Rebecca M. Blank is the Robert S. Kerr Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and former dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and co-director of the National Poverty Center. Dr. Blanks research has focused on the interaction between the macroeconomy, government anti-poverty programs, and the behavior and well-being of low-income families.
Economic inequality in the United States is large by any measure. In part this reflects the structure of U.S. labor markets, but inequities in individual labor market outcomes are magnified by family formation and by patterns of wealth-holding. Can existing patterns of inequality be altered? This talk will discuss a conceptual framework for thinking about mechanisms to alter inequality, and the evidence to support different approaches.
Panelists:
- Dr. Rebecca M. Blank, Brookings Institution
- Lee Friedman, Professor of Public Policy
- Mike Hout, Professor of Sociology
- Steven Raphael, Interim Dean and Professor of Public Policy
- Robert Reich, Professor of Public Policy
Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes sociologist Neil J. Smelser for a discussion of his new book, Reflections on the University of California: From the Free Speech Movement to the Global University. Drawing on decades of experience as a sociologist actively engaged as advisor to chancellors and observer of the Berkeley campus, Smelser discusses the Free Speech Movement, university leadership, surprises confronting campus administrators, affirmative action, and athletics. Drawing on the lessons of the last fifty years, he also analyzes the challenges facing the University of California in the 21 century.
http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/iis/Kreisler.html
http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/
http://conversationswithhistory.typepad.com/conversations_with_histor/
http://www.thenewpress.com/index.php?option=com_title&task=view_title&metaproductid=1721