This is a survey course about economic inequality that I created back in 2017. I last taught it in Fall 2019. The course has no formal prerequisites but it does require a willingness to engage with numbers and data, as well as some basic microeconomics. The students were a mix of HKS MPP and MPA/ID students, advanced undergraduates, and other participants from around Harvard.
Here is the Fall 2019 syllabus. Here is the syllabus of a version I taught for first-year students at Harvard college. Course slides are linked below, by topic. If you use them (and I hope you do!), please do so with attribution.
Overview - Inequality in the U.S. and around the World
Normative Dimensions of Inequality, and Intergenerational Mobility
Education and Skills - Macro Perspective
Families, Children, and Early Environments
K-12 and Postsecondary Education
Race, Discrimination, and Criminal Justice
Unions, Minimum Wage, and Worker Bargaining Power
Globalization, International Trade, and Immigration
The Top 1 Percent - Wealth Inequality, Taxation, and “Superstars”
The Politics of Inequality - Elite Influence, Mass Media, and Money in Politics