Wealth and Inequality
Wealth and Inequality Lecture Series 2008 - 2009
Time: 6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Place: Library of Prospect House
FALL 2008
Wednesday, October 8
Thomas Shapiro (Brandeis, Sociology)
"TITLE TBA"
Pokross Professor of Law and Social Policy, Thomas Shapiro is the author, with Melvin Oliver, of Black
Wealth/White Wealth and The Hidden Cost of Being African American. He is the recipient of the C. Wright Mills
Award and the American Sociological Association's Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award.
Discussant: TBD
***
Wednesday, October 22
Edward Wolff (NYU, Economics)
"TITLE TBA"
Professor Wolff is a respected expert on wealth inequality in the United States. He is the author of Top Heavy:
A Study of Increasing Inequality of Wealth in America and numerous papers on the topic.
Discussant: TBD
***
Thursday, November 6
Dalton Conley (NYU, Sociology)
"Wealth Mobility and Volatility in Black and White"
Professor Conley is University Professor of the Social Sciences and Chair of the Department of Sociology at
NYU. His books include Being Black, Living in the Red and Wealth and Poverty in America. An important element
of his research focuses on how family structure interacts with asset ownership to perpetuate inequality.
Discussant:
Reid Cramer (Research Director, Asset Building Program, New America Foundation)
Mr. Cramer is the Research Director of the Asset Building Program at the New America Foundation and
leading US advocate for Children’s Savings Accounts.
***
Wednesday, November 19
Gregory Squires (GWU, Sociology)
"Surging Inequality and the Subprime Lending Crises"
Professor Squires' research investigates how mortgage lending policy shapes urban inequality. He is the
author of Why the Poor Pay More: How to Stop Predatory Lending as well as many other books and articles
concerned with race, wealth, and business and government institutions.
Discussant:
Jim Carr (COO, National Community Reinvestment Corporation)
Mr. Carr is COO of the NCRC and Visiting Professor at Columbia and George Washington Universities. He
has had a distinguished career in the housing and urban policy field.
***
Wednesday, December 10
Eldar Shafir (Princeton, Psychology)
"Title TBD"
Professor Shafir holds joint appointments in the Department of Psychology and the Woodrow Wilson
School. His work focuses on judgment and decision making as well as behavioral economics. His
interdisciplinary collaborations investigate how contexts shape asset building and financial services use among
the poor.
Discussant:
Irene Skricki (Program Manager, Annie E. Casey Foundation)
Ms. Skricki is Program Manager for the Assets and Savings at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. She has
worked on initiatives focused around Individual Development Accounts, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and
welfare reform. She previously worked at the Ford Foundation.
SPRING 2009
Monday, February 16
Lisa Keister (Duke, Sociology)
"Title TBD"
Professor Keister is the author of several books on wealth and wealth inequality in the United States. Her
most recent area of research focuses on the role of religion in processes of asset building. She has recently
published work on this topic in the American Journal of Sociology and in Social Forces. Her book Faith & Money:
How Religious Belief Contributes to Wealth & Poverty is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.
Discussant: TBD
***
Co-sponsored by the Princeton Economic Sociology Workshop
We thank the following departments and programs for their support for this series:
-- Princeton University Graduate School
-- The Woodrow Wilson School
-- The Joint Degree Program in Social Policy
-- Department of Sociology
-- Center for Research on Child Wellbeing
