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    We develop innovative solutions to the complex problems of economic inequality

    This is a time of unprecedented economic inequality, persistent racial disadvantage, a disintegrating social safety net, and deteriorating job quality. The combination of new technologies and changing work arrangements threatens to make the economic divide even wider. IFTF Equitable Futures Lab combines expertise in social science, quantitative research, policy analysis, and public engagement with proven foresight methodologies to develop and prototype innovative solutions for an equitable future.

     

    Announcement, August 30, 2019—Institute for the Future to support Governor Gavin Newsom’s newly formed Future of Work Commission. Read the full announcement.

     

    FOCUS AREAS

    HOUSEHOLD DEBT RELIEF

    We are developing innovative social policy proposals to relieve the debt burdens holding back low-income families from full economic participation and examining the potential role of public policy to directly address the problem of unmanageable debt burdens by relieving debt for low-income families.

    EQUITABLE BUSINESS MODELS

    We are conducting research and have assembled a network of innovators pioneering alternative forms of value creation, such as Positive Platforms, which provide equity stakes to not just investors but also workers, co-ops, neighborhood and public trusts, limited-profit companies, and other organizational structures.

    DATA AS AN ASSET

    We are prototyping new models of data ownership and governance that promote a more equitable society by exploring how collective data might function as a public asset, with instruments for the public to share in the profits of companies that derive profits from aggregating and monetizing personal and behavioral data.

    VIRTUAL REALITY TOOLS FOR SOCIAL EQUITY

    We are building on the unique capacity of IFTF’s Emerging Media Lab to create new immersive tools that enable a first-person exploration of compelling data visualizations that communicate a sensory-rich understanding of social inequality and prototype potential solutions.

    A BRIDGE TO THE LEADERS OF SILICON VALLEY

    IFTF is in the heart of Silicon Valley, and with its wide network of relationships with leaders and innovators in Silicon Valley, we are ideally positioned to shape the discussions, agendas, and proposed solutions aimed at reducing social inequality. The Equitable Futures Lab is a bridge that connects existing knowledge and analyses of the political economy of inequality and public policy to the best of Silicon Valley’s approaches to innovation and technology development. Effective responses to economic inequality will require us to bridge disciplines, connecting domains often analyzed in isolation: work, education, racial inequity, wealth accumulation and distribution, health, public policy, business structures, technological changes, and demographics.

    RELATED WORK

    The Equitable Futures Lab builds on previous work by IFTF on inequality. A selection of these projects includes:

    • We developed the Workable Futures Initiative to bring together policymakers, labor, and corporate leaders to confront the changing nature of work and develop solutions to promote economic security. We worked closely with U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, including workshops with the Department of Labor and the White House. We also convened a council of corporate and labor leaders, academics, and social innovators to create principles for Positive Platforms and prototyped online platforms that work not only for investors but also for workers relying on these platforms to make a living. See the Workable Futures Initiative.

    • We developed the Universal Basic Assets (UBA) framework to address wealth inequality and the disappearance of jobs that once provided economic security through basic retirement and health benefits. The Universal Basic Assets framework outlines a vision for a system of public, private, and open assets that can produce a more equitable future. See the Universal Basic Assets project.

    • We have prototyped virtual reality (VR) simulations for ex-offenders that promote successful reintegration. Through these simulations, ex-offenders experience scenarios that they might face upon their release, such as hiring discrimination. The immersive simulations allow them to develop strategies to challenges that can be obstacles to reintegration. The state of Massachusetts has adopted these VR simulations for a pilot project to improve outcomes for incarcerated women. Learn about the VR for Reentry Project.

    • Equitable Futures: Community Speaks. We are committed to engaging diverse communities from around the world in imagining more equitable and sustainable futures. With support from the Blue Shield of California Foundation, IFTF hosted three community-based events in 2018 to re-imagine the future in collaboration with Afrofuturist artists, gender-focused thought leaders, and seven global nodes in a week-long network of distributed social reimagining. here are the studies from the sponsored events at IFTF. Read more about these events and communities here. 

    • Workable Health: Achieving Health Equity Amid Changing Work Dynamics. Institute for the Future (IFTF) with support from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), convened a group of work and health leaders to evaluate how present-day forces shaping work will influence health equity, both positively and negatively, over the next decade. Read the full report here.

     

    LEADERSHIP


    Anmol Chaddha Research Director  |  achaddha@iftf.org  

    Anmol has extensive policy and social science research experience in economic inequality, racial inequality, low-wage work, job quality, debt, and wealth. Prior to joining IFTF, he developed policy and research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on the problems of economic inequality. At the Fed, he established an initiative to improve the quality of jobs in low-wage industries, led quantitative research on racial wealth inequality, and examined the rising debt burdens of low-income families. He has been a visiting scholar at the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality and the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He serves on the advisory group of the Aspen Institute’s initiative on consumer debt and financial security. Anmol holds a Ph.D from Harvard University, where he was a Fellow in the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality and Social Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

     

     

     

    Marina Gorbis Executive Director  |  mgorbis@iftf.org  

    Marina has brought a futures perspective to hundreds of organizations in business, education, government, philanthropy, and civic society. Marina’s current research focuses on transformations in the world of work and new forms of value creation. She launched the Workable Futures Initiative at IFTF with the aim of developing a deeper understanding of new work patterns and to prototype a generation of Positive Platforms for work. She has introduced the concept of Universal Basic Assets (UBA) as a framework for thinking about different types of assets and the role they play in economic security. The UBA framework also highlights a variety of approaches and tools we can use to achieve wider asset distribution and greater equity. She frequently writes and speaks on future organizational, technology, and social issues. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley.Annou