The arc of inequality
has a timeline.
Each scroll-stop is a policy inflection point. Each statistic is sourced. Each downloadable brief changed something.
In the decade following World War II, the United States achieved its most compressed income distribution on record. Union membership covered 35% of the private workforce. The top marginal tax rate held at 91%. A single manufacturing wage could purchase a home, raise children, and retire with dignity. This was not accident — it was architecture.
Wagner Act (1935) still structuring labor markets. GI Bill distributing wealth downward.
Nixon's closure of the gold window, the Powell Memo's quiet manifesto, and the first coordinated effort to defund labor organizing. The Gini coefficient begins its four-decade climb. Equity was founded in 1972 to study precisely this inflection — not as a crisis but as a policy choice. Every percentage point of divergence had a legislative author.
Equity Institute founded 1972. First longitudinal wage-gap dataset commissioned.
The financial crisis destroyed $13 trillion in household wealth — concentrated in the bottom 80%. The recovery rebuilt it for the top 10%. Equity's 2010 brief "Who Bears the Cost of Systemic Risk?" was entered into the Congressional Record during Dodd-Frank markup hearings. The section requiring stress-testing of wealth distribution effects cites our methodology directly.
Cited in Senate Banking Committee hearing, March 2010. Dodd-Frank §165 references our stress-test framework.
The top 1% now holds more wealth than the bottom 90% combined. AI-driven labor displacement is accelerating divergence faster than any previous technological transition. The policy toolkit — minimum wage, union law, capital gains treatment — was written for an industrial economy. The open questions are not technical. They are political. And they are urgent.
Current legislative focus: AI Labor Displacement Act (draft), Universal Basic Services framework.
Three things we know
with precision.
These findings are free. The full dataset — 77 years of longitudinal data across 3,100 counties — is one download form away.
The ratio has nearly doubled since 1989.
In 1989, the wealthiest 1% held 23× the median household's net worth. By 2024, that ratio reached 47×. No single policy explains the divergence — it is the cumulative architecture of capital gains treatment, estate law, and weakened collective bargaining.
Full methodologyProductivity and wages fully decoupled in 1979.
From 1948–1979, productivity and median compensation grew in near-lockstep. Since 1979, productivity has risen 74% while median compensation for the bottom quintile has fallen in real terms. The $18,400 figure represents what workers would earn today had the postwar compact held.
Full methodologyPolicy research measurably changes outcomes.
Our longitudinal county-level analysis of minimum wage effects — controlling for cross-border employment flows — has been cited in 14 state legislative sessions since 2015. In 9 of those cases, our methodology was referenced in the final bill language or committee report.
Full methodologyAll findings peer-reviewed. Methodology published. Data reproducible. View replication package →
77 years of divergence,
two visualizations.
The full dataset includes county-level breakdowns, demographic decompositions, and policy-event annotations. Download below.
U.S. Gini Coefficient, 1947–2024
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey. Equity Institute calculations.
Policy Levers: Gini Impact
Estimated Gini coefficient change per policy intervention. Equity Institute meta-analysis, 2024.
Replication note: All visualizations use publicly available Census Bureau and Federal Reserve data. Equity Institute calculations and annotations are documented in our methodology appendix. Full dataset — including county-level decompositions and 14 additional policy levers — available on request.
The research that
changed the numbers.
Two briefs are free immediately. The full dataset requires institutional email — we send it within one business day.
2024 State of the Gap Report
77 years of longitudinal wealth data. County-level. Demographic decompositions. Policy-event annotations.
Dodd-Frank Wealth Distribution Brief
The brief entered into the Congressional Record during Senate Banking Committee markup hearings, March 2010.
Minimum Wage Meta-Analysis: 14 States
County-level employment effects controlling for cross-border flows. Cited in 9 state bill language.
AI Labor Displacement: Distributional Forecast
Projecting wealth divergence acceleration under three AI adoption scenarios, 2025–2040.
Download the Full Dataset
77 years. 3,100 counties. Demographic decompositions. Policy-event annotations. The dataset that informs Senate markup hearings.
- Longitudinal county-level wealth data
- Racial wealth gap decompositions
- Policy intervention event log
- 14 additional policy lever analyses
- Replication package included
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