policy debate.

Several of the contributors to the essay collection are speaking at the conference, which brings together leading voices from the policymaking, academic, and advocacy communities to highlight the most pressing economic issues facing Americans today. Chief among the themes of Vision 2020 are the exploration of recent transformative shifts in economic thinking that demonstrate how inequality obstructs, subverts, and distorts broadly shared economic growth, as well as what can be done to fix it.

“Through these essays, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth aims to infuse cutting-edge research findings and prominent academics into the current policy debate,” said David Mitchell, director of external and government relations at Equitable Growth. “Our goal is for future decisions about the U.S. economy to be informed by the best available evidence.”

Essay authors who also will speak at the conference include:

• Heather Boushey, president and CEO of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, who will write about new ways to measure the economy
• Arindrajit Dube, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who will write about minimum wage and sectoral wage boards
• Dania Francis, assistant professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Boston, who will write about reparations
• Bradley Hardy, associate professor of public administration and policy at American University, who will write about race and economic mobility
• Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, assistant professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, who will write about labor unions

Additional contributors and their topics include:

• Kimberly Clausing, professor of economics at Reed College, on trade policy
• Robynn Cox, assistant professor of social work at the University of Southern California, on criminal justice policy
• Blythe George, doctoral student in sociology and social policy at Harvard University, on re-entry after incarceration back into tribal communities
• Darrick Hamilton, professor of public affairs at The Ohio State University, and Naomi Zewde, postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University, on student debt cancellation
• Aaron Kesselheim, professor of medicine at Harvard University, on prescription drug costs
• Susan Lambert, associate professor of social service and administration at the University of Chicago, on fair scheduling
• Yair Listokin, professor of law at Yale University, on macroeconomics and the law
• Trevon Logan, professor of economics at The Ohio State University, and American University’s Hardy, on race and economic mobility
• Taryn Morrissey, associate professor of public policy at American University, on childcare
• Suresh Naidu, professor of economics and international and public affairs at Columbia University, and Sydnee Caldwell, doctoral student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on labor market monopsony
• Maya Rossin-Slater, assistant professor of economics at Stanford University, and Jenna Stearns, assistant professor of economics at University of California, Davis, on paid leave
• John Sabelhaus, visiting scholar at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, on fiscal and monetary policy
• Diane Schanzenbach, professor of human development and social policy at Northwestern University, and Hilary Hoynes, professor of public policy and economics at the University of California, Berkeley, on the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program
• Fiona Scott Morton, professor of economics at Yale University, on antitrust policy
• Leah Stokes, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and affiliated with the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, on climate policy and economic inequality
• Emily Wiemers, associate professor of economics, and Michael Carr, professor of economics, both at the University of Massachusetts Boston, on earnings instability
• Owen Zidar, associate professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, and Eric Zwick, associate professor of finance at the University of Chicago, on income tax reform

For more information on the Vision 2020 conference, click here.

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth is a nonprofit research and grantmaking organization dedicated to advancing evidence-backed ideas and policies that promote strong, stable, and broad-based economic growth. For more information, see www.equitablegrowth.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook @equitablegrowth.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 28, 2019
CONTACT:
Elena Waskey, 202-545-3357
ewaskey@equitablegrowth.org

WASHINGTON – The Washington Center for Equitable Growth today announced that Claudia Sahm will join the organization in November as its new director of macroeconomic policy. She is currently a section chief at the Federal Reserve Board.

“As a member of our research advisory board, Claudia already has brought a wealth of expertise to Equitable Growth, and I am confident in her new role that she will continue to bring a strong commitment to supporting a new generation of talent in economics and public policymaking,” said Equitable Growth President and CEO Heather Boushey. “As director of macroeconomic policy, she will conduct and seed further research on the macroeconomic consequences of economic inequality and bring her tremendous expertise to bear at the intersection of policymaking and academia.”

Sahm’s research focuses on consumer behavior and preferences, including responses to fiscal stimulus, income expectations, and economic measurement. Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis added “Sahm Rule recession indicators” to its Federal Reserve Economic Data database. Sahm developed the rule as part of Recession Ready: Fiscal Policies to Stabilize the American Economy, a joint project between Equitable Growth and The Hamilton Project at The Brookings Institution.

