Economic Policy

Leading economic experts discuss the gaping disparities by race and class that have driven so many Americans into the streets, and examine the prospects for policy and institutional changes that could create a more equal society.

In this interview, Janet Gornick discusses how the size of the middle class in the United States and other rich countries has shifted in recent decades, and the implications for inequality.

In this research spotlight, a study by Bilyana Petrova shows how corruption and inefficiency obstruct the supply side of redistribution. 

In Bloomberg, a look at wealth inequality and the pandemic with Salvatore Morelli.

In this commentary, Jaquelyn Jahn, a social epidemiologist who will be joining the Stone Center as a postdoctoral scholar this fall, discusses the consequences of the pandemic on incarcerated populations.

J. L. Jahn, J. T. Chen, M. Agénor, and N. Krieger. Social Science & Medicine. vol. 250. 2020.

In 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.

In 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.

R. Iacono and M. Ranaldi. Stone Center Working Paper Series. no. 13. 2020.

In Foreign Affairs, Branko Milanovic says advanced societies must not allow economics, particularly the fortunes of financial markets, to blind them to the fact that the most important role economic policy can play now is to keep social bonds strong under this extraordinary pressure.