Economic Policy Institute

Template:TOCnestleft The Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit Washington D.C. think tank, was created in 1986^[1]to

broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low- and middle-income workers. Today, with global competition expanding, wage inequality rising, and the methods and nature of work changing in fundamental ways, it is as crucial as ever that people who work for a living have a voice in the economic discourse.

EPI claims to be the first — and the premier —

...organization to focus on the economic condition of low- and middle-income Americans and their families. Its careful research on the status of American workers has become the gold standard in that field. Its encyclopedic State of Working America, issued every two years since 1988, is stocked in university libraries around the world. EPI researchers, who often testify to Congress and are widely cited in the media, first brought to light the disconnect between pay and productivity that marked the U.S. economy in the 1990s and is now widely recognized as a cause of growing inequality.

While claiming to be non partisan, many EPI personnel, including President Larry Mishel are linked to Democratic Socialists of America, the Institute for Policy Studies or both.

Founders

EPI founders include Jeff Faux, EPI’s first president, economist Barry Bluestone of Northeastern University, Robert Kuttner, columnist for Business Week and Newsweek and editor of The American Prospect, Ray Marshall, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas-Austin, Gerald McEntee of AFSCME Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of labor and professor at UC Berkeley and economist Lester Thurow of the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Dissemination

From its^[2]findings;

EPI publishes books, studies, issue briefs, popular education materials, and other publications; sponsors conferences and seminars; briefs policy makers at all levels of government; provides technical support to national, state, and local activists and community organizations; testifies before national, state, and local legislatures; and provides information and background to the print and electronic media. Over the course of a year, EPI is called upon hundreds of times to inform policy debates, citizens’ group meetings, and educational forums. Moreover, EPI is typically cited more than 3,000 times a year in the print media alone, and its staff is seen or heard by approximately 85 million television and radio viewers and listeners.

Staff

EPI’s staff includes eight Ph.D.-level researchers, a half dozen policy analysts and research assistants, and a full communications and outreach staff. EPI also works closely with a national network of scholars.