“I am thrilled to have this opportunity to connect macroeconomic research and economic policy,” Sahm said. “Research in macroeconomics has increasingly focused on how economic policy—including fiscal, monetary, and regulatory—affects households differently across the income and wealth distribution. It is important we make these insights accessible to policymakers, so we can have a robust conversation on how inequality affects growth.”

Sahm, who assumes her role as director of macroeconomic policy on November 25, will both conduct original research and provide analysis of academic research on how macroeconomic policy tools can ensure the U.S. economy works for everyone and reduce the impact of economic downturns.

Currently, Sahm is the section chief for the Consumer and Community Research section in the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board. Before she was section chief, she worked as an economist in the Division of Research and Statistics with a focus on macro-consumption. In 2015, she served a 1-year detail at the Council of Economic Advisers as a senior economist. Sahm holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in economics, political science, and German from Denison University.

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth is a nonprofit research and grantmaking organization dedicated to advancing evidence-backed ideas and policies that promote strong, stable, and broad-based economic growth. For more information, see www.equitablegrowth.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook @equitablegrowth.

The Congressional Joint Economic Committee today is holding the first-ever hearing to discuss new proposals to measure who prospers when the U.S. economy grows, an acknowledgement that Gross Domestic Product growth is no longer a sufficient measure for understanding the health of our economy. Congress has already taken a number of actions to press the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis to show how economic growth is distributed among income groups.

In 2018, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the current vice-chair of the JEC, and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), the ranking JEC Senate Democrat, introduced the Measuring Real Income Growth Act of 2018, which would require BEA to include an estimate of income growth within deciles of income in its quarterly GDP reports. Rep. Maloney reintroduced the measure earlier this year, and Sen. Heinrich and Sen. Schumer are expected to do so soon.

In March 2019, the conference report accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019 included a clause instructing BEA to report income growth within deciles of income starting in 2020. In their appropriations bill for the Department of Commerce for fiscal year 2020, House appropriators instructed BEA to report on its progress toward carrying out the FY2019 appropriations language.

Most recently, Senate appropriators allocated $1 million in FY2020 funds for BEA to implement the congressional instructions. The House and Senate FY2020 appropriations bills have not yet been reconciled.

Rep. Maloney today will release a letter from Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross committing to issue prototype measures of the distribution of national income during calendar year 2020. She will also release a letter from about 20 faith-based groups supporting the Measuring Real Income Growth Act, as well as statements of support from a coalition of labor unions and think tanks.

Following is a statement by Heather Boushey, president and CEO of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, who will be a witness at today’s hearing. Equitable Growth’s GDP 2.0 project has played a key role in advancing research on Distributional National Accounts, the dataset that will enable the Commerce Department to show how the benefits of economic growth are distributed by income:

The dramatic rise in inequality our nation has experienced over the past 40 years is obstructing, subverting, and distorting the way our economy functions. For these reasons, we cannot be indifferent to how economic growth is distributed. One of the most important tools policymakers need to ensure strong, stable, and broadly shared growth is the ability to track inequality and growth together. This is so when the economy grows, we can see whether the benefits are widely distributed or, as we have seen increasingly in recent decades, those gains go disproportionately to those at the very top.

We applaud Rep. Maloney, Sen. Heinrich, Sen. Schumer, and their colleagues for their leadership in introducing legislation directing the Department of Commerce to regularly track and report on inequality alongside growth in national income, and for Congress’ ongoing efforts to better measure who prospers when the economy grows. We also appreciate the support this initiative is now receiving from a broad range of faith-based organizations, labor unions, and think tanks concerned about inequality and economic growth, and we are glad that Secretary Ross is committing to move this effort forward.

Today’s Joint Economic Committee hearing builds on all these positive steps. There is conclusive data showing that inequality in the United States has grown dramatically over the past four decades, a stark contrast to the post-World War II era. When GDP grew from the 1940s to the 1970s, most Americans saw their income grow. But since around 1980, the benefits of GDP growth—higher income, increased wealth—have gone almost entirely to those at or near the top of the income distribution.

Unfortunately, economic policies continue to be based on the notion that GDP growth is the only data point that truly measures the health of the economy. Now we know that GDP tells us nothing about the economic health of most Americans.

