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Latest Inequality & Social Policy In the News

Undocumented US immigrants are far likelier to be working than American men

Undocumented US immigrants are far likelier to be working than American men

March 22, 2016

Quartz | Delves into new NBER working paper by George J. Borjas, which is described as an "ambitious attempt to shed light on how undocumented immigrants in the US have typically interacted with the U.S. labor market over the last two decades." Borjas is the Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Read the original research: "The Labor Supply of Undocumented Immigrants."

Why Democrats Must Embrace a Universal Child Allowance

Why Democrats Must Embrace a Universal Child Allowance

March 21, 2016

The New Republic | Quotes Christopher Wimer (Ph.D. '07), co-author of a new study issued by The Century Foundation showing that such a policy could cut child poverty in half. Wimer is Co-Director of the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at the Columbia University Population Research Center. The Century Foundation report, "Doing More for Our Children," is co-authored by Irwin Garfinkel, David Harris, and Jane Waldfogel, all of Columbia University.

How Jackie Robinson Confronted a Trump-Like Candidate

How Jackie Robinson Confronted a Trump-Like Candidate

March 19, 2016

The Atlantic |  Leah Wright Rigueur's The Loneliness of the Black Republican (Princeton University Press) is cited in an historical perspective on Jackie Robinson, Barry Goldwater, and the 1964 GOP nomination. Leah Wright Rigueur, an historian, is an assistant professor at the Harvard Kennedy School.

How Citizens United Made it Easier for Bosses to Control Their Workers' Votes

How Citizens United Made it Easier for Bosses to Control Their Workers' Votes

March 17, 2016

International Business Times | Discusses new research by Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Ph.D. candidate in Government & Social Policy, and Paul Secunda, a law professor at Marquette University, who find that employers' tactics to influence the political behavior of workers, now legal as a result of the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision, have also proved effective. 

Working, with children

Working, with children

March 14, 2016

Harvard Gazette | Especially after parenthood, gender equality remains an unmet goal. Coverage of a new workshop series on comparative inequality sponsored by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Features Mary C. Brinton (Reischauer Institute Professor of Sociology and chair of the Department of Sociology), Claudia Goldin (Henry Lee Professor of Economics), and Alexandra Killewald (John L. Loeb Associate Professor of Sociology).

The costs of inequality: Faster lives, quicker deaths

The costs of inequality: Faster lives, quicker deaths

March 14, 2016

Harvard Gazette | For blacks and Hispanics, frail neighborhoods undercut health, education, and jobs. Featuring William Julius Wilson (Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor) and Ronald Ferguson ( Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy  and faculty director of Harvard’s Achievement Gap Initiative). Also highlights work of David R. Williams (Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health), who spoke on Race, Racism, and Racial Inequalities in Health in the Inequality & Social Policy Seminar Series, Feb 8, 2016.  Seventh in a series on what Harvard scholars are doing to understand and find solutions to problems of inequality. 

Why soaring housing costs threaten Boston's economic vitality

Why soaring housing costs threaten Boston's economic vitality

March 14, 2016

New Boston Post | Interview with Edward Glaeser, Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics. Building housing only for the well-off, Glaeser said, “cuts people out of the innovation economy who would like to be there, and you have a smaller, less fertile ground for growth.” 

Meet our newest faculty affiliates

Meet our newest faculty affiliates

March 10, 2016

The Inequality & Social Policy program is pleased to welcome 16 new faculty affiliates.

Their engagement in the program will bring new strengths in the areas of income inequality and wealth concentration, intergenerational mobility, labor markets and human capital investment, government management of private-sector risks, regulation and government accountability, behavioral economics and household finance, judgment and decision-making, behavioral science in the design of social policy, regional economies and housing, and race, civil rights, and politics.... Read more about Meet our newest faculty affiliates

There is No FDA for Education. Maybe There Should Be

There is No FDA for Education. Maybe There Should Be

March 8, 2016

NPR Ed | Print interview with Thomas J. Kane, Walter H. Gale Professor of Education and Economics, who argues the need for education research to rigorously vet solutions that will close the achievement gap, and to connect that knowledge to the decisions that school superintendents and chief academic officers inside school districts make.

Reviving the Working Class without Building Walls

Reviving the Working Class without Building Walls

March 8, 2016

The New York Times | Economic Scene column quotes Lawrence Katz, Elisabeth Allison Professor of Economics.  “It is not crazy to suggest,” he said, “that some percentage of that could be shared with a broader group.”

The costs of inequality: For women, progress until they get near power

The costs of inequality: For women, progress until they get near power

March 7, 2016

Harvard Gazette | Surveys Harvard research on gender inequality, including work by Inequality & Social Policy affiliates Claudia Goldin, Henry Lee Professor of Economics; Mary C. Brinton, Reischauer Institute Professor of Sociology; and Heather Sarsons, Ph.D. candidate in Economics. Sixth in a series on what Harvard scholars are doing to understand and find solutions to problems of inequality. This article also appeared at US News and World Report.

Boston's struggle with income segregation

Boston's struggle with income segregation

March 6, 2016

Boston Globe | In-depth examination of economic segregation in Massachusetts quotes Robert D. Putnam, the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy, and Robert J. Sampson, the Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences. Also cites forthcoming article by Ann Owens (Ph.D. '12) showing that the growth in economic segregation nationwide between 1990 and 2010 occurred almost entirely among families with children. Owens is now an assistant professor of sociology at USC. The article is expected to appear in the June 2016 issue of the American Sociological Review.

