Neighborhoods and schools—through factors like socioeconomic composition, access to resources, racial segregation, and social networks—contribute to patterns of inequality and influence mobility. Today’s guests provide cross-disciplinary insights into how these environments shape opportunities and outcomes. First, host Steven Durlauf speaks with the University of Wisconsin’s Felix Elwert, UC Berkeley’s David Harding, and the Stone Center’s own Geoffrey Wodtke on their research, which...

On this episode of The Inequality Podcast, host Steven Durlauf is joined by Janet Gornick, director of the Stone Center of Socio-Economic Inequality at The City University of New York and one of the world’s foremost experts on the measurement of socio-economic inequality. They discuss her many contributions to improving the quantity and quality of inequality data available to researchers, including her time as director of LIS, the organization formerly known as the Luxembourg Income Study....

In the first episode of the new academic year, Steven sits down with Miles Corak to discuss cross-country comparisons of inequality and intergenerational mobility. They discuss the Great Gatsby Curve, the mechanisms behind the intergenerational persistence of socioeconomic status, and related innovations in economic research and policy in the U.S. and Canada. Read Miles’ blog post about the Gatsby curve here.

Since the 1970s, two-parent households have declined, while single-parent households have become more commonplace in the United States. This shift has occurred due to various factors, ranging from changes in labor markets, mass incarceration, and changing social norms surrounding marriage and parental responsibilities. In her book “The Two-Parent Privilege,” Melissa Kearny explores how this shift in family structure is related to childhood outcomes. Kearney argues that resources and stability...

The 2023 Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and UNC struck down race-based college admissions. It reignited debates about affirmative action as a tool for addressing inequality and historical injustice. In an interview recorded live at the Harris School of Public Policy in November, Stone Center Director Steven Durlauf and Brown University economist Glenn Loury discuss their different perspectives on affirmative action. Ethan Bueno de Mesquita, Interim Dean of...

Steven talks to Guido Alfani, professor of economic history at Bocconi University, about the history of wealth inequality in western civilization. They discuss how the roles and perceptions of the rich have changed over time, touching on important moments in Western civilization, such as the Renaissance, the Middle Ages, the Industrial Revolution, and the modern era. Dr. Alfani also offers his thoughts on how things like religion, culture, war, disease, and government policies alleviate (or...

Conrad Miller, Associate Professor of Economic Analysis and Policy at the University of California-Berkley’s Haas School of Business, joins Steven to discuss discrimination and affirmative action. The conversation digs into the methodology and surprising conclusions from four of Dr. Miller’s papers: one that explores federal affirmative action policies in hiring, another that examines how racial composition of a workforce changes absent federal intervention, a third that examines the role of...

Steven talks to Xi Song, associate professor of Sociology and Demography at the University of Pennsylvania, about trends in intergenerational mobility across time and space. Dr. Song details how intergenerational mobility declined in the United States after World War II but then dives further to explore the diversity of experiences for different groups. She discusses the trends in mobility as broken down by race, immigration status, and gender. Steven and Dr. Song even outline the different...

Steven and Geoff are joined by Michael Esposito, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota, in a discussion about racial health disparities that continue to plague the United States. They explore how things like redlining, law enforcement practices, and unequal access to medical care contribute to racial gaps in both health outcomes and even mortality rates. Dr. Esposito also offers his thoughts on how budget priorities could be adjusted to address a wider definition of...

Steven sits down with Matthew Kahn, Provost Professor of Economics at the University of Southern California, to discuss the interactions between inequality and climate change. Dr. Kahn outlines how changes in the environment are altering people’s lives across the globe, from hurricane-ravaged residents of New Orleans to rice-farmers-turned-shrimp-sellers in Dhaka. The lively discussion even explores the idea of progressives buying oil fields, up-zoning on higher ground, and allowing insurance...

Steven and Geoff talk to Nathan Wilmers, the Sarofim Family Career Development Associate Professor and an Associate Professor of Work and Organization Studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management, about the role that inequality plays in the ever-evolving labor market. Nathan covers a wide gamut of topics, including the changing trends in wage inequality, declining union participation, the challenges of internal promotion, and the cyclical relationship between unequal income distribution and...

We talk to Shelly Lundberg, the Leonard Broom Professor of Demography and Associate Director of the Broom Center for Demography at the University of California, Santa Barbara, about the long-embedded gender gaps in many professional fields, including her own—economics. She guides us through the role that anti-discrimination legislation has played in correcting these disparities, and addresses the flawed ways that economists have traditionally taught and measured them. Our Inequality in...

Steven sits down with Luis Bettencourt to discuss what cities can teach us about inequality. Luis Bettencourt is a Professor of Ecology and Evolution and the Inaugural Director of the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation at the University of Chicago as well as an External Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute. With research interests spanning ecology, sociology, and physics, Luis extends insights from these disciplines to the study of inequality in urban landscapes to...

In our first episode of The Inequality Podcast, we talk to legendary economist Sam Bowles, Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Arthur Spiegel Research Professor at the Sante Fe Institute, and Affiliated Scholar at the University of Siena in Italy. Steven and Sam cover a scholarly gamut, including Sam’s intellectual upbringing, his transformative encounter with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., his thoughts on equality of voice in capitalist structures,...

In this bonus episode, Sam Bowles dives deep into the ancient origins of inequality, Marxian economic theory, the evolution of the economics curriculum, and The Moral Economy. Link to our first episode with Sam Bowles: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bonus-episode-four-questions-for-sam-bowles/id1693218758?i=1000617556338 The CORE Curriculum Website: https://www.core-econ.org/ The Moral Economy by Sam Bowles: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300230512/the-moral-economy/ In...