New Rand study quantifies cost of rising U.S. inequality

Dec 8, 2020
In the past 40 years, income inequality has cost 90% of workers about $2.5 trillion, the Rand study suggests.
From the mid-1970s on, while the U.S. economy has grown, fewer people have reaped the benefits.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Risk of getting COVID at the grocery store is higher in low-income neighborhoods

Nov 30, 2020
In part because they're more crowded and people stay longer, researchers found.
A bodega worker restocks produce in Brooklyn earlier this year.
Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

How promises to fix income inequality have played out after elections

Oct 28, 2020
Income inequality is on the minds of many voters right now, much like in the run-up to the 1968 presidential election.
We know from the Nixon White House tapes that he didn't really believe in wage and price freezes to get roaring inflation under control.
Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Talk to kids about money, and remember, they "eat up honesty"

Sep 7, 2020
Shipra Parikh, a clinical social worker, explains why these conversations should be tailored to each families personal financial situation.
Leo Patrizi/Getty Images

An updated Community Reinvestment Act faces criticism

Jun 18, 2020
Activists are concerned that a new rule could weaken banks' partnerships with their communities.
Activists say that big banks will be able to comply with the CRA by funding projects like roads and bridges.
Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images
"Pirate articles," or contracts that stipulated compensation, were sort of like worker cooperatives of their time.
Bruce Miller/AFP/Getty Images

Keeping up with the Joneses is expensive

Feb 27, 2020
We're working more than we really need to.
The arms race over consumption is what drives people in wealthy countries to work more than they really need to.
Preston C. Mack/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

New Belgium sale brings end to employee ownership for craft beer maker

Nov 20, 2019
Only about 6,000 companies in the United States are owned by their workers.
A customer takes a sip of a craft beer n Santa Rosa, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Power shut-offs present unique challenges to low-income Californians

Oct 10, 2019
Power shutoffs aren’t wildfires or earthquakes, but for some they can be a kind of disaster.
A sign in Calistoga, California, calls on PG&E to turn the electricity back on during a statewide blackout in October 2019.
Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

The wealth gap widens

Sep 26, 2019
A lot of it comes down to taxation, the stock market and the country's demographic makeup.
Income inequality is rising even though the economy is in its longest period of growth.
Joe Raedle/Newsmakers