Why Flint's children can't leave the city that poisoned them

Why Flint's children can't leave the city that poisoned them

March 4, 2016

Washington Post | If we do help families move, what happens to the disinvested places they leave, and the people who choose (or have no choice) to stay there? Are resources better spent trying to revive Flint, or helping people who want to abandon it?..."It’s the hardest question that we’re faced with now that we think places matter," Nathaniel Hendren [Assistant Professor of Economics] says.  

Latest commentary and analysis

How Housing Vouchers Can Fight Residential Segregation

How Housing Vouchers Can Fight Residential Segregation

March 15, 2016

The Nation | By Eva Rosen (Ph.D '14), a postdoctoral fellow in the Poverty and Inequality Research Lab at Johns Hopkins University. Rosen argues that housing vouchers offer a chance to remedy longstanding inequalities—but are not yet fully equipped to do so. This article originally appeared at TalkPoverty.org. Rosen is currently working on a book about housing vouchers in Baltimore.

Trumpism: Is culture or the economy behind the rise of Donald Trump?

Trumpism: Is culture or the economy behind the rise of Donald Trump?

March 15, 2016

National Review | By Scott Winship (Ph.D. '09), Walter B. Wriston fellow at the Manhattan Institute.  Winship argues there is little evidence that economic anxiety explains the rise of Trump. Rather, Winship suggests, "Trumpism is being driven primarily by cultural anxiety — by dissatisfaction with cultural change and perceived cultural decline. "

A Conversation with Robert D. Putnam [Video]

A Conversation with Robert D. Putnam [Video]

March 14, 2016

Conversations with Bill Kristol | Robert D. Putnam, Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy, discusses declining levels of civic participation in America and his interpretation of the reasons for it. He also recalls how political developments awakened his interest in political science, and explains how social science might help us address public policy problems. [Video: 70 minutes]

Three reasons political polarization is here to stay

Three reasons political polarization is here to stay

March 11, 2016

Washington Post | By Jane Mansbridge, Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values. "That U-curve of income inequality tracks uncannily the U-curve of polarization," Mansbridge writes. As president of the American Political Science Association from 2012 to 2013, she created the Task Force on Negotiating Agreement in Politics to respond to the crisis of polarization in the federal legislature.

Trumpism as a Transatlantic Phenomenon

Trumpism as a Transatlantic Phenomenon

March 8, 2016

The American Prospect | By Charlotte Cavaillé (Ph.D. '14), Noam Gidron (Ph.D. candidate in Government), and Peter A. Hall (Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies). Cavaillé is presently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse. She joins the Georgetown University faculty in July.

Matthew Desmond: "Evicted"

Matthew Desmond: "Evicted"

March 7, 2016

NPR—The Diane Rehm Show [audio and transcript] | Guests: Matthew Desmond, John L. Loeb Professor of the Social Sciences; Rolf Pendall, Urban Institute; Vanetta (a pseudonym), a mother of five whose family's story is depicted in Evicted; and Tim Ballering, founder and owner of Affordable Rental Associates, LLC, in Milwaukee.

The Eviction Economy

The Eviction Economy

March 5, 2016

The New York Times | By Matthew Desmond, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of Social Sciences. "Poverty is not just a product of joblessness and low wages. It is also a product of exploitation...A universal housing voucher program would fundamentally change the face of poverty in the United States."

What Happens to People Who Get Evicted Over and Over?

What Happens to People Who Get Evicted Over and Over?

March 4, 2016

New York Magazine | Interview with Matthew Desmond about his new book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. Desmond also cites work by Harvard colleagues Sendhil Mullainathan, Robert C. Waggoner Professor of Economics; Robert J. Sampson, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences; and Devah Pager, Professor of Sociology and Public Policy.

Event video: Matthew Desmond on Evicted

March 3, 2016


A Malcolm Wiener Center
for Social Policy event

The launch of Matthew Desmond's new book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, was the occasion of a book event sponsored by the Malcolm Wiener Center at Harvard Kennedy School.

Matthew Desmond, John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard, was joined by a panel of experts, moderated by Bruce Western, Director of the Malcolm Wiener Center, including William Julius Wilson of Harvard University, Xavier de Souza Briggs of the Ford Foundation, and Jennifer Gonnerman of The New Yorker.

Theda Skocpol on how political scientists think differently about politics

Theda Skocpol on how political scientists think differently about politics

March 1, 2016

The Ezra Klein Show—Vox  [audio] | Theda Skocpol, a political scientist at Harvard (and a former chair of the American Political Science Association), explains how political scientists learn about politics, what makes their work different both from pundits and from each other, and how it’s helped her understand this insane election. She also talks through some of her research on what really drives the tea party and the ways in which the Koch Brothers are setting up an organization that’s almost become a shadow political party of its own [audio: 58 minutes].

Trump will win or lose. Either way, the Koch network will shape the Republican Party

Trump will win or lose. Either way, the Koch network will shape the Republican Party

February 29, 2016

Washington Post | Alexander Hertel Fernandez (Ph.D. candidate in Government & Social Policy) and Theda Skocpol (Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology) are interviewed about their research on how Koch brothers-funded organizations have been changing the Republican Party in profound ways. Interviewed by political scientist Henry Farrell of George Washington University.