Stone Inequality & Social Policy Seminar: Kevin Young

Is the Global Elite Getting More Diverse? Analysis of Demographics and Network Structure

Kevin L Young, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Abstract: Advancing our knowledge about elite populations can facilitate a richer understanding of inequality. Elites are central to driving inequality outcomes, not just through their accumulation of wealth, but by the way they shape institutions that manage and protect that wealth. Yet elite communities are not as homogenous as many depictions suggest. There is enormous scientific potential in understanding how elites manage differences, and how factions develop among them. This paper centers on four empirical research questions related to the diversity of elite populations. First, what descriptive generalizations can we make about the demographics of the global elite? Second, how are the demographics of global elite populations changing over time? Third, which attributes are most associated with greater or lesser prominence within global elite networks? Fourth, how do elite populations interact with the politics and policymaking around diversity as a socio-cultural issue? These questions are analyzed utilizing new data on global elite populations drawn from the governance bodies of corporations, civil society groups and international organizations, as well as the global super-rich. 

Kevin L Young is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, specializing in International Political Economy, with a focus on financial regulation, interest groups and elite networks. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Review of International Political Economy, Socio-Economic Review, the Executive Council of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE), and the Steering Committee of the Progressive Economics Forum (PEF). He also serves on both Steering Committee and Methods Committee of the World Elite Database (WED) project, a new international collaboration involving researchers from 17 countries endeavoring to build the first systematic data regime for the study of elite populations across the world.  More information about his work is available at: https://www.kevinlyoung.net/.