What We Know About Income Inequality

Undergraduate / Graduate

This course will share some of the facts and ideas about income inequality, wealth inequality, and mobility that have developed over the past 10-20 years - the facts and theories about the US (and the wider world) that are not as widely known as they should be. These run somewhat counter to common narratives about inequality, and are all the more important for pushing us to critically examine both the evidence and our pre-conceived notions. Our goal is to carefully lay out what we know and what we do not know, and to do so in a way that can help inform public policy debates.