Nov 23, 2018
You've heard the statistics. Income inequality in the west is at its highest level in half a century. The three richest people are worth more than the poorest 48 countries in the world, combined. The top 1% of the world's population own 47% of the world's wealth. It goes on, and it is getting worse. But what are the forces underneath these changes? What was done the last time inequality was so bad? What can be done today?
Ben chats with the highly-regarded economist, Miles Corak, about all this and more.
About the Guest
Miles Corak is Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. His research focuses on social mobility, inequality, and child rights. His findings documenting that higher inequality is associated with lower economic opportunity have been widely cited, and used by policy-makers worldwide.
Top print and electronic media, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, The Guardian, The Washington Post, and the BBC have all used Professor Corak’s research on "The Great Gatsby Curve", as has the White House.
Prior to joining the Graduate Center, Corak was Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Canada, and for many years a member of the senior management at Statistics Canada, Canada’s national statistical agency. He has been a visiting researcher with the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, Italy; the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at the University of London; the Office of Population Research at Princeton University; the Russell Sage Foundation; and was a visiting professor with the Department of Economics at Harvard University. During 2017, he served as the Economist in Residence with the Canadian federal government, advising on social policy reform and the country's poverty reduction strategy.
For more information about Miles, including his blog and much of his writing, visit milescorak.com.