Distributional statistics will enable the government to say how Americans up and down the income ladder are faring, highlighting whether Americans on the middle and bottom rungs are experiencing any gains from economic growth. That is a far better measure of economic health than our current aggregate number, which, in our current era of high inequality, can present a misleading picture of the economic fortunes of most Americans.

Distributional measures of growth will help policymakers design policies aimed at raising output while reducing the huge gap between the very rich and the rest of America. Until we change the way we conceptualize, and therefore measure, economic prosperity, we are unlikely to have very much of it. In short, better, fairer growth measures beget better, fairer growth.

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth is a nonprofit research and grantmaking organization dedicated to advancing evidence-backed ideas and policies that promote strong, stable, and broad-based economic growth. For more information, see www.equitablegrowth.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook @equitablegrowth.

30,000-person survey found women, people of color among hardest hit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 16, 2019 AT 5:00 AM
CONTACT:
Giovanni Rocco, 202-753-6521
grocco@equitablegrowth.org

Washington, D.C. – New research released today by The Shift Project at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at the University of California, Berkeley offers unprecedented insight into the prevalence of unstable work scheduling conditions and the impact of this instability on U.S. workers and their families. The research documents, in more detail than ever before, the widespread negative consequences of so-called just-in-time or unstable work schedules on our nation’s most vulnerable workers.

Sociologists Daniel Schneider at the University of California, Berkeley and Kristen Harknett at the University of California, San Francisco surveyed 30,000 workers at 120 of the largest U.S. retail and food service companies. The food service and retail sector—which together employ 17 percent of American workers—have relied heavily upon just-in-time scheduling practices for their workforce.

“Our research makes clear that the time dimensions of work matter a lot for the well-being of workers and their families. Chronic uncertainty about when and how much you’re expected to work is hard on anyone. For workers with few resources, this uncertainty can have dire consequences,” said Harknett.

“Unstable and unpredictable scheduling practices appear to perpetuate inequality. Workers of color are more likely to be exposed, and the consequences are intergenerational: Children whose parents have unstable and unpredictable schedules suffer, limiting their life chances from the starting gate,” said Schneider.

This newly available data, reported in a set of five working papers released today by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, reveal four key consequences for workers, firms, and the broader economy. Specifically, unstable work schedules are associated with:

• Workers’ material hardship, including food and housing insecurity
• Destabilized routines and care arrangements for children, as well as heightened anxiety and increased the incidence of behavioral problems
• Higher rates of job turnover
• The perpetuation of racial inequality because workers of color, particularly women of color, experience more unstable work hours than their white co-workers at the same employer

The data compare workers who experience different scheduling practices but who are otherwise similar in terms of industry, wages, and educational level in order to zero-in on the effects of just-in-time scheduling practices.

These findings come at a time when policymakers in Washington, D.C., and across the country are re-evaluating workplace policies and how they affect U.S. workers and the broader economy.

“These findings are a major breakthrough toward understanding how workers across the country experience just-in-time scheduling practices. The research shows workers of color with white managers are particularly vulnerable to experiencing these scheduling practices, with effects rippling to affect their families, perpetuating racial inequality throughout the workplace and across generations,” said Alix Gould-Werth of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. “In cities and localities across the country, policymakers have advanced fair workweek laws to support workers, their families, and the economy. Congress should keep in mind the growing body of evidence on the benefits of stable schedules as they consider legislation such as the Schedules that Work Act to promote an economy that delivers strong, stable, and broadly shared growth.”

Read more about the new report, the working papers, and an accompanying charticle highlighting key takeaways.

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth is a nonprofit research and grantmaking organization dedicated to advancing evidence-backed ideas and policies that promote strong, stable, and broad-based economic growth. For more information, see www.equitablegrowth.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook @equitablegrowth.

Author: Heather Boushey

Washington, D.C. – Ahead of the fourth Democratic primary presidential debate, Dr. Heather Boushey, president and CEO of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth; Chris Hughes, co-chair of the Economic Security Project; Michael Linden, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative; and Dr. Felicia Wong, president and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute—released the following joint statement.

“Economic policies have a profound effect on peoples’ lives and for far too many people, the status quo is simply not working. Wage growth continues to disappoint, income inequality has reached record highs, and millions of Americans cannot cover an unexpected $400 expense.

