Why are Americans so skeptical that social policies can work? @davebrady72.bsky.social thinks it's less about a policy's measurable success, and more about an exaggerated myth we can't stop telling ourselves. Listen here for more on the politics of poverty → bit.ly/4vPYJNS

What’s happened to income-group gaps in parental spending on children in the U.S.? For the last 45 years, they just. keep. getting. wider. In a new @socarxiv.bsky.social working paper, I present updated evidence on trends in spending on childcare, education, and extracurricular activities.

Don’t forget to nominate your favourite inequality paper in 2025!

Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility (ASA Section)@asa-ipm.bsky.social · 3mo ago

What inequality-related articles from 2025 should sociologists be reading? The IPM Section is creating a community-sourced reading list of notable 2025 articles on inequality, poverty, mobility, stratification, and related topics. Submit your recommendations here: forms.gle/QWQuLZfVc5y3...

@mivich.bsky.social argues that inequality is too large a problem to be solved through incremental changes alone. In her episode of The Inequality Podcast, she applies that same structural lens to the changing nature of work, examining why job responsibilities keep expanding. Listen: bit.ly/4vtapq9

Excellent article in The Atlantic about what's going on at NSF. Share with people in your circle--too many aren't aware!

The Trump Administration Is Done With Social Science

The National Science Foundation division that covers social, behavioral, and economic sciences is in the crosshairs.

theatlantic.com

The biggest project I've worked on for the last chunk of years was just published. It asks, how big are US Black-white lifespan differences? This might seem like a narrow question. I hope to convince you by the end that there are answers you didn't anticipate. And I hope some of them will move you.

See video around 20:00. Prof Mankiw, like so many others, is arguing for some variant of sufficientarianism -- the idea that while poverty deserves our moral concern, inequality doesn't. This runs counter to most all of the Western tradition from Plato to Mill, which demands we attend to inequality.

N. Gregory Mankiw: On the Economic Ideas of the Right and the Left Today

YouTube video by Conversations with Bill Kristol

youtube.com

Unions have long been associated with higher wages & job security for their members, but does proximity to unions improve conditions for others? @tvanheuvelen.bsky.social explains the mechanisms by which they do. He shares them with @gtwodtke.bsky.social on the Inequality Podcast → bit.ly/4uny0Z4

@butaevak.bsky.social and Weiqi Wang representing the @ucstonecenter.bsky.social well at #PAA2026. Great panel on education and social mobility.

New episode of the inequality podcast w/ @joesoss.bsky.social. We discuss the disciplinary dimensions of welfare system, the extractive dimensions of legal system, and how both may be linked with immobility and persistent poverty. open.spotify.com/episode/2bjf...

Joe Soss on Welfare Reform and ‘Legal Plunder’

open.spotify.com

Early-career researchers — Milan is calling 🇮🇹 Join us for the Summer School on Socioeconomic Opportunity and Inequality, hosted with the Dondena Centre at Università Bocconi and the Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale. Your spot is waiting. Apply now: bit.ly/4ma5k2H

It’s not just about who you know; it’s the networks you belong to. @marioluissmall.bsky.social is pushing us to expand our focus from individuals to the structures that connect them. Listen to this week's episode of The Inequality Podcast with host @durlauf.bsky.social: bit.ly/3PWzw5d

Proud of your thesis or dissertation? Or know someone who should be? The Stone Center Awards are now accepting nominations from both authors and advisors. Winners receive formal recognition and a cash prize. Deadline to apply: May 8 Nominate today: bit.ly/3Oq1l5u

Will you join us in Vancouver? 🇨🇦 This summer, we’re partnering with UBC's @stone-centre-ubc.bsky.social to host the Summer School on Socioeconomic Opportunity and Inequality. Applications are now open – we’re excited to meet you. Learn more: bit.ly/4lWx0ro Apply here: bit.ly/4t8Lff6

