The Politics of Economic Inequality

4 credits

The importance of inequality in income, wealth, and access to resources and opportunities can hardly be overstated. This course has several objectives: (1) to understand the measurement of inequality; (2) to understand the level of inequality in the United States versus other industrialized nations; (3) to see how political scientists and economists understand its causes and effects; (4) to understand why some think inequality is to their advantage; (5) to develop the tools and data for normative evaluations. May not receive credit for GPPS 421 and the IRGN 490 with the same title.