We bring together scholars across disciplines to discuss the causes and consequences of inequality and strategies to promote economic mobility. Listen and discover novel insights and strategies to address today’s most pressing issues in inequality.
Joseph Fishkin, UCLA law professor, joins Steven Durlauf to discuss how removing “bottlenecks” to opportunity and curbing economic concentration can strengthen democracy and expand the paths through which people can thrive.
It’s no secret that college is expensive, and that lower-income students often require more assistance to manage those high costs. What’s less well known is how access to credit—or the lack thereof—can enhance or reduce inequality.
Francisco Ferreira, Amartya Sen Professor of Inequality Studies at LSE, joins Steven Durlauf to discuss how inequality is inherited across generations and why mobility differs across the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and Africa.
Wendy Carlin oversees CORE Econ, a project that aims to refocus the undergraduate economics curriculum on “the most important problems faced by our societies." Steven Durlauf sits down with Carlin to discuss the initiative and her research.
Adam Smith is often remembered for championing free markets, but his moral philosophy on inequality and power is less known. Eric Schliesser joins Steven Durlauf to discuss this side of Smith and the decline of the economist as moral philosopher.
Even in high-tax states, most millionaires stay put. Cristobal Young joins Steven Durlauf and Geoff Wodtke to explain why the wealthy remain rooted, and what tax return and census data reveal about mobility, local ties, and the myth of tax flight.
Education policy sparks intense debate, from school choice to testing. Caterina Calsamiglia joins Steven Durlauf to explore how evidence-based research can improve decision-making, equity, and outcomes in education.
Whatever a country's level of income inequality, its level of wealth inequality is even worse—and the two aren't always linked. Fabian Pfeffer joins Steven Durlauf to uncover what drives the wealth gap and how it shapes opportunity across generations.
In standard economics, people seek utility. But what if identity—who we think we are—shapes what we should want? Rachel Kranton joins Steven Durlauf and Ariel Kalil to explore how identity transforms how economists understand schools, gender, work, and choice.
Why don’t more qualified young people pursue college? Today’s episode explores this question with economists Salvador Navarro and Stephen Trejo, in conversations with host Steven Durlauf on the barriers to college and the persistent gaps facing Hispanic Americans.
