ECON 184 - Income Inequality in the US

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

Students will read a variety of non-technical analyses that attempt to explain the increase in the gap between the highest and lowest income households in the United States, noticeable since the 1980s.

The course will examine various aspects of the phenomenon: income differentials based on such factors as education and returns to education, wage differentials between skilled and unskilled workers, assortive mating and its effect on the distribution of household (family) incomes, taking into account the increase in women’s labor force participation. The difference in returns to capital assets vs. labor force participation will be addressed. We will also look at effects of public policy, such as changes in the progressivity of the income tax, the minimum wage, and subsidies to low-income households. An additional topic will be: alternative measures of well-being, including access to quality schooling, health care and access to the justice system. Ms. Johnson-Lans.

Open only to freshmen; satisfies the college requirement for a Freshman Writing Seminar.

Two 75-minute periods.