Visions of Inequality: From the French Revolution to the End of the Cold War

Branko Milanovic in Conversation with Paul Krugman, Clara Mattei, and Donald Robotham

This event was recorded live on November 1, 2023.

“How do you see income distribution in your time, and how and why do you expect it to change?” Branko Milanovic imagines posing this question to six of history’s most influential economists: François Quesnay, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, Vilfredo Pareto, and Simon Kuznets. In his sweeping and original new history, Milanovic, research professor at the CUNY Graduate Center and senior scholar at the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality, argues that any concept of inequality is inextricably linked to a particular time and place. He joins in a discussion of the new book with Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize–winning economist, New York Times columnist, and distinguished professor at the CUNY Graduate Center; Clara Mattei, assistant professor of economics at the New School for Social Research; and Donald Robotham, professor of anthropology at the CUNY Graduate Center. Moderated by Janet Gornick, professor of political science and sociology and director of the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality at the CUNY Graduate Center.