Our Summer School mentors are @guidoalfani.bsky.social, Béatrice Cherrier, @durlauf.bsky.social, Ariel Kalil, @paolaprofeta.bsky.social, @zparolin.bsky.social, and Antonio Villafranca. Don't miss your chance to learn from the best!

Please join us!

Registration is now open for the Inequality Workshop’s spring quarter! We’re hosting four scholars whose research tackles big questions related to families, education, population trends, and immigration. Save your seat today → bit.ly/47pGAx8

Historian Kim Bowes wants us to stop calling ancient Romans "peasants." Talking with @durlauf.bsky.social, she details their use of credit, discretionary consumption, and economic shock planning, revealing a truly sophisticated society. Listen to The Inequality Podcast→ bit.ly/3PWoz3q

Our latest conference, Assessing Meritocracy, brought together scholars from eight countries to examine how meritocratic systems are implemented across contexts. Hosted in partnership with the International Institute of Research in Paris, it sharpened ideas and revealed new research directions.

Panelists: 🏛️ Steven Durlauf (@durlauf.bsky.social) – Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor, @harrispolicy.bsky.social 🏅Joel Moykr – Robert H. Strotz Professor, Northwestern University, 2025 Nobel Laureate 🏅James Robinson – Professor, University of Chicago, 2024 Nobel Laureate

Sam Bowles has spent decades reshaping how economics is taught. In a new feature, Stone Center Director @durlauf.bsky.social highlights five resources that reflect Bowles’s lasting contributions to pedagogy. Among them is the widely acclaimed @coreecon.bsky.social. Read it now→ bit.ly/4st33ly

How much of your life is shaped by the groups you belong to? @durlauf.bsky.social argues that this question is central to understanding inequality. He thinks the biggest policy wins may come from targeting the "bottlenecks" where group selection occurs. Listen to Durlauf on The Pie → bit.ly/4sTrLva

Joseph Stiglitz has a gift for turning classic market arguments on their head. In conversation with @durlauf.bsky.social, he frames the economy as a balancing act, with forces pulling and pushing it towards equilibrium. This tension, shaped by politics, drives inequality. Listen now → bit.ly/4bbnKe0

Coming up this Wednesday! @durlauf.bsky.social of @ucstonecenter.bsky.social will discuss intergenerational mobility in China for two distinct epochs: the last 120 years of the Qing Dynasty and the last 30 years for modern China. Register here ⬇️ events.ticketleap.com/tickets/iiil...

Join us for a special seminar by @durlauf.bsky.social of @ucstonecenter.bsky.social He will describe intergenerational mobility in China for two epochs: the last 120 years of the Qing Dynasty and the last 30 years for modern China. Attend in-person: buff.ly/XSqKGsp Attend online: buff.ly/9WnHeg7

An extremely valuable synthesis of evidence on the effects of Head Start by @chloergibbs.bsky.social. Recommended!

1/ Tommaso Giommoni, Gabriel Loumeau, and Marco Tabellini have written a fascinating paper on the forces influencing the dynamics of the French Revolution, ranging from The Great Fear to the decision to execute Louis XVI.

1/ Delighted that this paper with my coauthors extraordinaire, @gtwodtke.bsky.social, Weiqi Wang, and Kristina Butaeva has been released. I want to highlight two of my coauthors. (Geoff Wodtke is a star sociologist and needs no introduction!)

I am delighted that this great conversation with Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan has posted. Their extraordinary work on intergenerational mobility and immigrants speaks to essential dimensions of the extent of equality of opportunity and of the process of assimilation.

Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan are using economic history to understand immigration. On The Inequality Podcast, they examine patterns of upward mobility and preview new research on the tone of modern political speeches. Listen to their conversation with @durlauf.bsky.social → bit.ly/4txjJsL

1/Universities need to systematically address the findings in the Epstein files. In my opinion, every university in which current or past faculty, administrators, trustees appear in the files, should establish formal bodies to review and assess. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...

Tweet of the evening.

The end of this final nuclear arms treaty between the US and Russia augurs a return to a new nuclear arms race that not only involves the new military superpower China, but may well include countries that can no long rely on the American nuclear umbrella, rising military powers, notably India.

We rarely think of economics as scandalous, but maybe we should. Sam Bowles, in conversation with @durlauf.bsky.social & Ethan Bueno de Mesquita, argues that a core assumption in the field impedes moral reasoning about wealth redistribution. Watch "Why Economic Inequalities Endure"→ bit.ly/3Yj4F3B

Last month, the Stone Center convened social scientists, statisticians, and philosophers for our conference, "Integrating Normative Considerations into Inequality Measurement." Together, we examined how ideas of fairness, opportunity, and reward shape the way we measure disparity and discrimination.

I am delighted that this fascinating and enjoyable conversation with Sven Beckert @svenbeckert.bsky.social has posted. Sven is the author of the monumental (in many senses) Capitalism: A Global History, which was published last year.

