Inequality, Opportunity, and Social Policy, from the Bottom to the Top

Harvard HKS

Even in rich countries, many people are poor, and their chances of moving from poverty to affluence are constrained. What policies and structures shape people's opportunities to climb up socioeconomic ladders---and their chances of facing ladders with large amounts of inequality? How can these policies and structures be changed? In this course, we will consider how social and economic inequalities develop, how they persist across generations, and how people make socioeconomic progress over…