Doctoral Seminar in Policy: Inequality and Poverty

Inequality and poverty are outcomes of social choices and economic relationships. Understanding their causes and implications points to ways that economies and societies fit together—as well as who wins and who loses from economic and policy choices, and why.  The seminar draws on research in the social sciences with an emphasis on economics. The aim is to explore research questions, with a mix of early studies and recent empirical approaches, together with perspectives on policy. The discussion of inequality draws largely on the US labor literature, and the discussion of poverty tilts toward analyses of international experiences. The seminar meets weekly; the first hour will usually be a presentation in a traditional lecture format followed by an hour led by students who will describe and frame selected readings for the week. Students will write three analyses of particular studies during the semester and a final paper that describes a research problem, a possible approach, and the related literature.