Income Distribution Commons^™

Refereed Research - Indispensable Yet Not Fully Legitimate: Street Markets As Invisible Subsistence Infrastructure, Raji Srinivasan, Maria C. Merino

Subsistence Marketplaces

Street markets are key provisioning systems across the Global South, supplying fresh food, employment, and retail access absent formal infrastructure. Yet despite street markets’ functional indispensability to millions of low-income consumers, their legitimacy is chronically contested, affirmed by vendors and communities yet challenged by planners, developers, and state authorities who apply formal-economy criteria in evaluating them. We theorize this as a legitimacy paradox and ask what structural mechanisms sustain it? Using composite vignettes grounded in fieldwork, we theorize three mechanisms. First, visibility without recognition: street markets are hyper-visible yet excluded from cognitive templates of legitimate, formal retail. Second, asymmetric essentiality: …

Average Earnings Of Undergraduate Certificate Graduates In The Mountain West, 2024, Devin Streuter, Kahlen Coss, Kevin Yang, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Higher Education

This fact sheet presents data on the average earnings of undergraduate certificate program graduates in 2024 dollars compared to the average earnings of high school (HS) graduates in five Mountain West states: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The fact sheet reports information on the number of undergraduate certificate programs, number of graduates, the most popular certificate programs, and earnings premiums for each state. Published by Open Campus in collaboration with The Higher Education Analytics (HEA) Group, the fact sheet reports data originally published through the “Certificate Earnings Explorer."

Middle Class Affordability In The Mountain West, 2023, Kian Parikh, Krish Sharma, Mohit Pande, Kristian Thymianos, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet presents 2023 data on the share of middle-class households that can afford basic necessities in the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The Brookings Institution report, “In every corner of the country, the middle class struggles with affordability,” provides metropolitan-level estimates across all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. This fact sheet focuses on middle class affordability data for the largest metro area in each Mountain West state and, where available, explores middle class affordability by race and ethnicity.

Unionization Rates And Wage Growth: Trade, Transportation And Utilities, Nathaniel V. Thomas

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

This research examines how unionization rates influence wage growth in the United States’ transportation, trade, and utilities sector. Drawing on secondary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the study compares union and non-union wage trends while taking in factors like industry characteristics. By using historical and comparative analyses across multiple industries, it aims to determine if higher union density consistently translates into stronger wage gains. Prior research in both U.S. and international contexts shows that union presence can positively affect wages, but this influence varies by sector, labor strength, and political backdrop

Prenatal Care, Pregnancy Risk, Birth Outcomes And The Role Of Neighborhood Characteristics, Monica Garcia-Perez Phd, Randy Huard Phd, Christopher Thoms Phd, David Tilstra Md

InnovateHER Meeting 2026

This study links 2024 CentraCare Health birth records with neighborhood census tract conditions from the National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA, 2020/2021) to examine how place, prenatal care, and clinical risks influence birth outcomes in Central Minnesota. Neighborhood factors are standardized and paired with measures of prenatal-care adequacy and pregnancy-risk indicators in a series of multivariate linear models to explore their effect on birth outcomes. Analyses adjust for maternal demographics and clinical risks to identify independent neighborhood effects. A privacy-preserving, tract-linked dataset is also created to help local partners target high-need prevention areas.

Retirement Rankings In The Mountain West, 2025, Isabelle G. Graham, Mia Tschan, Anthony Arroyo, Kristian Thymianos, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Demography

This fact sheet reports 2025 data on retirement rankings in the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The Bankrate report, “America’s best states to retire in 2025: New Hampshire takes the top spot,” presents data on retirement rankings for all 50 U.S. states. This fact sheet focuses on the overall retirement rank and individual retirement category rankings for each Mountain West state.

