Wealth, Inequality and Power

Catalog description

This course is about how some people get ahead and have income, wealth, and power while others stay poor. People generally agree that having some wealth is better than having none, but wealth – and the processes that create wealth – are perhaps more important than we usually acknowledge. In the course, we will distinguish wealth (ownership of houses, savings, and investments) from income (wages and salaries) and discuss why this difference matters. We will discuss how wealth, income, and other material benefits are distributed across people and families. Then we will spend the bulk of the semester exploring the origins and consequences of wealth ownership and inequality. 001343