Catch Steven Durlauf (@durlauf.bsky.social) on @france24.com discussing the United States' rapidly evolving tariff policies and their geopolitical implications. www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/...

As slavery exhibits are removed in Philadelphia, and scholars like Lisa Cook are targeted in ways that threaten independent economic research and policy; good people must be reminded that arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend toward justice on its own—it bends in the direction that we push it.

Bravo @markgsheppard.com for a real public service.

Grateful for the opportunity to discuss the short run and long run harms of Trump's tariff threats over Greenland. video.snapstream.net/Play/9GUds8G...

This action of extortion against NATO allies crosses the Rubicon in terms of US relations with Europe. The threat destabilizes NATO and will cause long run damage to the United States economy. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/u...

This action of extortion against NATO allies crosses the Rubicon in terms of US relations with Europe. The threat destabilizes NATO and will cause long run damage to the United States economy. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/u...

Building your 2026 reading list? 📚 @durlauf.bsky.social shares five books guaranteed to shape your economic thinking → bit.ly/3Lu5XGl

Wealth inequality has persisted for over 10,000 years–but why? Renowned economist Sam Bowles joined the Stone Center to explore its origins, from the ox and plow to the rise of power concentrations and the lasting effects of slavery. Watch the full lecture here → bit.ly/4pqxM0V

1/ Jonathan Levy's books Ages of American Capitalism: A History of the United States and The Real Economy: History and Theory, are fascinating and I recommend them in the strongest terms. Jon challenges modes of thinking by economists, certainly including mine.

1/ Any economist who has accepted a position in the Trump administration should resign over the abuse of power involved in this attack on Jerome Powell. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG...

📊 Inequality, Reconsidered was a week-long series of @ucstonecenter.bsky.social events to rethink how we study and address inequality. Led by insights from Samuel Bowles and @durlauf.bsky.social, the series emphasized power, institutions, and lived experience alongside data. https://har.rs/4baRCc2

Meritocracy remains controversial yet increasingly central to policy debates. Evaluating it requires care: we must first define “merit” relative to social objectives, whether prospectively or retrospectively. @durlauf.bsky.social's latest essay offers ways to think about these issues→ bit.ly/3Y283jj

Bravo! As deserved as it gets. Wendy Carlin is a treasure.

What can 13 minutes teach us about inequality? A lot, it turns out. @durlauf.bsky.social and @jadenreports.bsky.social cover wealth, education, and capitalism in a recent interview. Zoe Cobb, Stone Center staffer and youth voice, captures the key insights in a must-read summary → bit.ly/43ZFVke

9 favorite history books 2025. 1. Capitalism: A Global History, Sven Beckert

9 favorite history books 2025. 1. Capitalism: A Global History, Sven Beckert

Shopping this Black Friday? Wondering how tariffs will affect prices? Steven Durlauf (@durlauf.bsky.social) tells KQ2 that while the impact might not hit consumers immediately, the long-term effects could be significant. www.kq2.com/news/u-s-tar...

Fantastic opportunity!

Delighted to post this recording of my public conversation with Sam Bowles, moderated by @ethanbdm.bsky.social, on Why Economic Inequalities Endure. Our discussion ranges from the distant past to speculation on how AI will affect future inequality. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG0C...

It's not a perfect analogy but I've been thinking about this 1792 cartoon ever since I saw yesterday's photo

Honored to introduce Samuel Bowles Public Lecture The Origin and Future of Inequality, part of 3 days organized by @ucstonecenter.bsky.social. Sam has been an inspiration, both intellectually and morally to me, as well as to so many in the profession. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV-9...

Great paper with important implications for understanding life cycle inequalities. For example, one can see how strong memory of in labor market trajectories can lead to amplification of the experience of early career discrimination. Recommended!

Very pleased that this interesting conversation between Doug Downey and @gtwodtke.bsky.social on schools and inequality has posted.

Thank you @aeacswep.bsky.social. Who will follow and do the right thing?

Billionaire wealth keeps climbing, but the gains don't seem to reach everyone else. Steven Durlauf (@durlauf.bsky.social) tells @marketplace.org that tax cuts for the wealthy don’t boost growth the way trickle-down theory promises.

The proudest moment of my life was my admission to Harvard in 1976. Today I am deeply ashamed. @harvard.edu must revoke Summers' University Professorship. His holding the school's highest honor debases the university and is an insult to every woman and person of color in the academic community.

T1/ his article deserves the Scottish verdict for op eds. It does not make the case for the policies it advocates. The first problem is that the authors do not make clear arguments about the justification for price in housing and energy markets. Invocation of public support is not a justification.

1/ I highly recommend The First Russian Revolution by Susanna Rabow-Edling. She provides an extremely readable narrative history of the Decembrist Revolt. A path not taken? Too speculative. But certainly the book succeeds in demonstrating longstanding important liberal currents in Russian thought.