Child Care Costs In The Mountain West, 2025, Cason Noll, Isabelle G. Graham, Mohit Pande, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet reports child care affordability and cost data for the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report, “Child care costs in the United States,” highlights data on the differences in child care affordability across the United States. This fact sheet presents data on the percentage of annual income required to afford infant care for a minimum-wage worker, a typical child care worker, and a median family with children based on state-level income data for each Mountain West state. This fact sheet also reports annual costs, including college, …

The Rise Of The Global Middle Class, Homi Kharas

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

As part of the Brookings Scholar Lecture Series, Brookings Mountain West presented a lecture titled, "The Rise of the Global Middle Class" by Brookings senior fellow in global economy and development, Homi Kharas.

For the last two hundred years, ever since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the most successful economies in the world have developed large, stable middle classes. With globalization, the expansion of the middle class has accelerated to a historically unprecedented speed. But global consumerism is scaling faster than the adaptation of institutions, ecosystems, and social norms. Brookings senior fellow Homi Kharas discusses his most recent book, …

The Economics Of Accountability: Learning From German Holocaust Reparations, Grace I. Gates

Scripps Senior Theses

Drawing on microdata from the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe, this study compares European Holocaust survivors who received reparations with similar Europeans who did not. It finds that, decades on, recipients are not systematically better or worse off on core outcomes like life satisfaction, savings, and debt. This is consistent with the argument that reparations restore parity rather than create new advantages. Where differences emerge, they point to stabilization in more vulnerable settings (e.g., lower likelihood of high debt in parts of Eastern Europe). The main takeaway from effective reparations is applicable to the United States debate: …

Tariffs And The Progressive Fiscal Constitution, Lawrence J. Liu, Alex Zhang

Faculty Articles

For more than a century, progressive taxation has constituted the American fiscal state. A resurgent and expanding tariff regime, however, threatens that commitment to progressive distribution. Given the ongoing popularity of tariffs, this Article examines how they might be designed and administered in a way that mitigates their regressive distributive impact. The Article thus develops and assesses proposals to (1) vary tariff burdens in accordance with the consumption of imported goods, (2) reduce income- or payroll-tax burdens on lower-income households, and (3) earmark tariff revenue for specified spending programs. Although none is perfect, we seek to articulate possibilities and highlight …

Latino Economic Inequality In New York City: Income And Snap Recipiency, 2013–2023, Oswaldo A. Mena Aguilar

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

This Latino Data Project Report analyzes trends in the economic well-being of Latino households in New York City between 2013 and 2023, focusing on household income and participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The findings reveal a paradoxical pattern: although median Latino household income increased over the decade, economic inequality within the Latino community widened substantially. Income gains were unevenly distributed, with higher-income households pulling further ahead while the lowest-income households experienced stagnation or decline. Over the same period, Latino households fell further behind all other racial and ethnic groups in the city. Additionally, Latinos consistently exhibited the …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Diaper Insecurity In Nevada And The Mountain West, 2024, Mia Tschan, Olivia K. Cheche, William E. Brown Jr.

Health

This fact sheet presents data on diaper insecurity in the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. It also presents data on the diaper gaps faced by fifteen Nevada counties: Carson City, Churchill, Clark, Douglas, Elko, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, Pershing, Storey, Washoe, and White Pine. Esmeralda County and Eureka County are not included due to a lack of data. The 2025 Urban Institute report, “Mapping Diaper Insecurity in the US,” highlights 2024 data on diaper insecurity across all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

Improving Schools To Promote Upward Mobility: The Promise And Limits Of School Finance Reforms, Sarah Reber

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

As part of the Brookings Scholar Lecture Series, Brookings Mountain West presents a lecture titled, "Improving Schools to Promote Upward Mobility: The Promise and Limits of School Finance Reforms" by Brookings senior fellow in economic studies, Sarah Reber.

