Institute for Policy Studies

Institute for Policy Studies turns Ideas into Action for Peace, Justice and the Environment. We strengthen social movements with independent research, visionary thinking, and links to the grassroots, scholars and elected officials. I.F. Stone once called IPS "the think tank for the rest of us." Since 1963, we have empowered people to build healthy and democratic societies in communities, the US, and the world. Click here to learn more, or read the latest below.
Releases by this organization
Newswire article Wednesday, August 26, 2020 5 Months Into Pandemic, Billionaires’ Total Wealth Has Ballooned by Nearly $800 Billion Billionaires kept getting richer as the rest of America struggled through multiple crises over the past five months: combined billionaire wealth has grown by $792 billion, or 27% , since the rough start of the coronavirus lockdown on March 18. But even as the wealthiest few see their fortunes... Read more |
Newswire article Monday, August 24, 2020 Mining the Depths of Corruption: New Report Exposes Omissions and Misrepresentations in Nevada-based Mining Company’s Claims in $400 Million Suit against Guatemalan Government A critical new report exposes omissions and misrepresentations in a Nevada-based mining company’s more than $400 million suit against the Guatemalan government. Released August 24, Mining Injustice Through International Arbitration: Countering Kappes, Cassiday & Associates’ Claims over a Gold-... Read more |
Newswire article Monday, August 17, 2020 The Wealth of Just 12 US Billionaires Now Totals Over One Trillion Dollars The wealth of the nation’s top 12 billionaires has increased to more than one trillion dollars ($1,000,000,000,000) according to research by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). “This is a disturbing milestone in the U.S. history of concentrated wealth and power,” said Chuck Collins, Director,... Read more |
Newswire article Thursday, August 06, 2020 Sen. Sanders' Bill Would Tax Billionaires' Pandemic Wealth Gains to Fund Healthcare In a bold bid to share with the suffering American people a portion of the extraordinary wealth gained by the nation’s billionaires during the pandemic, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) today introduced legislation that would place a one-time 60% tax on the growth in billionaire wealth between March 18... Read more |
Newswire article Wednesday, July 29, 2020 When Mega-Donors Dominate Charitable Giving, Democracy Pays the Price In advance of the 10th anniversary of the Giving Pledge, founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) documents a troubling trend of small donor declines with a parallel rise in wealthy mega-donors within the nation’s philanthropic sector. The... Read more |
Newswire article Thursday, June 18, 2020 3 Months Into COVID-19 Pandemic: Billionaires Boom as Middle Class Implodes America’s billionaires saw their wealth increase by 20%, or $584 billion, roughly since the beginning of the pandemic, as 45.5 million Americans lost their jobs and the economy cratered, according to a new report by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) and the Institute for Policy Studies—Program on... Read more |
Newswire article Thursday, June 04, 2020 Billionaire Wealth Surges By Over Half Trillion Dollars During the Pandemic U.S. billionaire’s total wealth surged by over $565 billion, an increase of 19.15 percent, since its low point near the beginning of the pandemic, according to calculations to update a report by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). The figures date from March 18 – the rough start date of the... Read more |
Newswire article Thursday, April 23, 2020 New Report Finds Billionaire Wealth Still Surging Compared to Median Wealth In early April this year, as 22 million Americans lost their jobs and the U.S. employment rate approached 15 percent, the combined wealth of America’s billionaires had increased from March 18 by $282 billion — nearly a 10 percent increase. That’s among the findings in a new report published today... Read more |
Newswire article Friday, March 20, 2020 Republicans Issue Extremely Weak Bailout CEO Pay Plan There is growing consensus on the need for executive compensation restrictions on corporations that receive emergency coronavirus crisis assistance. The question is how best to structure these restrictions to most effectively prevent taxpayer dollars from padding the pockets of executives instead... Read more |
Newswire article Tuesday, January 15, 2019 New Report Highlights How Surging Inequality Widens the Racial Wealth Divide Historic racial wealth disparities are being maintained or worsened by policies that have shifted wealth to the richest U.S. households, according to a new report released by the Institute for Policy Studies, Dreams Deferred: How Enriching the 1 Percent Widens the Racial Wealth Divide.” Key... Read more |