Stone Center Senior Scholar
Professor of Economics
The Graduate Center, CUNY
Miles Corak is a professor of economics at The Graduate Center. His research focuses on social mobility, inequality, and child rights. His findings documenting that higher inequality is associated with lower economic opportunity have been widely cited, and used by policy-makers worldwide.
Top print and electronic media, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, The Guardian, The Washington Post, and the BBC have all used Corak’s research on “The Great Gatsby Curve,” as has the White House.
Prior to joining The Graduate Center, Corak was a professor of economics at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa Canada, and for many years a member of the senior management at Statistics Canada, Canada’s national statistical agency. He has been a visiting researcher with the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, Italy; the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at the University of London; the Office of Population Research at Princeton University; and the Russell Sage Foundation; and was a visiting professor with the Department of Economics at Harvard University. During 2017, he served as the economist in residence with the Canadian federal government, advising on social policy reform and the country’s poverty reduction strategy.
Areas of Expertise
Labor Markets
Social and Economic Mobility
Social Policy
Child Poverty
Featured Work
Intergenerational Mobility Between and Within Canada and the United States
This paper looks at the cross-national and sub-national differences in mobility for approximately 1,000 regions analyzed within these countries.
- Reframing Public Policy Discourse for Dignity, Community, and ResilienceIn this post, Stone Center Senior Scholar Miles Corak discusses economic justice. The text is adapted from Corak’s response during a panel discussion at the Pearson Institute’s 2023 Global Forum, held at the University of Chicago.
- Miles Corak: Inequality and Social Mobility at the Pearson Global Forum 2023In this video, Miles Corak joins a panel discussion on inequality and social mobility at the Pearson Institute’s 2023 Global Forum.
- Miles Corak: The Great Gatsby CurveIn this interview, Miles Corak discusses the fraying of the American Dream and the power of inequality to disrupt the promise of social mobility.
- The Great Gatsby, Then and NowIn this post, Miles Corak explains how he came to write the introductory essay to a new edition of The Great Gatsby, now available from Century Press.
- What Are the ‘Right’ Numbers to Use When Measuring Equality of Opportunity?In this research spotlight, a paper by Miles Corak focuses on Australia to answer questions of theory, data, and statistics when calculating intergenerational mobility.
- Virtual Workshop 2020: Inequality from the Child’s PerspectiveIn this presentation, Miles Corak describes how the advantages and disadvantages of family background are passed down from one generation to the next, perpetuating inequality.
- Social Mobility is Twice as Great in Canada as in the United StatesIn this research spotlight, a study by Miles Corak and colleagues of differences within the United States and Canada suggests why U.S. mobility is lower than in other rich countries.
- Thoughts from the Stone Center on the Pandemic and Its ImpactIn this commentary, Stone Center faculty — Miles Corak, Janet Gornick, Paul Krugman, Leslie McCall, Branko Milanovic, and Salvatore Morelli — each with unique expertise in the study of inequality, offer insights on the COVID-19 crisis.
- Analysis: Ottawa’s ‘Just-in-Time’ Government and Covid-19In an op-ed in The Globe and Mail, Miles Corak discusses the role of government during the COVID-19 crisis and says we should always be investing and innovating in public service delivery.
- Business Insider: Here’s Where the US Falls on the ‘Great Gatsby Curve’The Business Insider highlights research by Miles Corak on the “Gatsby Curve.”
- Miles Corak: Inequality and Social Mobility at the Pearson Global Forum 2023In this video, Miles Corak joins a panel discussion on inequality and social mobility at the Pearson Institute’s 2023 Global Forum.
- Miles Corak: The Great Gatsby CurveIn this interview, Miles Corak discusses the fraying of the American Dream and the power of inequality to disrupt the promise of social mobility.
- Virtual Workshop 2020: Inequality from the Child’s PerspectiveIn this presentation, Miles Corak describes how the advantages and disadvantages of family background are passed down from one generation to the next, perpetuating inequality.
- Panel: Dream Hoarders — Is the Upper Middle Class Leaving Everyone Else Behind?In this video, Stone Center scholars take a critical look at Richard V. Reeves’ book, Dream Hoarders.
- Divided Landscapes of Economic Opportunity: The Canadian Geography of Intergenerational MobilityIn this keynote lecture, Miles Corak discusses his research on mobility at the CRDCN Annual Conference in Montreal.