Though meritocracy is a distinctively modern concept, its roots date back to antiquity. @guidoalfani.bsky.social traces the uneven development of the concept, its attempted implementation in early modern republics, and its eventual degeneration into oligarchy. Read the essay → bit.ly/4fGFT75

@durlauf.bsky.social wants to reclaim meritocracy for liberals. Why? Because many policies that expand opportunity can make the economy more efficient, while also helping people fulfill their potential. Hear more of his thoughts on the @econfip.bsky.social → bit.ly/3TpQevx

It was really engaging to talk w/ the terrific Geoff Wodtke in the Inequality Podcast. Their Podcast hosted by Geoff & @durlauf.bsky.social is one of my favorite podcasts, and regardless of my episode, I strongly recommend. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

David Brady on the Politics of Poverty

Podcast Episode · The Inequality Podcast · July 27 · 58m

podcasts.apple.com

Can meritocracy survive its harshest critics? David Miller (@nuffieldcollege.bsky.social) defines a 3-pronged conception of meritocracy and systematically defends it from both empirical and normative concerns. Read the essay → bit.ly/4vVuzZy

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

Economic theory predicts strong responses to financial incentives; observed elasticities are often much smaller. Young argues this is evidence that economic action is mediated by social structure — networks, identities, and norms raise the cost of acting on incentives. Read now→ bit.ly/4pDsdgn

Everyone's talking tariffs. But not everyone can define them or identify who's really footing the bill. @durlauf.bsky.social joins @marketplace.org to ask: 'What if tariffs were called sales taxes?'

Marketplace@marketplace.org · 4w ago

“Tariff” may be the “most beautiful word in the dictionary,” according to President Donald Trump, but it’s a word that many Americans don’t know the definition of.

The Stone Center is #hiring Predoctoral Researchers at MIT! Predocs will work with @dacemoglumit.bsky.social, @davidautorbsky.social, and/or @simonhrjohnson.bsky.social to support research on inequality, technology, and labor. Learn more and apply by 8/2: shapingwork.mit.edu/careers/jame...

What explains the Baltimore Regional Housing Partnership’s remarkable success? Aliprantis & DeLuca point to the supply side: regional access expands families’ housing choice sets, breaks sorting by race and income, and delivers durable gains in neighborhood opportunity. Read now → bit.ly/4fGOmah

The core challenge of inequality research has always been measuring something unobservable. Over a two-day conference with @dondenacentre.bsky.social, scholars took that challenge on, tracing systems that produce inequality and questioning what conventional approaches may be missing.

If not meritocracy, then what? Critics of meritocracy challenge the system, but fail to offer alternatives. Instead of dismissing meritocracy as a system that masks injustice, Jahel Queralt says we should make adjustments so it works for us. Listen → bit.ly/4bnD2NM

Meritocracy promises fairness, but does it deliver in practice? Whither Meritocracy? Pt. 1 is out now. Editors @durlauf.bsky.social & James Robinson synthesize the state of knowledge on meritocracy to explore its viability as a social ideal. Explore the volume: bit.ly/3TgLkAN

Forthcoming in AEJ: Applied Economics: "The Evolution of Black-White Differences in Occupational Mobility Across Post-Civil War America" by Steven Durlauf, Gueyon Kim, Dohyeon Lee, and Xi Song.

The Evolution of Black-White Differences in Occupational Mobility Across Post-Civil War America

(Forthcoming Article) - We examine long-run differences in intergenerational occupational mobility between Black and White Americans using linked censuses and survey data from 1850 to 2021. We document two main results. First, shifts in mobility dynamics, most notably for the 1940–1950 cohort, reshaped occupational structures and reduced racial segregation. Second, new measures of intergenerational persistence reveal both bottlenecks and the enduring memory in the mobility system, offering new perspectives on the role of mobility in explaining the lack of convergence in Black-White occupational outcomes.

aeaweb.org

A great piece from @ucstonecenter.bsky.social looking at the many invaluable contributions CORE co-founder Sam Bowles has made to economics education: stonecenter.uchicago.edu/news-insight...

Is recent economic data hiding long-term decline? In a @nytopinion.nytimes.com essay, @durlauf.bsky.social argues that Trump's policies undermine the critical investments in people, science, and innovation that drive long-run economic prosperity. Read the essay: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/02/o...