Systematic differences in access to high-quality schools by race, income, and other characteristics perpetuate inequality across generations. Local property tax financing of schools is often identified as a key cause of unequal educational opportunity. While the consensus of rigorous research supports the common intuition that, on average, “money matters” in improving educational outcomes, questions about how much, and under what conditions, school …

Bachelor's Degrees And Earnings In The Mountain West, 2022, Anthony Arroyo, Sydney Mitchell, Lara Karaalp, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Higher Education

This fact sheet presents 2022 data on the median annual earnings of bachelor's degree holders for specific fields of degrees (FODs) across the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. This fact sheet also examines the share and earnings of individuals with less than a bachelor’s degree compared to bachelor’s degree holders in the three Mountain West metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) appearing among the 30 largest MSAs in the United States: Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ; Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO; and Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV. The “Field of Bachelor's Degree in the United States: 2022” report from the U.S. Census Bureau …

Abundance Strategies Should Promote Abundant Jobs In Distressed Places, Timothy J. Bartik

Upjohn Institute Policy Papers

A prominent recent policy debate is about “abundance policies”: policies to make it easier to build housing or infrastructure, deliver government services more quickly and more efficiently, and expedite the public funding of the most innovative and socially impactful research. In this essay, I argue that abundance advocates often mistakenly ignore or have a negative attitude toward “place-based policies.” These place-based policies would seek to increase employment rates, particularly in good jobs, in two types of distressed places that lack abundant job opportunities: distressed local labor markets and distressed neighborhoods. Both the goals and means of place-based policies fit into …

Snap Benefits In A Recession: Mountain West State Projections, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Health

This fact sheet presents data on simulated recession impacts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the Mountain West. The Urban Institute’s “How Would a State Cost Share Affect SNAP in a Recession?” report provides recession projections based on the current SNAP policy – which allows SNAP to automatically expand in the event of a recession – as well as a 10% cost share scenario, for all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. This fact sheet focuses on recession projections for the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

The Chemistry Workforce In The Mountain West, 2022, Sean Curry, Otoniel Ramos, Mohit Pande, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet presents 2022 data on the industrial chemistry workforce in five Mountain West states: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The American Chemistry Council’s (ACC’s) report, “2023 Guide to the Business of Chemistry,” offers insights into the chemistry industry’s role in the U.S. economy. This fact sheet focuses on 2022 state-level data related to the number of chemistry establishments, the number of individuals employed in the industry, and the average wages and salaries of industry workers in the Mountain West.

Childcare Expense And Demand In The Mountain West, 2023, Lara Karaalp, Yashesvi Sharma, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr., Kristian Thymianos, Olivia K. Cheche

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet presents 2023 data on childcare expenses in the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The data are sourced from The LendingTree article, “Families Who Pay for Childcare Spend Nearly a Fifth of Their Income on It.” The original report includes data on the states’ percentages of weekly income spent on childcare as well as the percentage of households using paid childcare.

Low Wage Workers In Mountain West States, 2024, Cason Noll, Krish Sharma, Maisoon Faris, Sydney Mitchell, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet presents 2024 data on low wage workers in the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The 2024 Oxfam America report, “The Crisis of Low Wages: Who earns less than $17 an hour in the U.S. in 2024?,” contains data on wage earners across all 50 states, the District of Columbia (D.C.), and Puerto Rico. This fact sheet focuses on the number and percentage of workers earning under $17 per hour in Mountain West states, as well as disparities in low-wage earnings by gender and race across the region.

Social Security And Retirement Income In The Mountain West, 2022, Dre Boyd-Weatherly, Taylor Volk, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Cities & Metros

This fact sheet presents data on the mean total retirement income for forty-four cities in the Mountain West: Arizona (13), Colorado (14), Nevada (9), New Mexico (3), and Utah (5). The Smart Asset report, “Social Security and Retirement Income Are Highest in These Cities – 2024 Study,” reports data from the 2022 one-year American Community Survey conducted by the U.S Census Bureau.

