August 2026
Saving Elephants and Fighting Carbon Credit Fraud: Environmental Lawyer Jim Riungu
Stone Center Junior Scholar and John Jay College of Criminal Justice Ph.D. Candidate Jim Riungu is an environmental lawyer who knows how to handle live snakes — brought in as evidence — in court. He has worked as a legal consultant for wildlife conservation organizations and is an adjunct lecturer at John Jay. In this interview, he discusses his work and the need for more research on issues of environmental criminology in the Global South.
Curing U.S. Healthcare: a 3-Part Series by Paul Krugman
Stone Center Senior Scholar Paul Krugman’s three-part series on the U.S. healthcare system, originally posted in his Substack newsletter, takes an in-depth look at the problems facing the system and offers a possible plan for the future. All of the blog posts are now available on the Stone Center site:
Curing U.S. Healthcare, Part I: Why markets can’t be trusted to deliver healthcare, routes to universal healthcare, and what works.
Curing U.S. Healthcare, Part II: U.S. health care on the eve of the second Trump administration, 80 years of U.S. health politics, the Obamacare story, and the new assault on healthcare.
Curing U.S. Healthcare, Part III: What kind of system is workable in the U.S.? How has the political economy of U.S. healthcare reform changed? What is a possible path forward?
Stone Center Senior Scholars and Postdocs Present Research at World Inequality Conference
Stone Center Senior Scholars, Affiliated Scholars, and Postdoctoral Scholars presented their research at the World Inequality Conference at the Paris School of Economics from June 4 through June 6. The conference included the release of the Global Justice Report, plenary sessions focused on the report’s themes, and parallel sessions on new research.
From Industry to Academia: Economics Graduate Lands Tenure-Track Position in India
Swapnil Landge’s research on inequality and occupational mobility helped launch him from the Graduate Center to a faculty role at Ahmedabad University. During his time at the Graduate Center, Landge, a 2025 Stone Center Junior Scholar, worked on research papers with Stone Center Senior Scholar Miles Corak, who also served as his thesis adviser.
Stone Center Awards Funding to Graduate Students and Postdocs to Attend LIS Workshop
The Stone Center awarded funding to three CUNY Graduate Center students and two Stone Center postdoctoral scholars to attend the LIS Introductory Summer Workshop in Luxembourg. The annual workshop is aimed at helping researchers in the social sciences conduct comparative research on socio-economic outcomes related to income, employment, and wealth, and on the social policies that shape those outcomes.
Bridging Traditions and Innovations: ICSA Conference
Photo by Zihui Lei
The Stone Center cohosted the International Chinese Sociological Association’s 2026 conference, which explored sociological perspectives on transformations in Chinese societies, at the CUNY Graduate Center in August. Janet Gornick delivered a keynote address, “Income Inequality and Income Poverty in Affluent Countries: Levels and Trends,” based entirely on LIS data. The conference was ICSA’s largest gathering outside of China.
Stone Center Working Paper Series: Recent Additions
- Real Estate Wealth Is Not a Monolith: Non-Primary Real Estate and Its Role in Wealth Concentration
P. Valetto, S. Filauro, I. Marx, and J. C. Gornick. Stone Center Working Paper Series no. 127. 2026 - Wealth Inequality Trends Around the World: A First View Leveraging Multiple Data Sources
F. Disslbacher, S. Morelli, and M. Targa. Stone Center Working Paper Series no. 128. 2026. - Inheritance Taxation Around the Globe and Over Time: Revenue and Distributional Implications
T. Asher, L. Giangregorio, S. Morelli, M. Schechtl, and F. Subioli. Stone Center Working Paper Series no. 129. 2026. - The Great Unleveling: Long-Run Wealth Inequality in South Korea, 1970–2021
S. Hong, Z. Mo, and J. Yang. Stone Center Working Paper Series no. 130. 2026. - Is Income Inequality on the Rise Everywhere?
F. Alvaredo, F. Bourguignon, F. H. G. Ferreira, C. Lakner, and N. Lustig. Stone Center Working Paper Series no. 131. 2026. - Wealth Poverty: Measurement, Prevalence, Determinants
M. Schechtl and J. C. Gornick. Stone Center Working Paper Series no. 132. 2026.
Scholars: Recent Publications and Appearances
- Salvatore Morelli presented “The Past and Future of Wealth Transfers” at Bocconi University’s Inequality and the Future conference.
- Janet Gornick was an invited speaker at an event that introduced the International Panel on Inequality (IPI) to delegates of the permanent missions to the United Nations.
- Branko Milanovic published “What Marx Can Tell Us About Artificial Intelligence” in Jacobin.
- Janet Gornick presented a policy and research workshop, “Cross-National Income and Wealth Microdata Available via LIS: Introduction to the Data and Illustrative Research,” at the American Sociological Association (ASA) annual meeting in New York.
- Marai Hayes, a current Stone Center postdoctoral scholar, presented “Racial Economic Inequality over the Life Course: Does Childhood Health Play a Role?” at the ASA annual meeting.