Opinion | Look Past the Jobs Numbers: Three Ways Trump Is Strangling the Economy

nytimes.com

💰 In @themirror.com, @durlauf.bsky.social, director of the Stone Center for Research on Wealth Inequality and Mobility, puts Elon Musk’s fortune in context, highlighting how today’s extreme wealth reflects inequality growing on a scale “we’ve never seen before.” https://har.rs/3Tc0lUo

As Elon Musk turns 55, his fortune underscores the stark wealth inequality

With a trillion dollars, Musk could pull hundreds of millions of people out of extreme poverty, pay off medical debt in the U.S., climate-proof the world, end world hunger and homelessness in the U.S

har.rs

If meritocracy is working as intended, people in power should be there because they earned it. But is that how the system actually works? Thomas Mulligan explains why income and power often reflect advantage and connections more than merit. Listen to the episode→ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Next Monday (June 29) the two-day conference "Inequality & the Future" will begin, hosted by @dondenacentre.bsky.social at UniBocconi (Milan) and co-organized by @ucstonecenter.bsky.social! Join us to discuss today's societal challenges. For remote attendance scan the QR code in the program below👇

What would Plato make of a trillionaire? New @nytopinion.nytimes.com op-ed by Stone Center affiliate @laywilliams.bsky.social explores trillion-dollar fortunes through Plato’s ideas and modern inequality metrics, asking how we make sense of wealth at this scale. Read the article below👇

New York Times Opinion@nytopinion.nytimes.com · 2mo ago

Of all the numbers David Lay Williams has seen about Elon Musk’s new status as a trillionaire, “the one that struck me most forcefully was a calculation in The Times that Mr. Musk’s net worth is five million times as large as that of the average American family,” he writes.

New essay on meritocracy, part of an outstanding collection of essays on meritocracy, edited by @durlauf.bsky.social and James Robinson in the The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science based on conference at @ucstonecenter.bsky.social. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

What can housing policy, criminal justice, technological governance, local public finance, and beliefs about wealth have in common? They're the subjects of this year's Stone Center Thesis & Dissertation Award-winning research. Meet the 2026 recipients: stonecenter.uchicago.edu/news-insight...

Recognizing Emerging Scholars: 2026 Thesis and Dissertation Award Recipients - Stone Center

Original research examining the causes and consequences of inequality has earned six student scholars the 2026 Stone Center Thesis and Dissertation Awards. Originally launched as an Undergraduate Thes...

stonecenter.uchicago.edu

Meritocracy is invoked in variable and often contradictory ways. In a new essay, @durlauf.bsky.social distinguishes between retrospective and prospective conceptions of meritocracy, examining how each can produce different tradeoffs and outcomes. Read about it: bit.ly/3QKN3NU

Elon Musk has become the world's first trillionaire. @durlauf.bsky.social tells @nytimes.com that “wealth inequality is growing in dimensions that we've never seen before,” as Musk's fortune now exceeds 3% of U.S. GDP. Read about it here: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/t...

Elon Musk Becomes the World’s First Trillionaire

With SpaceX shares soaring 20 percent on their first day of trading, the world’s richest person crossed another milestone — one with 13 digits.

nytimes.com

What happens when efficiency becomes the goal of policy? Philosopher Philip Kitcher (@columbiauniversity.bsky.social) argues prioritizing productivity has crowded out ethics, contributing to an "erosion of kindness." Listen to his full conversation with @durlauf.bsky.social here → bit.ly/4a03FI1

📣One week left to apply! Don't forget to submit your application for our Vancouver Summer School on Socioeconomic Opportunity and Inequality hosted at @ubcvse.bsky.social. 🚨Applications close next Friday June 19th! Learn how to apply here: zurl.co/nHIo9

With graduation season here, students are focused on their job prospects in the age of AI. @durlauf.bsky.social told @hechingerreport.org that AI's effects continue evolving and remain difficult to distinguish from the many economic disruptions of recent years. Read: bit.ly/4ejXK1L

What it’s like to enter the job market in the middle of an AI revolution

‘It’s not looking good’: The unemployment rate for recent grads is the highest in five years, but AI is not primarily to blame — at least not yet

bit.ly

Why are women disproportionately converting to new Christian churches in Sub-Saharan Africa? A new paper uses evidence from Benin and cross-country data to argue conversion isn’t only spiritual—it’s linked to greater female agency, economic participation, and shifting traditions. bit.ly/4ojO6kn

Consumers are feeling the burden of higher gas prices at the pump. @durlauf.bsky.social tells @newsweek.com that the “modern economy is a complex interconnected system,” warning that fuel costs can ripple through the prices of other goods. Read more: www.newsweek.com/map-shows-wo...

Map shows worst hit states amid warning $3 gas may not come back until 2028

Gas has risen around 50 percent since the Iran war began, and analysts believe it could be years before prices return to normal.

newsweek.com

@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

Congratulations to our postdocs Zhexun Mo and Severin Rapp, who will start new positions this fall after completing their two years at the CUNY Graduate Center! @zhexunmo.bsky.social will join @ulaval.ca, and @severinrapp.bsky.social will join @lseinequalities.bsky.social.

Stone Center’s Postdoctoral Scholars to Start New Positions at Laval University and LSE - Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality

The Stone Center’s sixth cohort of postdoctoral scholars, Zhexun Mo and Severin Rapp, will start new positions this fall after they complete their two-year terms at the Graduate Center. Mo will join t...

stonecenter.gc.cuny.edu