The Motherhood Wage Penalty: Estimation Across Various Factors, Mario Velazquez

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Maternity and family leave policies are implemented in the workplace and sometimes even mandated by governments to allow first-time mothers to provide care for their newborns and recover from childbirth. However, these policies vary by country, and previous research publications have found that women face a “motherhood penalty” when they take a leave from work, leading to reduced earnings compared to women who do not have children. The main purpose of this paper is to validate whether new mothers do in fact face a decrease in their earnings over time, to compare this penalty across numerous variables, and to explore …

Refereed Research - Religiosity And Sociality As Sources Of Resilience For Women Subsistence Entrepreneurs During The Pandemic, Rozina Akther

Subsistence Marketplaces

This study examines challenges faced by subsistence women entrepreneurs during COVID-19, the crisis of 2020, and their resilience in addressing the circumstances. The results of qualitative interviews with 13 subsistence marketplace women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh are presented in this article. In the current study, two themes are found to best capture the experiences and resilience of women business owners in the subsistence marketplaces. Furthermore, the study provides important insights from informant interviews, showing how women business owners navigate their operations during a pandemic. It highlights attributes such as relational strength and faith in a higher power that contribute to their …

Unemployment, Weekly Earnings, And Cost Of Living In Mountain West Metros, 2022, Annie Vong, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet examines data on unemployment, weekly earnings, and cost of living for five Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. The Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP). Local Analysis report includes data on the 50 largest MSAs in the U.S., which include the following in the Mountain West: Phoenix-Mesa Scottsdale, AZ; Tucson, AZ; Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO; Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV; and Salt Lake City, UT.

Projected Job Growth By 2031 In The Mountain West, Madison Dwyer, Annie Vong, Kristian Thymianos, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet examines job growth projections from 2021 to 2031 for the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. This fact sheet also presents projected job growth data by educational level, and across selected occupational sectors. Data are sourced from the report, “After Everything: Projections of Jobs, Education, and Training Requirements through 2031,” published by the McCourt School of Public Policy’s Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) at Georgetown University.

Socioeconomic Inequalities Between The Bronx And Other Counties In New York City, Mexican Studies Institute Cuny, Eliana Checo-Genaoa

CUNY Mexican Studies Institute

The Bronx, despite its proximity to the other boroughs of New York City, has the highest poverty rates among them. Using data from 2010 to 2022, this study examines the socioeconomic disparities between the Bronx and Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Key indicators analyzed include poverty levels, SNAP benefits, unemployment rates, median income, educational attainment, homeownership rates, business creation, and GDP per capita. Our study reveals that the Bronx has the highest poverty, unemployment, and SNAP benefit dependency rates, lower educational attainment, and the lowest median income and homeownership rates. Our findings underscore the persistent socioeconomic challenges faced by …

First Year Earnings And Debt In The Mountain West, Mohit Pande, Ivan Sun, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Higher Education

This fact sheet examines data from the Georgetown University report, “Buyer Beware: First-Year Earnings and Debt for 37,000 College Majors at 4,400 Institutions,” comparing and ranking the earnings, debt, and earnings net of debt based on post-secondary educational level. This fact sheet focuses on state-level data on first year earning and debt for five Mountain West states: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

Salary Needed To Live Comfortably In The Mountain West, 2024, Mohit Pande, Anirudh Polagani, Monserrat Cristando-Romo, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet examines data on the annual salary needed to live comfortably in selected cities in the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico as of February 2024. A report by Smart Asset titled, “Salary Needed to Live Comfortably – 2024 Study,” provided wage data for the 99 largest cities in the United States.

Gender Pay Gaps In Mountain West Cities & States, 2024, Dre Boyd-Weatherly, Maryam Raja, Sean Curry, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet examines data on the gender pay gap, or the difference in pay between male and female year-round full-time workers in the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. “Cities with the Largest Gender Pay Gaps” published by the Chamber of Commerce uses 2020-2021 data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Hidden Struggle: Challenges Older Women Face In Nevada, Annie Vong

Student Research

In 2020, almost one in five Nevadans was over the age of 65.[1] However, within this age group, women outnumber men due to longer life expectancies[2] and migration patterns. Women over 65 years of age make up an estimated 18.1% of the female population in Nevada.[3] Of the male population in Nevada, 15.1% are over 65 years of age.[4] Older women are less likely to be married, are less likely to have completed a bachelor’s degree, are more likely to drop out of the labor force, and are more likely to be living in poverty in …