📊 Has class mobility in the U.S. really changed? Are the rich getting richer? New @ucstonecenter.bsky.social research finds a nuanced answer: overall mobility looks stable, but beneath the surface there’s growing stickiness at the top and bottom. https://har.rs/3O3PDx9

Has Class Mobility in America Really Changed? New Research Finds a Complicated Answer

March 26, 2026 Back to News Steven Durlauf, Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor For decades, Americans have worried that rising inequality is making it harder for children to move beyond the economic circumstances they were born into. A new B...

har.rs

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

Have a new book of interest to urban sociologists? Fill out the form below for consideration for @cicojournal.bsky.social new City Books feature!

City & Community@cicojournal.bsky.social · 5mo ago

We have a few new features we'd like to introduce starting with City Books—our new way of highlighting recently published books in urban sociology. You'll start to see these in issues over the next year, but in the meantime, let us know if you have a new book we should consider! Info below. 📚

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

Our new study is in press @ Epidemiology. We find exposure to industrial air toxicants predicts shorter life expectancy (~1-4 yrs) among a national cohort of US adults, and especially for disadvantaged groups. @landscapeslab.bsky.social @um-src.bsky.social @umisr.bsky.social tinyurl.com/3x4dydk9

(PDF) Industrial Air Toxicant Exposure and Individual Mortality: Evidence from the Americans’ Changing Lives Cohort, 1986–2019

PDF | Exposure to industrial air toxicants remains a leading environmental health risk in the United States (US). Our prospective cohort study examines... | Find, read and cite all the research you ne...

tinyurl.com

Excited to share that my new book (w/ Xiang Zhou), Causal Mediation Analysis, is now out from CUP. Order at tinyurl.com/3hspt6em with discount code CMA2025. Includes software for Stata and R, available here: causalmedanalysis.github.io. Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen.

Call for Submissions: AI for Social Science Methodology (Yale) • Keynote: @nachristakis.bsky.social • Panel with editors of leading journals on publishing AI research • Mentoring roundtables for early-career scholars • Generous travel support Discussion-driven, high-quality research.

There’s one week left!

Ang Yu@ang-yu.bsky.social · 7mo ago

At this year's ASA meeting in NYC, I'm organizing a session called Causal Inference for Sociology. Please consider submitting your methodological work! Submissions from other disciplines with sociological relevance are also welcome. www.asanet.org/annual-meeti...

New episode of the inequality podcast w/ Rene Flores, where we discuss his research on some of the most pressing and troubling problems of our current moment. open.spotify.com/episode/0vdU...

René Flores on Immigration Enforcement and ‘Social Illegality’

open.spotify.com

📚 Special issue in Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie on Explanation and Causality in Sociology. Essential reading on where causal inference in sociology is heading link.springer.com/collections/...

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.

UChicago | Stone Center on Wealth Inequality & Mobility@ucstonecenter.bsky.social · 6mo ago

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

Urban sociologists! I'm organizing a Community and Urban Sociology Section session at the 2026 ASA Annual Meeting titled "Housing as an Asset." Please submit extended abstracts or full papers related to topics on homeownership, house values, taxation, mortgages, etc. Deadline is 2/25. bit.ly/3Zx2eez

New working paper on recent trends in class mobility in the US: www.nber.org/papers/w34800 I learned a lot from an amazing team of collaborators at the @ucstonecenter.bsky.social while working on this propject: Weiqi Wang, @butaevak.bsky.social, and @durlauf.bsky.social

NEW: Geoffrey T. Wodtke, Kailey White, Xiang Zhou, "Poor Neighborhoods, Bad Schools? A High-Dimensional Model of Place-Based Disparities in Academic Achievement" sociologicalscience.com/articles-v13...

sociologicalscience.com

Legislators shape social policy impacting millions–but often with incomplete knowledge. This Friday, David Brady uncovers what lawmakers actually know, what they get wrong, and why it matters for real-world policy. Join us → bit.ly/4q0E6f4

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