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Economic Inequalities and Their Effects on Society (SPS-REHVW-INE-23)

SPS-REHVW-INE-23

Purpose

This course integrates insights from sociology, political science and economics on the societal consequences of economic inequalities, such as inequalities by earnings, household income, and wealth. A few important lines of research will be discussed on which the jury is still out, and debates are currently held. One line of research studies societal consequences outside the economic sphere; societies that have larger economic inequalities are said to have all kinds of societal ills, such as bad health, more crime, less social trust, and fewer interpersonal engagements. Another research agenda proposes the Great Gatsby Curve: intergenerational mobility goes down if economic inequalities go up. A third line of scholarship discusses household and gender inequalities in light of economic distributions. A fourth line of research discusses global economic inequalities and their potential effects on contemporary world problems such as climate change and migration. The course discusses these scientific debates, including the proposed mechanisms for why economic inequalities matter, and possible moderation of inequality and its effects by institutional contexts.
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