inequality
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Could Global Warming Increase Racial Disparities in Student Achievement?
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While much of global warming research focuses on the natural world — considering how climate change impacts ecosystems, agriculture, and biodiversity — a new wave of research studies how climate change will reshape the social and economic world. In this emerging field, a novel study suggests that global warming may…
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The Racial Wealth Gap and Recovering from Income Shocks
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The racial wealth gap in the United States is a legacy of nefarious actions and policies such as slavery, Jim Crow laws, and redlining. Based on data from the Survey of Consumer Finances in 2016, the median white family had a net worth of $188,200, nearly eight times that of…
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The Tolerance of American Inequality
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The killing of George Floyd in the custody of the Minneapolis police triggered widespread and persistent protests across the United States. A key flash point among protesters has been economic inequality and racism. History supports their cause—for the last thirty years, we have witnessed a steady increase in income inequality…
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One Intervention Is Not Enough: How Continued Human Capital Investments Reduce Inequality
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How can we use education investments to reduce economic inequality and break intergenerational cycles of poverty? Research conducted by Rucker C. Johnson and Kirabo Jackson published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy suggests that continuous education investments throughout childhood can help narrow gaps in well-being by improving the adult…
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Aquaculture May Reduce Rural Poverty, Income Inequality
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Since 2014, more than half of all fish consumed by humans have been farmed rather than caught in the wild. Aquaculture — which includes the farming of not only fish, but also mollusks, shellfish, algae, seaweed and more — has grown exponentially for decades and has emerged as a major…
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Tech Employment Drives Increased Wages…Just Like Other High-Paying Jobs
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When Amazon started looking for a home for its second headquarters (“HQ2”), cities across North America vied to be selected. They offered tax breaks and other incentives, seeking the prestige of a high-profile corporate headquarters and the promise of economic stimulation. Proponents of a tech influx argued that higher tech-sector…
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How Decentralization and International Aid Reduce Inequality in Ethiopia
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In 2017, foreign aid from official donors totaled over $146.6 billion. The bulk of this aid went to decentralizing or decentralized countries, in which regional or local governments are granted powers and resources. Localized governments are believed to be more accountable to voters because they are “downward-looking” and need to…
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The New Housing Discrimination: Realtor Minority Steering
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2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act—an important victory for activists in the Civil Rights era—but this historic legislation did not eradicate discrimination in the housing market. Evidence shows that real estate agents today still steer buyers into same-race neighborhoods—a phenomenon where realtors show only selected neighborhoods…
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The Hidden Relationship Between Housing, Migration, and Inequality
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In the November issue of the Journal of Urban Economics, Peter Ganong of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and Daniel Shoag of the Harvard Kennedy School investigate a troubling question: “Why has regional income convergence in the U.S. declined?” In economics, convergence—or the “catch-up effect”—is the hypothesis that per…
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Does Economic Growth Help or Hinder Poverty Alleviation? A Case Study From Mexico
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The uneven distribution of globalization-driven economic growth has led researchers to question whether growth actually decreases poverty and inequality. They have tried to answer questions such as: Does growth affect poverty at all? Is growth sufficient to reduce poverty? What conditions must exist for the growth of a country to be pro-poor?…
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The Child Factor: Drilling Down on Income Segregation
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Income segregation in neighborhoods in the United States has increased over the past few decades, but certain demographic groups have experienced a sharper rise than others. Only two-thirds of households in the United States are families, defined as two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption. The other…