What is equity?

Equity is really about inclusion. It’s about trying to make sure that we have an economy that can benefit everyone who is willing to work and participate in it.

What is the link between equity and growth?

Interestingly in the past people thought that more equality meant less economic growth. That somehow we really needed to redistribute to the rich in order for it to trickle down and generate economic opportunity for the poor and working –class people. But increasingly the research both on developing countries but also on American metropolitan regions, shows that the more equitable a country is or the more equitable a region is in fact the more rapid tis economic growth. It’s because more equitable regions tend to invest more in basic education, they tend to have less social conflicts about what growth strategies to take. In fact, equity is a superior growth model.

What policies can promote equitable growth?

The most important thing we first need to do is to have a conversation and a realization that equity and economic growth are not counterposed, but in fact go together. After that, we need to be able to affect both the pre-tax distribution of income and the post-tax distribution of income. We have a tax system that is incredibly skewed to the wealthy, and that is something we need to address. We also need to make sure that we’re delivering lots of educational opportunity and generating those kinds of jobs that will create per-tax benefits as well. And we actually also need to be promoting unionization as a method for helping to improve the lives of ordinary Americans.