Moreover, despite his claims, the economy appears to be worsening under President Trump. Job growth has slowed, the manufacturing sector appears to be contracting, and leading indicators like the inverted yield curve suggest that the country could be headed for another recession.

For these reasons and many more, most who tune into the fourth Democratic debate will be expecting to hear presidential candidates talk about how they would fix a system that remains fundamentally rigged in favor of the wealthy to instead build an inclusive, prosperous economy for all. We urge moderators to ensure that the economy takes center stage during the debate and that it is discussed in terms that are relevant to everyday people, not just the wealthy or CEOs.

Debate questions should help voters evaluate what the candidates are offering, and what their overall economic approach would look like. The moderators should also be careful not to inadvertently advance outdated and disproven narratives about how the economy works. Taxes, for instance, play an important role in building economic prosperity by checking excessive concentrations of private power, by raising revenue that can be invested in the public’s interest, and by structuring markets more fairly. Unfortunately, too often questions tend to frame taxes as inherently more costly than other types of costs people face, or fail to acknowledge the important role they play in our economy and democracy.

In addition, a recurring focus on how ‘expensive’ it might be to address pressing societal and economic needs misses the forest for the trees.

Failing to address systemic inequality is a choice with a real and tangible opportunity cost. Policymakers can make a different choice.

Similarly, we urge the moderators to be mindful not to separate issues of racism, xenophobia, and bigotry from economic matters. They are all connected. Economies that depend on exclusion and extraction are weaker, less stable, and—of course—unjust. Fostering inclusion and belonging is both a moral imperative and an economic one.

We urge the moderators to reveal important insights about the economic worldview of each candidate, and we hope to see economic questions that invoke answers everyday people will care about.”

New research will focus on inequality’s effects on human capital, tax policy, market concentration, and the labor market

Washington, D.C. – The Washington Center for Equitable Growth announced today that it will award more than $1 million across nearly 30 grants to economists and social scientists investigating whether and how economic inequality affects economic growth and stability.

“Through our grantmaking program, we have supported data-driven research on some of the most entrenched challenges of our time, with the goal of promoting an economy that delivers strong, stable, and broadly shared economic growth,” said Equitable Growth President and CEO Heather Boushey. “Equitable Growth is pleased to continue to support scholars dedicated to asking important questions about how economic inequality affects economic growth and stability.”

To date, Equitable Growth has seeded nearly $5 million to nearly 200 scholars. In 2019, 14 grants were awarded to faculty and 13 grants to doctoral students at universities across the United States. Awards in this year’s grant cycle total $1,064,000, an increase of nearly 19 percent from 2018, including additional funding from the Russell Sage Foundation.

Grant categories include:

• Human capital, including the effect of economic inequality on the development of human potential
• Macroeconomic policy, including the effects of monetary, fiscal, and tax policy on inequality and growth
• Market structure, including the causes of increased concentration and consequences for productivity, growth, labor markets, and power
• The labor market, including the effect of inequality on the smooth functioning of the labor market and the gains from labor

In particular, Equitable Growth is interested in research that uses government or new and innovative data sources to shed light on important economic questions.

“This year’s grantees will explore a wide range of topics, from how policymakers should regulate markets when wealth inequality is high to the long-term impact of social safety net programs on parents and children,” said Greg Leiserson, Equitable Growth chief economist and director of Tax Policy. “These research projects will improve our understanding of the economy and of the types of policies that can ensure that prosperity is broadly shared.”

Equitable Growth’s academic grants are open to researchers affiliated with a U.S. university, and its doctoral grants are open to graduate students currently enrolled in a U.S. doctoral program. For more information on the grants awarded in 2019, click here. To view the 2019 Request for Proposals, click here. The 2020 Request for Proposals will be released in November 2019.

Full descriptions of the 2019 grants and a profile of each grantee can be found on the Equitable Growth website: human capital, macroeconomic policy, market structure, and the labor market.

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth is a nonprofit research and grantmaking organization dedicated to advancing evidence-backed ideas and policies that promote strong, stable, and broad-based economic growth. For more information, see www.equitablegrowth.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook @equitablegrowth.