News
Trump Hails U.S. Economy
The BBC, Thursday, February 1, 2018The US economy was a focus of President Donald Trump's first State of the Union speech. The BBC's Fergus Nicoll reports from Cleveland, Ohio, and we get reaction to the speech from Darrick Hamilton, an economist at the New School University in New York. Also in the programme, Facebook is banning... Read More »
Report Sheds Grim Details on Black Women's Net Worth
Black Enterprise, Thursday, January 25, 2018A recent report from the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity shed another dim light on the current wealth inequality gap in America by highlighting the current state of black women’s net worth. Some sobering takeaways include: Single black women without a bachelor’s degree ages 20–39... Read More »
Could the wealth gap be closed by giving babies $50,000? Some economists think so
CBC: Radio-Canada, Wednesday, January 24, 2018Some economists are advocating a bold way to counter the ever-growing U.S. wealth gap: curb it at birth. The proposal, called baby bonds, suggests giving every child born in America a lump-sum payment of up to $50,000; richer families would get less, as low as $500. The money would be managed by... Read More »
Make every child a trust fund baby
The News and Observer, Thursday, January 18, 2018In 2015, more than half of American households had negative or zero savings. For households with incomes less than $40,000 per annum, 68 percent spent more than or the equivalent of their incomes. That proportion fell to 44 percent for households with incomes between $40,000 and $100,000, and... Read More »
Sips of History: Martin Luther King, Jr. & the Coca-Cola Company
Neat Pour, Monday, January 15, 2018Allen and Austin gathered the town’s business brahmins for a meeting at the Piedmont Driving Club. Austin addressed the crowd, issuing a scathing ultimatum: support this gala or Coke is moving. “It is embarrassing for Coca-Cola to be located in a city that refuses to honor its Nobel Prize winner,”... Read More »
King’s remaining college classmates remember the young leader
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Monday, January 15, 2018Many of King’s classmates embarked on groundbreaking careers themselves. Willie, for example, was the first African-American professor at Syracuse University, was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the President’s Commission on Mental Health and is a professor emeritus at Harvard University.... Read More »
Instead of Work Requirements, Why Not a Jobs Guarantee?
The Atlantic, Sunday, January 14, 2018The body of evidence suggests that another policy would do a much better job at making Medicaid a more robust all-purpose poverty program, a goal that CMS says it wants to accomplish: a jobs guarantee, perhaps accompanied by a basic income for enrollees. Scholars such as William Darity of Duke... Read More »
Interview on Educational Inequality
Vaghaye Etefaghiye, Sunday, January 14, 2018Vaghaye Etefaghiye reporter Mohammad Memarian interviewed William A. (Sandy) Darity, founding director of the Cook Center, on the issue of inequality in its various forms. Read the full article here.
This Plan to Give Infants $20,000 Could Put a Dent in Income Inequality
, Friday, January 12, 2018Two economists have a plan for reducing the US’s rampant income equality problem, one that would create a $20,000-$60,000 ‘baby bond’ for all children born in the US, for use after their 18th birthday. While this is already done at a much lower £500 ($684.48) price point in England, the plan could... Read More »
This proposal would give an average of $20,000 to every baby born in the U.S.
The Kansas City Star, Thursday, January 11, 2018Two economists have a proposal that they say would help to lessen income inequality in the United States: Give every baby thousands of dollars when they’re born. The proposal was presented by Darrick Hamilton of the New School and William Darity of Duke University at a conference held last... Read More »