Innovative Research

Groundwork develops new tools, data, and research to reframe economic policy debates and tell different stories about how the economy works and who it works for.

Groundwork Collaborative

Tax Giveaways for Gouging: How the Trump Tax Law Fueled Corporate Profiteering

We review the failure of President Trump's initial tax cuts to deliver on its grand promises and expose the large corporations Trump plans to reward for fleecing consumers.

April 9, 2025

Shakedown at the Snack Counter: The Case for Street Pricing

Attending a baseball game with your kids or taking a flight to visit family is out of reach for millions of Americans. Between rising ticket prices and exorbitant concession costs, families are gouged left and right by billionaire team owners. Despite receiving billions in public funding, the giant corporations and investors behind stadium and airport concessions wield extraordinary – and growing – power to gouge families and consumers at every turn. Our policy brief proposes "street pricing" policies for publicly funded arenas to put money back into consumers' pockets.

March 27, 2025

Big Profits in Small Packages

Although inflation has come down considerably from its peak, prices remain elevated, and many Americans report significant levels of concern over high prices for essentials. Recent research from Groundwork Collaborative found that corporate profits drove over 50% of inflation during the second and third quarters of 2023.

March 6, 2024 Lindsay Owens, Ph.D.

What’s Driving the Rise in Grocery Prices – and What the Government Can Do About It

Skyrocketing grocery prices in America highlight how precarious our supply chains are, giving corporations ample opportunity to take advantage of consumers in the midst of minor supply shocks and major global crises. Unless we aggressively confront climate change, corporate consolidation, and profiteering, food prices will remain high and continue to climb.

February 2, 2024 Clara Wilson

Inflation Revelation: How Outsized Corporate Profits Drive Rising Costs

Inflation has come down significantly from its peak over the past year, yet prices remain high for American consumers. As supply chain snarls have receded and the economy has stabilized, businesses continue to pad their bottom lines, rather than passing these savings on to consumers.

January 18, 2024 Lindsay Owens, Ph.D.

Prioritizing Women and Families Over Deficits

In partnership with the National Women’s Law Center, Groundwork Collaborative developed a fact sheet and talking points emphasizing the need to raise revenues through more progressive taxation.

March 25, 2023

Experts Agree: Fed Braking too Hard, Likely to Cause a Recession

A growing number of experts across the political spectrum are sounding the alarm about the Federal Reserve’s misguided approach to taming inflation through aggressive interest rate hikes.

March 1, 2023

When Congress Negotiates on the Debt Ceiling, Americans Lose

As Republicans threaten to hold the debt ceiling hostage in their attempts to force painful and unnecessary cuts to important public investments, it is useful to look back to the last time Congress gave in to deficit fear-mongering.

February 3, 2023

2022 Credit Card Corporate Profiteering Findings

The Groundwork Collaborative released new research showing credit card executives bragging on corporate earnings calls about their record-shattering profits. Powerful corporations are raising prices and increasing their profit margins – while consumers are paying the price.

January 19, 2023

Sky High Rents Are Driving Inflation

As prices soar across the country, families are feeling the pinch at the grocery store, at the gas pump, and as they look at their monthly rent checks. In this brief, we lay out some of the basics of rent inflation: what it is, why we should care, and what we can do about it.

December 14, 2022
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