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.
Mario Small examines how networks shape opportunity in ways we often overlook, from chance encounters to institutional ties. He discusses why acquaintances can matter more than close friends and how organizations quietly structure access to jobs, resources, and support.
Kim Bowes explores the economic lives of ordinary Romans, drawing on archaeological evidence to rethink consumption, credit, and work. She reflects on the challenges of interpreting ancient data and what it can or cannot reveal about inequality and everyday life.
Are today's immigrants different from those who arrived a century ago? Stanford's Ran Abramitzky and Yale's Leah Boustan challenge immigration myths, discussing upward mobility, cultural assimilation, naming patterns, and refugee success with host Steven Durlauf.
Is capitalism natural or historical? Harvard historian Sven Beckert discusses his book Capitalism: A Global History, exploring slavery's role in economic development, the great divergence, China's unprecedented growth, and ecology with host Steven Durlauf.
What is 'The Economy'? Sciences Po historian Jonathan Levy discusses his newest book, The Real Economy, exploring capital as process, what Keynes learned from Freud, and why economists need historians with host Steven Durlauf.
How has equality been used to justify hierarchy? Dive into a panel discussion from our archives where Dartmouth historian Darren McMahon joins economist Steven Durlauf, sociologist Jenny Trinitapoli, and historian Jonathan Levy to explore equality's elusive history.
Ambitious schools aim to transform how inequality is tackled in education. Host Geoff Wodtke is joined by Sociology Professor Stephen Raudenbush to explore early childhood interventions, organizational change, and the cultural shifts needed to close achievement gaps.
What can household finance teach us about inequality? Understanding it means grappling with myriad variables. Damon Jones joins co-host Steven Durlauf to unpack income shocks, Black economists’ insights, universal basic income, and more.
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.
Scott Page, John Seely Brown Distinguished University Professor at Michigan, joins host Steven Durlauf to explore the rise of complex systems thinking in the social sciences and how diversity can strengthen systems.
